Providers and partners

Consent to assess

Consent to assess allows education organisations to assess unit or achievement standards and award credit for them.

This could be individual standards or all the standards up to a specified level in a domain listed on the Directory of Assessment Standards.

The standards may be used in micro-credentials, training schemes or programmes leading to qualifications listed at levels 1-7 on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework.

If you are a secondary school, see the Secondary school consent to assess page.

Which Consent and Moderation Requirements (CMR) document is the standard listed under?

Who is the standard setting body (SSB) for that standard?

Who can apply for consent to assess?

The following education organisations can apply for consent to assess:

Private training organisations (PTEs)

If you are already registered as a private training establishment (PTE) then you can apply for consent to assess.

If you are applying for registration as a PTE, you can make a separate application for consent to assess (and anything else) at the same time.

We will process all your related applications at the same time. However, we need to approve your PTE registration before finalising any other approvals.

Te Pūkenga and its subsidiaries

Te Pūkenga and its subsidiaries can apply for consent to assess if a programme, micro-credential or training scheme includes unit standards.

Secondary schools and kura

New Zealand secondary schools have a base scope of assessment (BSAS). You do not have to apply for consent to assess for the unit and achievement standards on this list.

If you want to assess standards that are not on the BSAS, you need to apply for an extension of consent to assess.

For more information see Secondary school consent to assess.

Workforce development councils

If you are the standard setting body for the standards you want to assess, you do not need to apply for consent to assess.

If your organisation is not the standard setting body for the standards, you need to apply to us and meet all the relevant criteria.

Rules and guidelines

Applications for consent to assess must comply with Consent to Assess against Standards on the Directory of Assessment and Skill Standards Rules 2022.

Consent to assess is granted to organisations that meet:

all the general and industry or sector-specific requirements of the relevant Consent and Moderation Requirements (CMR)
the national external moderation system requirements of the standard-setting body responsible for the unit standards.

Guidelines for consent to assess

We have guidelines to help you apply for consent to assess: Guidelines for applying for consent to assess standards listed on the Directory of Assessment Standards.

These guidelines take you through the process and give detailed information on what to include in your application.

How do I apply?

You need to do some checks and contact the relevant standard setting body before applying for consent to assess.

Preparing to apply

Establish what consent to assess you need

The consent to assess you need is the scope of your application. It should align with your organisation's overall strategic direction and the training you want to deliver.

The scope can cover individual unit or achievement standards or all the standards up to a specified level in domains on the Directory of Assessment Standards.

Check the requirements of the Consent and Moderation Requirements (CMR)

The CMR lists the specific requirements for consent to assess, and details of the national external moderation system.

You will need to demonstrate that you can meet all these requirements in your application.

Check the level of standard-setting body involvement

If you are applying for level 1 and 2 standards, this generally means that we (and sometimes the relevant industry) will evaluate your documentation.

If you are applying for level 3 standards and above, this usually means that we and industry representatives will evaluate your documentation and may visit your organisation.

Some applications also require teaching specialists to evaluate your documentation and visit you.

Contact the relevant standard setting body (SSB)

Contact the relevant standard-setting body and get its support for your application. This support must be in writing. This step is not required if the SSB is one of those within NZQA: National Qualifications Services or Māori Qualifications Services.

The SSB could be a workforce development council or one of the SSBs within NZQA.

If the SSB waives an industry visit, the waiver and the reason for it must be included in the letter.

We will only consider applications that include the required engagement with the SSB.

Collect all the information for your application

Confirm all the details for the online application, including contact information and details about your organisation.

Check you have all the required documentation, ready to upload.

Submitting your application

Use the TEO login to submit your application.

If you don’t have a login, or don’t have the permissions you need to make the application, go to the Education Services request access page and find the appropriate page for your organisation. You can arrange access through this page, but it might take a few days to come through.

Once you have logged into your TEO profile, fill in the online application:

Select the LOGIN button in the top right corner of this web page.
Select the appropriate organisation type and complete your login details.
Choose 'TEO Applications'.
Create an application.
Select ’Evaluate under QA Māori’ if the standards are in field Māori. Otherwise select ‘Evaluate under QA Division’.
Select ‘Consent to Assess Standards’.
Click on contact details. The contact details page will be pre-populated with your organisation’s contact details. You should make any changes necessary to ensure the details are appropriate for the consent to assess application.
On the domain consents page select ‘Yes’ if you are applying for all standards at the specified level or below and select the domain, otherwise select ‘No’.
On the ‘Consent to Assess Standards’ page select ‘Yes’ if you are applying for individual standards and add them, otherwise select ‘No’.

10. On the supporting documents page, attach and upload the following:

a. QMS Excerpts that demonstrate you meet the requirements of the relevant CMR

b. Letter of support from the appropriate workforce development council

c. Any other supporting evidence (e.g. curriculum vitae and person specification for staff involved in assessment)

11. Submit.

What happens after I submit the application?

After you have submitted your application, we start looking at your documentation. We evaluate it against the requirements for consent to assess.

If your application is missing key information, we will ask you to provide the relevant information.

If, however, a large amount of information is missing, we decline your application without requesting any more information..

A site visit for some applications

There may be a site visit from any of the following groups:

NZQA
the SSB
industry representatives
teaching specialists.

Check with the evaluator and/or SSB what they are looking for during the visit.

Possible results

Your application is approved

We can approve the application and grant consent for some or all of the scope you asked for.

We base this decision on:

all available information
the requirements of the relevant CMR
the support of the standard-setting body
whether the application meets all requirements of the Consent to assess against standards on the Directory of Assessment Standards Rules 2021.

Once you’ve met all the requirements, we grant consent to assess and update your organisation's details on the NZQA website.

Your application is declined

We may decline your application if it doesn’t meet the requirements.

If you have not engaged with the relevant standard-setting body about the application, we may also decline the application.

How long does it take?

We will process your application within 45 working days.

This does not include the time when we have asked for more information (i.e. request for further information (RFI)). During an RFI, the application is on hold.

How much does it cost?

We charge $190 per hour (GST exclusive) for evaluating your application.

The hourly charge does not include actual travel and accommodation expenses for NZQA staff where a visit is required.

What will it cost in total?

The full cost of an application for consent to assess depends on several factors, including:

the extent of standard-setting body involvement
the scope of consent to assess you have applied for
whether the application is establishing a new scope or extending an existing consent to assess.

Further information

If you want more information, contact the Approvals and Accreditation team.