AS 91940 Annotated exemplars

This annotated exemplar is intended for teacher use only. Annotated exemplars consist of student evidence, with commentary, to explain key parts of a standard. These help teachers make assessment judgements at the grade boundaries.

Download all exemplars and commentary [PDF, 670 KB]

Level 1 Drama assessment resources (external link) - NCEA.education

For Achieved, the student needs to explore the function of theatre Aotearoa. This involves engaging with a range of drama components to connect with an audience, and describing the use of drama to heal, educate, entertain, or transform society.

As part of the evidence provided, students must demonstrate manaakitanga in the context of exploring theatre Aotearoa.

This student plays the role of Mr McRae, and enters the scene at 02:06 holding a green bottle.

They have demonstrated manaakitanga and provided explicit examples. For example, they link this concept as a te ao Māori worldview by identifying it as an important aspect of Māori culture. They describe how they demonstrated manaakitanga through their character, subtext, and interaction with peers.

They have engaged with drama components such as role, accent, and costume in their performance of an extract from ‘Astroman’ by Albert Belz.

They describe the use of drama to educate, entertain, and heal. For example, they describe how the themes of racism, bullying, and the importance of family are present in the play, but also that people who support you can sometimes not be a blood relative.

Achieved video

For Merit, the student needs to explain the function of theatre Aotearoa. This involves explaining connections between the performance and the use of drama to heal, educate, entertain, or transform society.

As part of the evidence provided, students must demonstrate manaakitanga in the context of exploring theatre Aotearoa.

This student wears a white lei (garland) and plays the role of To’aga. They have demonstrated manaakitanga and provided explicit examples. For example, they link this concept to a te ao Māori worldview by identifying it as a Māori value of kindness, care, and respect. They identify the link between how manaakitanga is expressed through their approach to the process and their performance.

They have explored and performed an extract from ‘Dawn Raids’ by Oscar Kightely. They have explained how they used drama components and made connections between the performance and the use of drama to educate. For example, how they considered the use of techniques to reflect the age and physicality of the role, and chose technologies appropriate for the context.

They make connections to racism towards Māori people in the past, and how they have learned that Pacific peoples who were imported to work in New Zealand were arrested and checked for residency because they were ‘brown’. They explain that “although it is natural for rivalry amongst cultures, it became ridiculous and racist” during this time.

They explain that the performance educates about the suffering that Pacific people went through in the 1970’s in New Zealand when they were arrested and deported.

Merit video

For Excellence, the student needs to examine the function of theatre Aotearoa. This involves reflecting on how the performance promotes the use of drama to heal, educate, entertain, or transform society, and on the performance and its relationship to communities today.

As part of the evidence provided, students must demonstrate manaakitanga in the context of exploring theatre Aotearoa.

This student has explored an extract of ‘Shuriken’ by Vincent O’Sullivan. The student has demonstrated manaakitanga and explicit evidence in the audio file. For example, they describe how they showed manaakitanga by showing respect to their peers, helping them if they were struggling, and showing reciprocity when providing and accepting ideas to improve the performance.

They have performed in the role of the ‘Adjutant’ (wearing a buttoned-up army blazer in the back row) in a scene which includes content of a largely unknown significant New Zealand historical event at a Japanese prisoner-of-war camp in the North Island. They consider the way this performance promotes the use of drama to educate and transform society in terms of the playwright’s purpose for writing the play.

For example, they refer to the notion that the awareness of this event may prevent it from happening again, and that it is the telling of a true event in New Zealand history that people “do not want to hear”. They also consider the performance educating society on two levels: teaching them about this event, and the deeper lesson to all mankind about war.

They reflect on the performance in terms of how it resonates with communities now. They link themes of racism and prejudice that are in the performance to examples that are seen in New Zealand today. They consider current wars across the globe, for example in Ukraine, and reflect that mankind hasn’t learned their lesson about war, and it is greed and a lack of seeing others’ perspectives that results in wars continuing in the world today.

The use of slow motion during the climatic action, followed by chorus of voice by the whole cast, cools the 'frame distance' to the historical event for the audience and students involved. Use of stylised freezeframes (as detailed in the script's stage directions) would further 'frame distance' the action.

Excellence video 1

Excellence video 2