Quality assurance and listing of unit standards

Standard-setting bodies (SSBs) are responsible for the quality of unit standards submitted to Service Delivery for listing on the Directory of Assessment Standards (DAS). The following information outlines the requirements of the quality assurance process for unit standards, which normally involves:

• an evaluation of the unit standard against the quality assurance criteria
• a compliance check, to ensure that any issues raised in the evaluation have been addressed.

Quality assurance criteria

The Quality assurance criteria for the listing of unit standards on the Directory of Assessment Standards focus on unit standards being fit for purpose, assessable, and capable of consistent interpretation. Read the criteria in Word (DOC, 229KB) or PDF format.

On 1 August 2010, the Quality assurance criteria for the listing of unit standards on the Directory of Assessment Standards replaced the Registration Criteria for National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Unit Standards, which had been reviewed.

The replacement criteria reflect the replacement of the NQF and the Register with the New Zealand Qualifications Framework (NZQF) and the Directory of Assessment Standards (DAS). Other changes include the specification of criteria for Merit and Excellence grades, and changes to the terminology and format of unit standards.

The main changes to terminology are that:

• Special Notes were renamed Explanatory notes
• Elements were renamed Outcomes
• Performance Criteria were renamed Evidence requirements.

The Summary of feedback received for the Review of the Registration Criteria for National Qualifications Framework (NQF) Unit Standards (PDF, 86KB) details the feedback received during the consultation round for this review and explains how this feedback informed the development of the replacement criteria.

The unit standard template (DOC, 65KB) and the Formatting guide for unit standards have been updated for consistency with the replacement criteria. The new template must be used from 1 November 2010.

Documentation requirements

Applications for the listing of unit standards must include documents that provide evidence of SSB endorsement, consultation, and quality assurance of the new or changed unit standards. The documentation requirements depend on whether the unit standards are new or have been reviewed or revised.

The following forms, templates, and guidelines may be downloaded. These are the templates for the four types of document you will need to send to Service Delivery depending on the type of submission.

Please ensure that you download the latest versions of templates and guidelines each time you develop new unit standards or change existing ones.

Electronic copies of all documents must be submitted to Service Delivery. Additional hard copy submission is optional.

Registration of a new unit standard

An application for a new unit standard must include:

• details of the unit standard on a separate document - unit standard template (DOC, 65KB)
• a completed application form (DOT, 136KB)
• a completed checklist for the evaluation of unit standards, this is the SSB's confirmation that it has quality assured the unit standards against the quality assurance criteria - checklist (DOC, 184KB) 
• a completed change report (optional for new unit standards) - change report (DOC, 71KB).

Revision of a unit standard

Unit standards may be revised if they require amendments prior to a full review. A revision might involve corrections; updating legislation or references to other unit standards; or making minor changes to improve assessability.

Depending on the changes, consultation with some stakeholders will have occurred, but not the full consultation required for a review. An application for a revision of unit standards must include:

• details of the unit standard on a separate document - unit standard template (DOC, 65KB)
• a completed application form (DOT, 136KB)
• a completed checklist for the evaluation of unit standards, this is the SSB's confirmation that it has quality assured the unit standards against the quality assurance criteria - checklist (DOC, 184KB) 
• a completed change report - change report (DOC, 71KB)
• annotated copies (by hand or electronically) of the registered versions of the unit standards, to indicate the changes. If tracked changes have been used, please submit with 'original showing mark-up'.

Review of a unit standard

A review of a unit standard involves full industry and stakeholder consultation. An application for a review of unit standards, must include:

• details of the unit standard on a separate document - unit standard template (DOC, 65KB)
• a completed application form (DOT, 136KB)
• a completed checklist for the evaluation of unit standards, this is the SSB's confirmation that it has quality assured the unit standards against the quality assurance criteria - checklist (DOC, 184KB). Please note that the checklist is required only where changes have been made to the title, level, credit value, classification or assessment parameters of the standard. 
• a completed change report - change report (DOC, 71KB)
• annotated copies (by hand or electronically) of the registered versions of the unit standards, to indicate the changes. If tracked changes have been used, please submit with 'original showing mark-up'. 

Roll-over of a unit standard

If unit standards require an extension of their period of registration, the process is called roll-over. An application for unit standard roll-over must include:

• a completed application form (DOT, 136KB)
• a completed change report (DOC, 71KB). 

Change of expiry date of expiring and expired unit standards

Expiry dates of expiring or expired unit standards can be changed if industry still needs the standards for a limited time or to allow candidates to complete a qualification. An application for change of expiry date must include:

• a completed application form (DOT, 136KB)
• a completed change report (DOC, 71KB).

Resources

• For help with completing unit standard documents, see the Formatting guide for unit standards
• For help with completing change reports, see the Formatting and content guidelines (PDF, 64KB)
• The Framework Registration Style Guide (PDF, 259KB) deals with matters of punctuation and expression.
• The Guidance and Examples for NQF Unit Standards (PDF, 641KB) publication provides guidance and examples for compiling and presenting the contents of unit standards.

Documents based on the previous registration criteria will be updated over time to reflect the new quality assurance criteria. These documents include the Formatting and content guidelines, the Framework Registration Style Guide, and the Guidance and Examples for NQF Unit Standards.

Macrons in unit standard documents

To include macrons in unit standards, you can download a Maori keyboard driver from the downloads section of the Microsoft New Zealand website.