About this report
The following report gives feedback to assist assessors with general issues and trends that have been identified during external moderation of the internally assessed standards in 2023. It also provides further insights from moderation material viewed throughout the year and outlines the Assessor Support available for Business Studies.
On this page
Insights
91384: Carry out, with consultation, an innovative and sustainable business activity
Performance overview:
Evidence seen for this standard in 2023 indicates that basing assessment on student-run enterprises remains a popular choice for teachers and their students. The 9-credit value of this standard reflects the need for a substantial portfolio of evidence that represents planning/selling/post-selling review that is in advance of the requirements of standards 90842 and 90848.
There has been an increase in submissions that go beyond the traditional business plan generated in Microsoft Word, to the use of a range of items documenting planning for the business activities. These documents/processes include a Lean Canvas overview, innovation and sustainability objectives, a Gantt chart, financial models, a workflow diagram of operations/production and records of discussions with stakeholders and consultants. Regardless of the format used for each section of planning, there should be cohesion and connection between the parts of the evidence.
Practices that need strengthening:
Consultation is a focus of the standard. The consultant/s should be identified and the extent to which their advice was followed, or not, needs to be discussed within planning documentation or the student’s review. While a Dragons’ Den-type pitch is not a requirement of the standard, Dragons’ responses to such a pitch may be used to satisfy the need to act on consultation advice.
A common issue seen in moderation is the lack of SMART objectives, such as the projected/ desired units and value of sales and profit, and specific targets for environmental, social and cultural sustainability. Where objectives lack SMART characteristics, students are unable to measure actual performance against planned performance in their post-selling reviews.
91382: Develop a marketing plan for a new or existing product
Performance overview:
In 2023, as in previous years, a significant number of moderation grade changes occurred at the Merit/Excellence boundary. Excellence requires students to provide examples of integrating appropriate business knowledge across relevant sections of the evidence.
Curriculum level 8 business knowledge relevant to marketing includes the use of the Boston matrix (if the context is an existing product), Ansoff matrix, Porter’s Five Forces model or a PESTEL analysis. The students should choose tools that are reflective of their intended marketing objectives.
Practices that need strengthening:
The marketing strategy should enhance or mitigate the findings of the marketing audit. Students should integrate learnings from the tools they have used to inform their marketing strategies, the marketing budget and contingency plans. For example, where Porter’s model identifies high rivalry among existing firms and a high threat of substitutes, the student’s marketing plan and budget should reflect these threats.
Similarly, if the Boston matrix has identified that a new product is a problem child with low market share in a high growth industry, the marketing budget should reflect that a high amount would need to be spent to gain market share and become a shining star. The contingency plan would also detail actions that could be taken if star status is not achieved.
Assessor Support
Online
NZQA’s learning management system (Pūtake) offers 150+ easy to access courses, materials and products. These are designed to support teachers, as assessors, to improve their assessment of NCEA standards.
Online, subject-specific or generic, bite-sized learning modules and short courses are now available to complement the traditional face-to-face workshops that NZQA offers. These online courses can be accessed using your Education Sector Logon.
Online Making Assessor Judgements workshops are also available throughout the year. These workshops are structured to guide teachers to improve their understanding of each grade level by examining several full samples of student work. The following standards are available for enrolment in 2024:
- 90847: Investigate the application of motivation theory in a business
- 91383: Analyse a human resource issue affecting businesses
Feedback from teachers for these workshops indicates that more than 74% of participants agreed or strongly agreed that the content in the module was beneficial:
“Although I was a bit skeptical that this was going to provide me with better understanding of the standard (and marking it), I found I've picked up more certainty about making judgements about the work my students might produce. I'm also more secure about guiding them through the selection of their topic and setting it up so that they are able to complete a successful investigation.”
Exemplars of student evidence for all standards at each level of achievement are available on the NZQA subject page for Business Studies.
NZQA will continue to provide generic modules and workshops designed to improve general assessment practice. The following modules and workshops will be available in 2024:
- Assessment Approaches, an online workshop exploring different methods of assessment
- Culturally Responsive Assessment
- Assessment Guidance – Reviewing Your Practice
- Tāku Reo, Tāku Mahi – My voice, My work, a guide to managing authenticity
- Why Less is More, a guide to reducing volumes of student evidence
- Integrated Assessment
- Modes of Assessment
- Alternative Assessment
- Acknowledging Sources
“This was great! I liked that I could choose from different scenarios, see how sources are used and the way the student answered the question.”
“Reassuring and very thorough. Easy to use/follow.”
We will also continue to offer the Transforming Assessment Praxis programme, an online workshop relevant to all subjects which helps assessors learn about re-contextualising assessment resources and collecting evidence in different ways, in order to better meet the needs of students.
Check the NCEA subject pages on the NZQA website regularly, as more online modules, workshops and courses will be added throughout 2024.
Assessor Practice Tool
The Assessor Practice Tool (APT) will be used to support assessors with the new NCEA standards from 2024 onwards. The purpose of the APT is to allow assessors to practice making assessment judgements and immediately receive feedback on their judgements from a moderation panel. The APT will initially have material for some existing Level 3 standards, with moderated samples for the new Level 1 NCEA standard subjects being added as material becomes available. Material for the new Level 2 and Level 3 standards will be added over time, and all material for the old NCEA standards will be archived.
Material is currently available for:
- 90846: Conduct market research for a new or existing product
- 91382: Develop a marketing plan for a new or existing product
Workshops and presentations
The Best Practice Workshops offered by Assessment and Moderation continue to be viewed by the sector as significantly contributing to improved assessor practice:
“I thought the workshop was very clear and helpful, there were a lot of varied examples of ākonga work discussed and opportunity for participants to discuss and ask questions.”
We offer several options of online workshops and presentations for events to support assessors with the assessment of internally assessed standards. These can be subject-specific, or general assessment support, and tailored to the audience. Virtual presentation slots, online workshops or webinars can be requested to provide targeted support to local, regional or national audiences.