Responses to your questions about grades
1. Why are unexpected event grades so important this year?
Unexpected event grades are particularly important this year as there is a risk that a change in COVID-19 Alert Levels could require some or all students to stay home.
- Under COVID-19 Alert Levels 2 or 3, some students (e.g. immune-compromised students) would be unable to attend examinations.
- Under Alert Level 4, schools and examination centres would be closed, and unexpected event grades would apply for all examinations.
However, the ability for students to receive derived grades or unexpected event grades is important every year.
2. What are unexpected event grades?
Unexpected event grades are provided to NZQA to be used instead of an examination result if an unexpected event is declared by NZQA. The grades are derived from authentic, standard-specific school-based evidence gathered during the year. They can be used for derived grades or unexpected event grades. Unexpected event grades were previously known as ‘emergency grades’.
3. What is an unexpected event?
An unexpected event is a significant event beyond students’ control such as:
- exam centres are unable to operate because the region is in lockdown due to a COVID-19 outbreak
- a local incident such as earthquake damage or a flood means that students are unable to travel to the examination centre
- students’ performance in an examination is impaired by an incident such as a repeated faulty fire alarm.
Information about unexpected event grades can be found on the NZQA website.
4. Why do schools need to collect and supply these grades?
If students cannot sit their NCEA examination (or their performance is impaired) and there is no grade supplied or available for that subject, then the students will receive no grade for that examination.
5. How do schools collect these grades, and what quality assurance is required?
Schools have traditionally used their practice exams or formal classroom end of topic tests to gather evidence for derived or unexpected event grades for externally assessed standards.
To help address the disruption from COVID-19, NZQA provided evidence gathering templates to support teachers in gathering evidence from the learning process throughout the year. Templates can be downloaded from the subject pages of NZQA’s website.
6. How and when do schools provide these grades to NZQA?
Schools provide these grades to NZQA in their monthly data files. While the last opportunity to report the grades is in the 9 December data file, the evidence must be collected before the NCEA examination for that subject.
You can check the grades that would be used if an Unexpected Event is declared using the Unexpected Event Grade Report in your school’s NZQA Provider Login.
7. When would unexpected event grades be used?
NZQA can invoke an unexpected event if there is a significant event which affects a group of students.
NZQA can invoke the unexpected event process before or during the examination period, depending on what the event is, and how much impact it is expected to have.
When invoking the unexpected event process, NZQA will confirm which students are eligible and will use the unexpected event grades provided in the school’s data file.
8. What’s the difference between a derived grade and an unexpected event grade?
For an unexpected event grade, the school makes the application on behalf of a group of students or NZQA declares an unexpected event.
For a derived grade the student or parent makes an application and provides the supporting evidence.
The criteria for applying derived grades and unexpected event grades are set out on NZQA’s website.
9. Do students still need to sit examinations if there is an unexpected event?
Students are expected to complete their examination(s) where this is possible. They often do better in the actual examination than their unexpected event grade might suggest.
Where the student attends the examination, the better of the unexpected event grade or examination grade is awarded.
10. Can these grades be used if students miss NZ Scholarship exams?
No. New Zealand Scholarship is a competitive award, designed to assess knowledge at a specific point in time.
He patai? If you have further questions around Unexpected Event Grades, please contact your School Relationship Manager.