Review of Geography Level 1 achievement and unit standards

Field Social Sciences

Review of Geography Level 1 achievement and unit standards

Unit standards

Subfield	Domain	ID
Social Science Studies	Geography	5082-5087, 11082

Achievement standards

Domain	ID	Subject reference
Geography	90202-90208	Geography 1.1-1.7

The Ministry of Education and NZQA National Qualifications Services have completed a review of the achievement and unit standards listed above.

New Registration date November 2010

Date new versions published November 2010

Planned review date December 2014

Summary of review and consultation process

In 2008 the Ministry of Education (MoE) and NZQA began to review achievement and unit standards in light of the revised New Zealand Curriculum (NZC). This Alignment of Standards (AoS) review also addressed duplication of outcomes, credit parity, fairness, consistency, and coherence. The AoS review was guided by the revised NZC itself and the Standards Review Guidelines. A copy of the NZC is available at http://nzcurriculum.tki.org.nz/Curriculum-documents/The-New-Zealand-Curriculum.

Teacher subject associations were involved in the review, and draft achievement standards were the focus of wide consultation, especially with secondary schools and teachers. Extensive resources, including student exemplars, were also developed to support these standards, and are available on the MoE and/or the NZQA websites.

The review of unit standards included consultation with tertiary providers to assess continued relevance and likely future use of the standards. Unit standards that duplicate achievement standard outcomes and those without the likelihood of future tertiary use were recommended for expiry.

National consultation was undertaken in 2009, with the results analysed by Research New Zealand. The responses were generally positive.

The review of unit and achievement standards at Level 1 was completed in time for implementation in schools in 2011. Standards at Levels 2 and 3 will be implemented in 2012 and 2013 respectively.

Main changes resulting from the review

· All NZC level 6 (NZQF Level 1) outcomes derived from the NZC are now assessed using achievement standards, and there are no longer any unit standards linked to the NZC.

· Existing achievement standards were reviewed and new achievement standards were developed to align with the NZC. See list below.

· Grading criteria for achievement standards were reviewed in accordance with the Standards Review Guidelines.

· Unit standards that recognised similar outcomes as achievement standards were recommended for expiry. See Review Categories table below.

For a detailed description of the review of, and the changes to, the Geography standards see appendix 1 at the end of this report.

Impact on Accreditation and Moderation Action Plan (AMAP)

All new achievement standards have been registered on AMAP 0233.

Impact of changes on NCEA Exclusions List

For transition purposes, the following exclusions will apply for new achievement standards. This transition will apply until December 2011 only.

New achievement standard	Existing achievement or unit standard
91007	5083
91008	5084
91009	5085
91011	5082, 90206
91012	5086, 90207
91013	5087, 90208

Review Categories and changes to classification, title, level, and credits

The following summary shows the changes made to the standards as a result of the review. All changes are in bold. Where a new or a new version of an externally assessed achievement standard is registered, the following designation appears after the title [Externally Assessed].

Key to review category
A	Dates changed, but no other changes are made - the new version of the standard carries the same Id and a new version number
B	Changes made, but the overall outcome remains the same - the new version of the standard carries the same Id and a new version number
C	Major changes that necessitate the registration of a replacement standard with a new Id
D	Standard will expire and not be replaced

Externally assessed achievement standards categorised as category C or D expire at the end of

December 2010

Internally assessed achievement standards and unit standards categorised as category C or D expire at the end of

December 2011

Unit standards categorised as category C or D expire at the end of

December 2011

Social Sciences > Social Science Studies > Geography

ID	Title	Level	Credit	Review Category
5082 90206 91011	Carry out geographic inquiry with direction Carry out and present directed geographic research Conduct geographic research, with direction	1 1 1	6 5 4	C C
5083 91007	Describe processes and interactions in a natural hazard Demonstrate geographic understanding of environments that have been shaped by extreme natural event(s) [Externally Assessed]	1 1	4 4	C
5084 91008	Describe and explain the characteristics, patterns, and processes of a population Demonstrate geographic understanding of population concepts [Externally assessed]	1 1	4 4	C
5085 91009	Describe and explain resource use Demonstrate geographic understanding of the sustainable use of an environment	1 1	4 3	C
5086 90207 91012	Examine a current geographic issue Describe a contemporary geographic issue and evaluate courses of action Describe aspects of a contemporary New Zealand geographic issue	1 1 1	3 3 3	C C
5087 90208 91013	Describe a global pattern and the process(es) and links within it Describe a global geographic topic Describe aspects of a geographic topic at a global scale	1 1 1	3 3 3	C C
11082	Consider a work of fiction from a geographic perspective	1	2	D
90202	Describe an extreme natural event and the human response	1	3	D
90203	Describe population patterns, processes and issues	1	3	D
90204	Describe resource use in a farming or mining context	1	3	D
90205	Apply skills and ideas with direction in a geographic context	1	4	D
91010	Apply concepts and basic geographic skills to demonstrate understanding of a given environment [Externally assessed]	1	4	New
91014	Apply spatial analysis, with direction, to solve a geographic problem	1	3	New

Appendix

Development of Geography Achievement Standards

Process of Aligning Standards with The New Zealand Curriculum

The matrix and achievement standards have been derived from the Geography achievement objectives in the Social Science learning area of The New Zealand Curriculum. There is also a close relationship with the material developed for the Teaching and Learning Guide for Geography. The titles in the matrix include key words and phrases taken from the achievement objectives but not exclusively so, as it were felt that this would be too constraining for effective assessment in some instances.

Addressing Duplication

Careful consideration of the unit standards showed that there was either significant duplication with the achievement standards or the unit standards were rendered redundant by the changes in the new curriculum. Therefore some unit standards have been recommended for expiry.

Addressing Credit Parity

The decisions made regarding credit parity were based on the guideline of one credit representing ten notional hours of learning time. In some instances the number of credits currently allocated has been amended in line with the above guideline. This change has been endorsed by positive sector feedback.

External and Internal Assessment

The reduction of external standards to a maximum of three was made to ensure that students have at least one hour to provide their best evidence towards a standard. This is in line with the Standards Review Principles Paper. At each level there is now a balance of three internal and three external standards.

What Has Changed?

There are a number of changes in the matrix and the standard titles, and the creation of a new standard. These changes have been made to reflect the new curriculum, to provide a balance between internal and external assessment opportunities, and to show clearer progression from one level to the next.

A standard on the application of spatial analysis has been added and focuses on using geospatial techniques to solve problems.

Many of the L1 geography achievement standards previously had more than one achievement criterion. Experience over the last several years has indicated that where there is more than one criterion it has been difficult to award grades in a holistic way - especially where a student satisfied one criterion and not another. The reviewed standards all now have a single criterion that focuses on the main outcome for the standard. This should enable grades to be awarded in a more holistic way.

The draft reviewed standards underwent consultation in June 2009. The feedback from this consultation contributed to refinements of the standards. These have included:

· more detailed differentiation between grade levels - terms also need to be clearly defined

· a clarification of ENs and explanation of terms

· greater consistency in terminology across the suite of standards.

In standard 91007 (1.1) the focus has changed to reflect the curriculum - ie that the environments have been shaped by processes and that people interact with the environments.

In standard 91009 (1.3) the focus is now on how people use the environment rather than looking at resources. It aligns with AO 6.2 “understand how people interact with natural and cultural environments and that this interaction has consequences,” which the previous draft version did not do.

The essence of the standard now is focusing on how and why people use a natural environment for an economic purpose, the consequences of this use of the environment on people and places and whether the use is sustainable or otherwise.

Key to review category

A