Consent and Moderation Requirements (CMRs)

Each unit standard and achievement standard registered on the Directory of Assessment Standards (DAS) has an associated Consent and Moderation Requirements (CMR) document, which outlines the specific criteria for consent to assess against standards and national external moderation. CMRs are developed by standard-setting bodies (SSBs).

Consent to Assess against standards on the DAS

In order to be granted consent to assess candidates against standards on the DAS an education organisation must be registered as a private training establishment, a government training establishment, an industry training organisation, or formally set up as an education institution according to the Education Act, 1989.

Before they assess candidates against DAS standards, education organisations need to be granted consent to assess against those standards. This involves preparing and submitting an application to NZQA. Applications for Consent to Assess must comply with Consent to Assess against Standards on the Directory of Assessment Standards Rules 2011.

Education organisations prepare any required evidence for submission with their application according to the relevant CMR criteria. To clarify any industry or sector specific requirements, organisations seeking consent should contact the relevant SSB. In some cases an industry specialist may visit the organisation's site to determine the suitability of the organisation.

National External Moderation

National external moderation systems ensure that all assessment decisions are consistent and to the national standard across all organisations that have consent to assess against standards. Where there is an ITO responsible for the standards, the national external moderation system is run by the ITO. NZQA runs other national external moderation systems, including moderation for general education subjects (mostly offered in schools).

All assessments against DAS standards are moderated through the SSB’s national external moderation systems. The Moderation Requirements (MR) section of a CMR sets out the national external moderation requirements for the standards listed in the scope of the CMR. It is the responsibility of organisations with consent to assess to participate in the standard setting body's national external moderation system.

Education organisations can find out the detail of the national moderation requirements by referring to the relevant CMR.

Accessing CMRs

Standard setting bodies (SSBs) may develop and maintain more than one CMR. Download the current list of CMR Id numbers for each SSB (PDF, 17KB).

Use Search Directory of Assessment Standards to locate the required CMR.

Contents of a CMR

Each CMR covers:

• the industry or sector-specific requirements for granting consent to assess for organisations to deliver programmes and/or assess against standards in the scope of the CMR
• the moderation process that accredited organisations with consent to assess will need to engage in.

The CMR comprises a Requirements for Consent to Assess section and a Moderation Requirements section.

Requirements for Consent to Assess (RCA)

The purpose of the Requirements for Consent to Assess section is to:

• set out requirements that need to be met by organisations seeking consent to assess against standards
• allow industry or sectors to establish specific requirements, where necessary, within the consent criteria for specific standards
• advise organisations of specific requirements for consent
• advise organisations of SSB involvement in the consent process
• highlight industry or sector-specific requirements for consent to the quality assurance body (QAB)
• clarify the specific requirements of that industry or sector for personnel involved in quality assuring consent applications
• ensure consistency between consent to assess panels.

To clarify any industry or sector-specific requirements, organisations seeking consent to assess should contact the relevant SSB.

Applications for Consent to Assess must comply with Consent to Assess against Standards on the Directory of Assessment Standards Rules 2011.

Moderation Requirements

The Moderation Requirements section of a CMR sets out the national external moderation requirements for the unit standards listed in the scope of the CMR.

It is the responsibility of organisations with consent to assess and SSBs to ensure that assessors participate in the SSB's national external moderation system. SSBs may seek to verify this.

How CMRs are developed

An SSB, such as an Industry Training Organisation, National Qualifications Services or Maori Qualifications Services, prepares a CMR for an industry or sector.

Service Delivery is the NZQA business unit that coordinates the quality assurance process for CMRs. For information on the Service Delivery quality assurance process, see Quality assurance and approval of CMRs.