Field          Social Sciences

 

Review of Psychology Levels 1-2 unit standards

 

Unit standards

Subfield

Domain

ID

Social Science Studies

Psychology

27254-27258, 27688-27692

 

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

 

New Registration date                                                                                 December 2016

 

Date new versions published                                                                    November 2016

 

Planned review date                                                                                    December 2018

 

Summary of review and consultation process

 

Since 2012, learning outcomes in Psychology have been assessed via unit standards offered at NZQF Levels 1-3, with Achieved, Merit and Excellence grades available.

 

The Ministry of Education has developed Psychology achievement standards following Ministry approval of the business case submitted in 2015 by the New Zealand Association of Psychology Teachers (NZAPT).  Achievement standards at Levels 1 and 2 are available for use in 2017, and achievement standards at Level 3 will be developed and available for use in 2018.

 

A transition period has been made available to allow users to transition to the achievement standards.  Exclusions will apply where there is a duplication of the learning outcomes between unit standards and new achievement standards.

 

Sector consultation

 

In June 2016, schools and interested parties were invited to provide feedback, via an online survey, on the draft Psychology achievement standards at Levels 1 and 2, as well as a draft matrix for Psychology derived from The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) at Level 3.  The majority of respondents agreed with the key outcomes outlined in the draft matrix and with the decision for evidence of students’ learning to be assessed internally in all 10 standards at Levels 1 and 2.

 

Main changes resulting from the review

 

·         All NZC Level 6 and 7 (NZQF Level 1 and 2) outcomes derived from the NZC will now be assessed using achievement standards.

·         Two of the Level 1 and 2 unit standards in this review have been designated expiring without replacement.

·         Eight Level 1 and 2 unit standards have been replaced by achievement standards.

 

Unit standards categorised as category C or D expire at the end of December 2017.

 

For a detailed description of the review of, and the changes to, the Psychology standards see the Appendix at the end of this report.

 

Impact of changes on Exclusions List

 

The exclusion listed below will apply.

 

For transition purposes, the following exclusions will apply for new achievement standards.

 

Achievement standard

Excluded against each of these standards

AS91839

27255

AS91841

27254

AS91842

27256

AS91843

27258

AS91844

27689

AS91846

27691

AS91847

27690

AS91848

27692

 

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.

 

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 achievement standard with a new ID

D

Standard will expire and not be replaced

 

Social Sciences > Social Science Studies > Psychology

ID

Ref

Title

Level

Credit

Review Category

27254

 

 

AS91841

 

 

 

1.3

Demonstrate understanding of the scientific method used in psychological research

Demonstrate understanding of the methods used in psychological research

1

 

 

1

4

 

 

4

C

27255

AS91839

 

1.1

Describe approaches to psychology

Demonstrate understanding of psychological approaches

1

1

6

6

C

27256

 

 

AS91842

 

 

 

1.4

Demonstrate understanding of the application of theory to fields of psychological practice

Demonstrate understanding of how theory is used in fields of psychological practice

1

 

 

1

6

 

 

5

C

27257

 

Demonstrate understanding of key pieces of psychological research

1

4

D

27258

 

 

 

AS91843

 

 

 

 

1.5

Demonstrate understanding of the key principles of the Code of Ethics for psychologists working in Aotearoa/New Zealand

Demonstrate understanding of ethical principles in psychological practice in Aotearoa/New Zealand

1

 

 

 

1

4

 

 

 

3

C

27688

 

Analyse key features in a published piece of experimental psychological research

2

4

D

27689

 

AS91844

 

 

2.1

Analyse different approaches used in psychology for explaining behaviour

Examine different psychological approaches used to explain a behaviour

2

 

2

6

 

6

C

27690

 

 

AS91847

 

 

 

2.4

Analyse the application of theories in fields of psychological practice to scenarios

Examine how theory is used in fields of psychological practice

2

 

 

2

6

 

 

5

C

27691

 

AS91846

 

 

2.3

Conduct, analyse, and report on a psychological research activity

Conduct psychological research with guidance

2

 

2

6

 

4

C

27692

 

AS91848

 

 

2.5

Analyse ethical standards in psychological practice

Examine ethical issues in psychological practice

2

 

2

4

 

3

C

AS91840

1.2

Demonstrate understanding of a psychological debate

1

3

New

AS91845

2.2

Examine how a psychological debate has changed over time

2

3

New

 

Appendix

 

Development of Psychology Achievement Standards

 

Rationale and process for developing Psychology achievement standards aligned to The New Zealand Curriculum

 

Psychology has been taught in New Zealand schools in some form since 1986 and is part of the Social Sciences learning area in the NZC.  There has been an increase in the use of unit standards at Levels 2 and 3 over the last 3 years.  The NZAPT business case identified the need for achievement standards as the assessment medium to support learner pathways into university/tertiary education and to also support further growth in the subject.

 

The Ministry of Education (MoE) has developed Psychology achievement standards derived from outcomes in the Social Sciences learning area of The New Zealand Curriculum (NZC) following Ministry approval of the business case submitted by New Zealand Association of Psychology Teachers (NZAPT) in October 2015.  The Ministry of Education has worked in partnership with NZAPT, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) and psychology academics to support this development.

 

The scope of this project includes Levels 1-3 achievement standards, assessment resources and the supporting NZC resources.  Levels 1 and 2 standards have been developed and are available for use in 2017, and Level 3 standards will be developed and available for use in 2018.

 

The availability of Psychology achievement standards enables the education system to be more responsive to students’ learning aspirations, thus contributing to the Ministry goal of every student achieving education success, as set out in the Ministry’s Statement of Intent 2013-2017.

 

Psychology has identified key concepts and learning outcomes that align with Social Sciences, builds capabilities for living and lifelong learning and has strong links to the key competencies in the NZC.

 

The teaching and learning of Psychology is guided by:

·         The Psychology Secondary Teaching and Learning Guides published on TKI.  These include learning objectives at curriculum Levels 6-8 that have been developed to describe the intended outcomes (note these will be revised prior to 2017 to align with the newly developed achievement standards).  They are available at: http://seniorsecondary.tki.org.nz/Social-sciences/Psychology.

 

Advisory Group

 

The development of the Psychology achievement standards has been guided by an advisory group with representation from NZAPT, Victoria University, a Psychology textbook writer, Social Sciences facilitator for the Secondary Student Achievement PLD contract, University of Canterbury, the MoE and NZQA.

 

Teacher involvement in the trialling of the Psychology assessment has been well supported by NZAPT.  NZAPT will also support the wider Psychology teaching community to understand these achievement standards and the assessment requirements.  This support will be on-going from 2016 to 2017 for the trialling process and in 2017/2018 for the initial implementation stage.

 

Addressing Duplication

 

In some cases, these curriculum derived achievement standards duplicate the outcomes assessed through the graded unit standards.  Where this is the case, the achievement standard is deemed to replace the unit standard and both standards have been added to the exclusions list.