Quality assurance arrangements for Adult and Community Education (ACE) providers

Adult Community and Education (ACE) providers submit a signed attestation annually, to verify that they continue to meet the requirements of ACE quality assurance. The yearly attestation cycle is different for each ACE provider. ACE providers submit their completed attestation within 90 days of their financial year-end.

What is attestation?

Attestation is where an organisation verifies their compliance with a set of requirements. The attestation questions are based on the six quality assurance areas outlined in NZQA's Quality Assurance Arrangements for Providers of Adult and Community Education (2005) (PDF, 162KB). This verification is often done by a person unconnected with the organisation.

Note: In 2011, a new format that uses more evaluative questions will be developed.

The six quality assurance areas

1. Goals and objectives
   The ACE provider has goals and objectives specifically for ACE, and systems for their review.
2. Systems to achieve goals and objectives
   The ACE provider has a documented quality management system and uses it to achieve its ACE goals and objectives.
3. Personnel
   The ACE provider recruits, manages and develops its paid and unpaid personnel to achieve its ACE goals and objectives.
4. Physical and learning resources
   The ACE provider has adequate and appropriate physical and learning resources to achieve its ACE goals and objectives.
5. Learner information, needs and objectives
   The ACE provider supplies adequate and appropriate information to ACE learners, identifies learners' needs and reviews learning objectives.
6. Development, delivery and review of ACE activities
   The ACE provider adequately and appropriately designs, develops, delivers and reviews its ACE activities consistent with its ACE goals and objectives, and in response to identified community learning needs.

NZQA monitoring

NZQA's Quality Assurance Division is responsible for monitoring ACE providers' quality assurance through the annual reports and attestations these providers submit. NZQA may consider implementing external evaluation and reviews for ACE providers from 2012.

Help available

These arrangements were implemented at the end of 2009 as the result of a consultation conducted by NZQA.

NZQA will support and help build the capability of ACE providers. If concerns are raised through the annual reporting and attestation process, NZQA will endeavour to work with the ACE provider concerned. Where fair and reasonable, this will be undertaken at no additional cost to the ACE provider.

This process may involve assistance from either NZQA's Provider Development and Support or Quality Development business unit (within the Quality Assurance Division) to meet the requirements of an action plan.