Clarification details
Updated March 2026. This document has been updated in its entirety to address new issues that have arisen from moderation.
The purpose of clarifications
We create clarification documents to help people understand the current requirements of achievement standards. Clarifications do not introduce new criteria, change the intent of the standard, or change what we expect from assessment.
These documents unpack and explain the language and intent of the standard so people interpret and apply the standard consistently. We provide examples or guidance as illustrations only. They are not prescriptions or requirements.
For official requirements, always refer to the current version of the achievement standard as published by NZQA.
Focus of the standard
This standard assesses students’ ability to develop, structure, and sustain ideas in a visual text. This means that students focus primarily on the visual mode. The text must be ‘stand-alone’, rather than a component within an oral presentation or an illustration of a written text type. Verbal features such as voiceover or written text should not be used as a commentary or explanation of the ideas in a visual text.
Text type
Choice of text type is important, as the text must include both visual components (such as images, sequence, symbols, colour) and verbal components (such as dialogue or quotations). Visual and verbal language features appropriate to that text type must be used deliberately, precisely, and with control.
Suitable text types at level 7 include:
- Digital presentations and visual essays.
- Graphic stories that focus primarily on the visual mode, e.g. manga, fantasy, narrative/memoir.
- Static image sequences.
- Dramatic performances.
Developing ideas
- The key words of the standard are ‘develop and sustain ideas’, therefore the visual text requires a sequence or series of images.
- Ideas can sometimes be sufficiently developed verbally, but insufficiently developed visually. For example, a slideshow that includes paragraphs of written text and images that illustrate the written content is unlikely to meet the standard.
- Ideas may be developed and sustained in the verbal component of a dramatic performance, e.g. dialogue, lyrics, or screen text, but the presentation might have limited use of visual language features.
- Designing a cover for a videogame, record album, or a book is unlikely to allow students to sustain developed ideas.
- Text types such as storyboards are usually used for formative planning and design. These text types may not give students the opportunity to meet the requirements for crafting and control of language features.
Evidence of a ‘crafted and controlled’ visual text
Students may use ‘found’ images or images generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) in their visual texts. However, these images must not simply replicate or communicate the same ideas already expressed in a source visual text, such as a film or website.
Any found or AI generated images must be manipulated so that the final product is original. All images, whether sourced or generated, must still meet the requirements of Explanatory Notes 7 and 8.
This means students must deliberately select, craft, and systematically rework visual and verbal features to develop, sustain, and structure ideas at level 7 of the curriculum.