Field          Social Sciences

 

Review of Psychology Level 3 unit standards

 

Unit standards

Subfield

Domain

ID

Social Science Studies

Psychology

27693-27697

 

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

 

New Registration date                                                                                 December 2017

 

Date new versions published                                                                    November 2017

 

Planned review date                                                                                    December 2019

 

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 were available for use in 2017, and achievement standards at Level 3 have been developed and will be 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.

 

Between April and June 2017, stakeholders were invited to feedback on the draft Psychology standards matrix and Level 3 achievement standards.  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 externally for 1 standard (3.5) and internally for 4 standards (3.1-3.4) at Levels 3.

 

Main changes resulting from the review

 

·         All NZC Level 8 (NZQF Level 3) outcomes derived from the NZC will now be assessed using achievement standards.

 

Unit standards categorised as category C or D expire at the end of December 2019

 

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 exclusions listed below will apply.

 

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

 

Achievement standard

Excluded against each of these standards

AS91872

27694

AS91873

27696

AS91874

27693

AS91875

27695

AS91876

27697

 

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 achievement standard with a new ID

D

Unit standard will expire and not be replaced

 

Social Sciences > Social Science Studies > Psychology

ID

Ref

Title

Level

Credit

Review Category

27693

 

 

AS91874

 

 

 

3.3

Conduct a supervised psychological research activity and evaluate its methodology

Conduct independent psychological research with consultation

3

 

 

3

6

 

 

6

C

27694

 

 

AS91872

 

 

 

3.1

Evaluate the use of different approaches in the context of a debate within psychology

Analyse the interaction between psychological approaches

3

 

 

3

6

 

 

6

C

27695

 

 

AS91875

 

 

 

3.4

Evaluate how theories are applied within a field of psychological practice

Analyse how theories are applied within a field of psychological practice

3

 

 

3

4

 

 

4

C

27696

 

 

 

AS91873

 

 

 

 

3.2

Evaluate the significance of a key piece of research to the understanding of human behaviour

Analyse the significance of a key piece of research and its impact on society

3

 

 

 

3

6

 

 

 

3

C

27697

 

AS91876

 

 

3.5

Evaluate issues in psychological studies

Analyse a significant issue in psychological practice [Externally Assessed]

3

 

3

4

 

3

C

 

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 were developed and were available for use in 2017.  The Level 3 standards have been developed 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 2014-2018.

 

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 2018 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 has been on-going from 2016 and will continue through to 2018 for the initial implementation of Level 3 standards.

 

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.