Clarification details
Updated December 2017. This document has been updated to address issues that have arisen from moderation.
Focus of the standard
Students demonstrate understanding by explaining how and/or why an aspect of New Zealand society or culture is represented. The focus is on evaluating the media context and how/why meaning is created in texts through the representation.
Assessing the standard
In addition to the media texts which construct the representation, students should find sources which support their reasons for how and/or why the representation is the way it is. At level 8 of the curriculum, students need to engage with a variety of texts to analyse and evaluate the impact of the representation of the aspect of New Zealand culture or society.
For example, in addition to anti-drink driving advertisements, a discussion of the representation of the drink driving culture in New Zealand might also include a survey of drivers, historical data and/or a feature article or news report on the economic impact of drink driving as evidence for the rationale of how and why the representation is presented the way it is.
Using evidence
It is important that the discussion is focused on the representation of the aspect of New Zealand society or culture. The texts should be used as evidence supporting the points made about the representation of an aspect of New Zealand culture and society, rather than a close reading of individual representations in each text.
The analysis and evaluation required for Merit and Excellence should apply to the impact of the overall representation in shaping or reflecting New Zealand society rather than an analysis of each text. Texts chosen as evidence should be relevant to the representation and aspect of New Zealand culture or society being discussed.
Exclusion of exemplar material
Students should be careful to avoid repeating material found in the NZQA exemplars. For example, while students may still explore the ‘kiwi male’ as their chosen aspect of New Zealand society, they may need to find other sources of evidence for this representation, rather than use the specific texts and support material identified in the examples online.