Prepare for an MNA visit

NZQA conducts a visit to interview staff about the assessment systems their school uses. Schools will normally be notified in February if there is to be a visit during that year and will need to prepare ahead of the visit. Outlined below are the roles, tasks and information sought during the visit.

Roles

A Principal will nominate a Principal's Nominee to ensure the school engages in the external moderation process and meets all requirements. The role of a Principal's Nominee can be found in the Assessment and Examination Rules and Procedures for Secondary Schools (3.1).

Individual teachers will be involved in the MNA visit if they are:

• a Head of Department, Head of Faculty, or Teacher in Charge; and
• the Principal has indicated their learning area will be reviewed.

Plan for the visit

NZQA requests the schedule for the school visit. The school plans the visit as follows.

1. The Principal's Nominee prepares the schedule of meetings and sends the schedule to the NZQA School Relationship Manager prior to the visit.
2. The Principal's Nominee or Principal selects the learning areas/departments to be reviewed.
3. The Principal's Nominee discusses with Heads of Department the requirements of the visit and documentation sought.
4. The Heads of Department schedule meetings with staff and arrange venues (usually HoD offices/workrooms).

Prepare for the visit

The school prepares for the visit as follows.

1. The Principal's Nominee assembles school-level documentation:
   • assessment policy and procedures
   • record keeping
   • record-keeping procedures.
2. The Principal's Nominee sends the school's assessment policy and procedures to the NZQA School Relationship Manager prior to the visit.
3. The Heads of Department assemble department-level documentation:
   • course outlines and/or assessment statements provided to students
   • samples of assessment material
   • evidence of the quality assurance processes used
   • analysis of previous years' results
   • example of how students' results are recorded
   • external moderation reports from the previous year and evidence of follow-up action.

Information sought about assessment systems

School Relationship Managers ask a range of questions relating to assessment systems. For the range of areas in which information is sought and evidence is required, download Information Sought About School Assessment Systems (PDF, 33KB).