Outcomes of the Biennial Consultation on the New Zealand Scholarship Subject List - A2021/26

Outcomes of the Biennial Consultation on the New Zealand Scholarship Subject List

Overview

There will be no changes in the New Zealand Scholarship list for 2022.

Decisions

The following decisions have been endorsed by NZQA’s Technical Overview Group Assessment and the NZQA Board:

• Sculpture will remain on the list for 2022 and 2023.This will be reviewed in two years when the revised Level 3 subject list for Visual Arts has been established.
• Latin will be removed from the list after the final year of assessment at Level 3 in 2025.This enables a student studying Latin at Level 1 in 2022 to have a pathway to NZ Scholarship through to 2025.
• Psychology does not yet meet the list criteria due to the limited opportunities currently for external assessment.
• Digital Technologies does not yet meet the list criteria. Digital Technologies is offered through the Technology Scholarship performance standard.
• Te Ao Haka does not yet meet the list criteria. Once the pilot outcomes of the draft standards for Levels 1, 2 and 3 are evaluated, we will review whether Te Ao Haka meets the criteria for inclusion on the list. This would occur in conjunction with the listing of the Level 3 Te Ao Haka standards on the Directory of Assessment Standards.
• Lea Faka-Tonga does not yet meet the list criteria. 2021 is the first year that the externally assessed standards are being assessed by examination. The possible inclusion of Lea Faka-Tonga on the list will again be reviewed against the NZ Scholarship criteria when the 2021 examination round is concluded.

Background

Every two years NZQA consults with the education sector and other interested groups about the subjects assessed in New Zealand Scholarship to ensure that the list is relevant and meets the sector’s expectation.

The planned consultation was delayed from 2020 to 2021 due to the disruptions caused by COVID-19. The last consultation took place in 2018.

NZQA sought feedback from 10 May to 18 June 2021 on subjects to removed (Latin and Sculpture) from the current New Zealand Scholarship Subject List. Respondents were asked if any other subjects should be added to the list.

NZQA received a total of 150 submissions, of which 74 requested that Sculpture be maintained on the list and 33 requested that Latin be maintained on the list. Sixteen submissions supported the proposal of adding Psychology to the list. There were six suggestions to add two other subjects (Lea Faka-Tonga and Digital Technologies) and three supporting adding Te Ao Haka to the list. Some submissions commented on more than one subject and others suggested subjects for removal.

Feedback received was considered and each subject raised by the review was assessed against the criteria for a subject to be included on the New Zealand Scholarship Subject List.

The next biennial review is planned for 2023 for subjects to be included in the list from 2025.