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 Dance.
On this page
Insights
91589: Choreograph a dance to develop and resolve ideas
Performance overview:
This standard involves choreographing a dance to develop and resolve ideas. The Conditions of Assessment for this standard allow for the work to be collaborative.
Student evidence that used a concise movement vocabulary where movement ideas were explored in depth (e.g. via repetition and variation), rather than continually including more ideas, resulted in work that was more synthesised and fully resolved as required for Excellence. This also helped ensure that all movement looked like it belonged to the same dance, contributing to the overall choreographic unity.
Other successful ways unity was achieved in the choreography was by using complementary movements and shapes throughout the dance, as well as thoughtful and creative use of repetition and variation, purposeful phrasing, and effective use of space, partnering and groupings. At Merit and Excellence, the purposeful use of structure to build to a climax was often evident.
Practices that need strengthening:
Communicating ideas in movement is at the core of this choreography standard, and sophisticated principles such as abstraction, dynamics, contrast, flow, unity and climax are essential. The process of developing the dance presented for assessment of this standard should be observed closely by the teacher, but it is the dance product itself that is the basis for the assessment. For Excellence this means that the final dance communicates, refines and synthesises ideas in response to a dance question or challenge set by the teacher.
Some choreographic intentions did not allow students to meet the requirements of the standard, and broad intentions were more difficult to clearly communicate in movement. Intentions must be refined and narrowed down to a succinct idea to show through movement, and synthesising of ideas should be seen in the integration of ideas into a new whole.
91593: Demonstrate understanding of dance performance practices
Performance overview:
This standard requires student to research, explore and apply a range of dance practices. For the higher grades of the standard, students must justify the selection of a range of performance practices and evaluate their effects and purposes in enhancing the communication and expression of the dance.
Student responses that referenced dance terminology (e.g. used the dance elements or devices) to shape the movement descriptions and evaluate their effects and purposes tended to demonstrate more detailed understanding of key concepts.
When done well, many students were able to use evidence produced for this standard as a starting point for a section of their Scholarship dance portfolio.
Practices that need strengthening:
Task activities must give sufficient opportunity to demonstrate knowledge at Merit and Excellence. When only some tasks are chosen from those suggested in the TKI resources, careful selection must be made so that all aspects of the standard are covered.
The standard assesses understanding of how chosen practices inform and relate to the actual performance rather than the choreographic intention, e.g. it is not how the costume represents the choreographic intention, but how the costume affects the dancer’s performance of the movement. Tasks may need to be adjusted to ensure students can show evidence at the higher grade levels. A further example would be that annotating images and gestures and describing the intention without any evaluative task to identify, justify and discuss the success of the practice does not provide sufficient opportunity for students to fulfil the requirements of the standard.
It is essential that the terms used to assess this standard are explicitly taught, e.g. ‘explain’, ‘apply’, ‘justify’ and ‘evaluate’. Some evidence shows students are mostly 'describing', but often not in detail. Greater direction in the task instructions may help to elicit responses that provide multiple examples (a range) and perspectives. Students need to ensure that responses are reflective and not narrative.
91592: Perform a repertoire of contrasting dances
Performance overview:
This standard assesses sustained performance skills over time and the ability to hold the movement of a three-dance repertoire and reproduce it as required for different purposes, audiences, venues, etc. Successful task design and materials for this standard reflect this intention, and clearly indicate to students the occasions the dances in the repertoire will be performed, e.g. dance showcase over three nights, school production, assemblies, Polyfest events. It is not appropriate for this standard to be awarded based on only one performance of each dance.
Practices that need strengthening:
For moderation purposes, one recording of each of the three dances must be submitted. It is not necessary to send video evidence of multiple performance opportunities – this should be evident in the task materials.
It is important for moderation purposes that students are clearly identified in each of the three dances. This is especially important in group dances, where information on clothing, appearance, features, positioning on stage or a combination of all may assist the moderator to accurately confirm grades. Students on left/right sides of the stage should be further described, i.e. clarify the dancer’s position from the perspective of viewer or performer. Time codes can also help locate the student and their work within the performance.
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.
Subject-specific course/workshops available for Dance are:
- Repertoire in Dance
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:
- 91206: Choreograph a solo dance to communicate an intention
- 91588: Produce a dance to realise a concept
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 Classical 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:
- 91589: Choreograph a dance to develop and resolve ideas
- 91593: Demonstrate understanding of dance performance practices
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.