Nau mai, haere mai!
Welcome to the May 2022 newsletter EmaiLink 3.
On this page
Key dates
| Date | Event |
|---|---|
| 9 May | Exam Centre Manager nominations open online |
| 27 May | Return signed Exam Centre Memoranda of Understanding for Tēina/Tuākana kura and schools |
| 1 June | Data file submission due – used to prepare Candidate NSN cards |
| 2 June | Digital Technologies & Hangarau Matihiko Common Assessment Tasks (DCAT) and Mathematics (MCAT) Level 1, 91027–Departments start to confirm entries.
NZQA advertises for external markers. Online applications open |
| 6 June | Queen’s Birthday |
| 15 June | Final date to submit Exam Centre Memorandum of Agreement online |
| 17 June | Exam Centre Manager nominations close online |
| 22 June | Candidate NSN cards sent to schools |
| 24 June | Matariki |
| 1 July | Data file submissions due – Correct any errors or warnings from previous submissions and send any additional candidate information in this file
SAC entitlements to external standards from now |
| 8 July | Term 2 ends |
| 1 August | Final date for DPE entries |
| 15 Aug – 30 Sep | Digital Practice Exams available on the NZQA Assessment Master platform |
General administration and data
1 June Data File Submission
Please review the error messages from your data file submission and make the necessary amendments to your system, then generate and submit a new file. Ensure that your Data File is submitted no later than 2 June. Any students whose enrolments are submitted after that date will not receive an NSN card.
Your NZQA Data Liaison and Records Officer will monitor this and email you about any errors as they occur. Please refer to the SMS User Guide and Web Entries User Guide. These can be found through your Provider Login, under Data File Submission and provide guidance on how to resolve the error.
Keep Contact Details Current
We need to be able to contact the right people, so please keep the contact details of your school up to date. Guidelines explaining how to do this are included in our Guidelines to assist schools to update their contact information with NZQA online.
Guidelines to assist schools to update their contact information with NZQA online [PDF, 448 KB]
Update of NZQA ESL Access Guide
Information on the levels of access to your Provider Login page that you can give staff has been updated and is available in our guide.
School NZQA provider login access quick reference guide [PDF, 131 KB]
SENCO Details
Please ensure that your SENCO details are updated so that they can receive the regular SAC Updates. You might wish to consider adding your Learning Support Coordinator as a SAC contact as well.
Leading National Assessment seminars
Leading National Assessment Seminars will commence in June. An email has been sent to you, indicating the exact date for the seminar in your region.
The purpose of LNA seminars is to provide Principals Nominees and Senior Leaders with updated information on assessment for national qualifications and a forum for professional discussion and support.
The theme of this year’s seminars is quality assurance of assessment.
Additional seminars will also run in various areas around the country. These will cover:
- Customer experience
- Managing National Assessment review
- Designing a better NZQA website experience
Your invitation letter will outline which of these additional seminars will run in your region.
While there is no charge for this seminar, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority is unable to pay for travel or teacher relief.
Contact your School Relationship Manager for any late registrations.
Internal assessment administration
Alternative Evidence Gathering Templates
In line with the communication sent to you on 10 March 2022, the Alternative Evidence Gathering Templates (AEGT) for internally assessed standards have been reviewed and updated on the NCEA Subject pages.
NCEA Subject Resources (external link)
The revised templates give more clarity around their use, evidence requirements for awarding grades and internal grade verification requirements.
These templates must only be used to record student achievement and report results where remote assessment is the only practical option, and the collection of direct assessment evidence from students has not been at all possible. More information on this and other assessment advice may be found in ‘Assessment in Uncertain Times’.
Assessment in Uncertain Times March 2022 [DOCX, 685 KB]
Two versions of the templates are now available for each standard - an Alternative Evidence Gathering Template (AEGT) and an Alternative Evidence Gathering Spreadsheet (AEGS). AEGT (Word template) is for recording individual student achievement for up to six students, while AEGS (Excel spreadsheet) is to record large numbers of students. If you are submitting student work to NZQA for external moderation, please use the Word template – AEGT.
Further questions regarding Alternative Evidence Gathering Templates and their use should be directed to your School Relationship Manager.
External exams administration
No External Entries for 2022?
If your school will not be making any external entries for 2022, please email this information by Friday 17 June 2022 to examcentremanagement@nzqa.govt.nz
Exam Centre Manager (ECM) Nominations for 2022
The online facility for you to nominate your Exam Centre Manager for this year’s external exams will be available from Monday 9 May until Friday 17 June.
Exam Centre Memorandum of Understanding
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) is required between a kura/school (Kura Tēina) that is not an exam centre and a kura/school (Kura Tuākana) where the candidates will sit external exams.
The Kura Tēina should email the signed agreement no later than Friday 12 August 2022 to examcentremanagement@nzqa.govt.nz once it has been signed by both parties. Details about the exam centre memorandum of understanding are included in the 2022 Examination Centre Memorandum of Understanding.
2022 Examination Centre Memorandum of Understanding [DOCX, 29 KB]
Examination Calculator Use
The scientific and graphing calculators listed on the website calculator page are approved for the following NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship examination subjects: Accounting, Agricultural and Horticultural Science, Biology, Business Studies, Chemistry, Economics, Geography, Mathematics, Calculus, Statistics, Physics, Science.
Approved Calculator List (external link)
Calculators are not permitted in other NCEA and New Zealand Scholarship examinations.
