Qualifications and standards

Social Skills qualification

The New Zealand Certificate in Skills for Living for Supported Learners (Level 1) with an optional strand in Skills for Working [Ref: 2853] was listed on the New Zealand Qualifications Framework in November 2015.

Qualification

This Social Skills qualification is an entry level qualification intended for people who require some form of support with their learning either through additional resources, specialised equipment or adapted teaching programmes. They are people with learning disabilities and include those with intellectual disability.

Careerforce (Community Support Services ITO Ltd) is qualification developer for the qualification.

Programme approval

Education organisations will need to obtain programme approval and/or provider accreditation to deliver an approved programme before they can offer the qualification.

Tertiary education organisations must apply through the usual application process using their education online profile and following the NZQA Guidelines for applying for approval of programmes leading to New Zealand qualifications at Levels 1-6 on the NZQF and the accreditation of organisations to provide approved programmes (PDF, 536KB).

Secondary schools wishing to provide a programme of study leading to a New Zealand Certificate must apply to NZQA for programme approval and/or accreditation:

http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/providers-partners/assessment-and-moderation-of-standards/managing-national-assessment-in-schools/new-zealand-certificates-for-secondary-schools/.

Consistency reviews

Any organisation that has graduates from a programme leading to the Social Skills qualification, is required to attend a consistency review. The scheduled consistency review date for the qualification is 8 April 2019. Refer to the schedule for assuring national consistency.

For information on preparing for and participating in a consistency review go to:

http://www.nzqa.govt.nz/providers-partners/consistency-grad-outcomes/prepare-for-consistency-review/.

Supported Learning unit standards

To provide guidance and/or assistance for programme developers, unit standards from domain Supported Learning - Personal, Community and Work Skills were reviewed by NZQA, National Qualifications Services to align to graduate profile outcomes of the New Zealand Certificate in Skills for Living for Supported Learners (Level 1) with an optional strand in Skills for Working [Ref: 2853].

Unit standards may be incorporated into programmes of study and used to provide assessment evidence towards the achievement of qualification outcomes. They may be used to assess parts or all of the qualification outcomes.

For organisations with consent to assess against Supported Learning unit standards, the standards can be incorporated, as appropriate, in programmes of study. To find out which assessment standards an organisation has consent to assess for, refer to the scope for Providers.

Contact

For enquiries about the Social Skills qualification, please contact the qualifications developer, Careerforce (Community Support Services ITO Ltd), at: info@careerforce.org.nz.

If you wish to receive email updates, and/or make contact regarding Supported Learning unit standards, please email NQS@nzqa.govt.nz.