2022 Digital practice exams
Digital practice exams (DPEs) using NZQA’s online platform (Assessment Master) will be available to schools between 15 August and 30 September.
Information regarding what’s involved in DPEs, available resources and where to get help can be found on our website. You might wish to bookmark this page.
NZQA digital practice exams 2022 (external link)
Make entries for DPEs in your SMS, or in the School Portal for Web Entry schools (those without an SMS). DPE entries should be submitted to NZQA by data file as soon as possible, from now until 1 August. This is a new process and is no longer dependent on your digital entries for end of year exams.
To ensure students are entered into the digital practice exam, please ensure you have ticked the DPE flag in your SMS.
Please complete the Digital Practice Exam Schedule form in the Key Indicators section of your NZQA Provider Login. Identify your DPE key contact and when in Term 3 you intend to run practice exams. This will assist NZQA in managing support for DPEs.
See survey feedback from the 2021 digital practice exams in the summary report and summary dashboard:
Digital Practice Exams (DPE) 2021 User Experience Evaluation Summary Report
2021 Digital Practice Exams ‒ Student experience
Student Login for All Digital Assessments
Students will use their NZQA Students and Learners login details to access all digital assessments. This includes:
- Digital practice exams,
- NCEA RAS subjects,
- Literacy/Numeracy|Te Reo Matatini me te Pāngarau
If NZQA does not hold a relevant entry, students will not be able to log in and access the exam.
Before these assessments commence, please ensure students have login details. They can check their usernames and passwords on our login options page. Alternatively, students who do not have an account should be assisted to create an account.
If students have any problems creating or using their login, they should call the NZQA Contact Centre on 0800 697 296 or use the chat bot on far right of the Students and Learners Login page.
Review of Achievement Standards (RAS)
As new draft standards are piloted, they are added to all schools' Base Scope of Consent to Assess. NZQA will only accept entries and results for the draft standards from schools who have Ministry of Education approval to participate in the pilots.
If you are not piloting a subject, please ensure these new standards are not included in school courses and entries.
We will monitor entries and results reported by all schools to ensure we do not receive entries and results submitted in error by non-participating schools.
Data file errors for entries in standrards without Consent to assess
If you enter students for a standard for which your provider code does not have Consent to Assess, you will now receive notification of a data error and these entries will be rejected. All other entries included in your data file will be processed by NZQA.
For more information, see Assessment Matters, A2022/8:
Data file errors for entries in standards without consent to assess A2022/8
Information for Staff
Teachers new to NCEA – Updated Resources
The Teachers New to NCEA handbook and its accompanying PowerPoint can be found on our website. The resources are suited to beginning teachers and teachers who have assessed other curricula/qualifications. They are best used as part of an induction programme, but teachers can use the resources for reference, or self-guided PLD.
Resources for Principal's Nominee (external link)
This resource has four sections:
- Introduction to the NZQF, NCEA and New Zealand awards.
- Navigating your Provider Login and the NZQA website.
- Credible assessment practice.
- The Moderation Cycle.
The link above also takes you to:
- The Student and Learner Login PowerPoint
- The Principal’s Nominee handbook, and
- The Assessment in Uncertain Times
Ākonga Māori Equity Of Access To Academic Outcomes – Project
NZQA is committed to achieving equitable educational achievement for ākonga Māori. Te Kōkiritanga 2020-2023 document, under Te Mana Taurite, states that equity and excellence for ākonga Māori is informed by data, evidence and best practice.
NZQA has been looking at Māori achievement in kura auraki (English-medium schools) to ascertain what it is that is working in schools where this achievement has been improving over recent years. A team of three School Relationship Managers will be visiting 25 kura auraki from the Bay of Islands to Ōtautahi/Christchurch during Terms 2 and 3 2022. They are meeting with school leaders and rangatahi Māori to hear success stories. Twenty-five schools were selected by analysing Māori achievement data from 2017 to 2021, focusing on a positive change in at least three out of four indicators from Level 1, Level 2, Level 3, and UE pass rates. These school visits have been asking school leaders:
- what initiatives, programmes or courses have had a positive effect on ākonga Māori achievement
- how the school has managed these initiatives and programmes through COVID times
- what they are planning to do regarding the introduction of the new NCEA standards being piloted right now.
It has been a privilege to speak with ākonga Māori who have benefited from these initiatives, diving deeper into how they have felt as Māori within the mainstream system of education.
The results will be published later in the year once all the interviews are concluded, but to date, it is obvious to NZQA that there are some wonderful things happening out there for ākonga Māori, both on the individual level but also within schools, nationwide.
Reminders
Feedback on Moderation Reports
In 2021, a Feedback button was introduced, alongside the Query and Appeal buttons. This is intended as an opportunity for you to provide NZQA with feedback regarding the detail, clarity, and helpfulness of the moderation report. Clicking on the feedback button will open a pop-up window in which you can select your responses from the drop downs alongside each question. When you click on Submit in this window it will close and save your responses.
PN Checklist
- Complete the May data file submission
- Check that student details are accurate in preparation for the 1 June data file submission
- Nominate your ECM online between 9 May and 17 June
- Complete the online Memorandum of Agreement for rebate by 15 June
- Inform staff that applications to be exam markers open online on 2 June
- Complete the digital Practice Exam Schedule form - Find it in the Key Indicators section of your Provider Login.
- Update key contact details if required
- Tuākana/Tēina/kura and schools complete and send their MoU to NZQA
- Ensure students have login details before participating in digital assessment
- Register for a Leading National Assessment seminar