Clarification details
Updated March 2025. This document has been updated in its entirety to address new issues that have arisen from moderation.
Kotahitanga
The student responses must explicitly refer to kotahitanga and link to how the student applied each strategy. For example, what the student specifically said or did when applying each strategy that led to kotahitanga being promoted in movement. The discussion should focus on unity, togetherness, solidarity, or collective action rather than on winning. Providing an initial definition of kotahitanga could be the basis for further discussion about how kotahitanga was promoted.
Strategies
Authentic strategies that provide opportunity to promote kotahitanga should be applied. For example, effective communication, manaakitanga, or tuakana teina rather than teamwork, self-management, fair play, or social responsibility. Respect and supporting and encouraging others could be an aspect of manaakitanga or whanaungatanga. When applying cooperation, students should be describing how they cooperated with others that led to kotahitanga being promoted, rather than telling others what to do.
Movement
Students should apply their strategies when working in a group in movement. For example, specifically during a basketball game or drills, or when trekking, rather than putting up tents, cooking, solving puzzles, or picking up rubbish. For the Adventure Based Learning (ABL) activities, selection of appropriate activities that involve movement is required.
Personal examples
The application of the strategies and how kotahitanga is promoted must be supported with specific examples from the student’s own experience. For example, specifically what the student said or did themselves (‘I’) when applying their strategies in movement, rather than what others said or did (‘we/they’).
Demonstrate understanding
For Achieved, student responses must provide reasons for applying strategies in movement prior to applying them and describe the applied strategies, using personal examples that led to kotahitanga being promoted.
For Merit, student responses must discuss how and why the strategies were applied, using personal examples that led to kotahitanga being promoted. For example, the ‘how’ describes what occurred when the student applied each strategy. The discussion of ‘why’ the strategies were applied should occur after applying them and use words such as ‘because’, ‘this meant’, ‘this allowed’, or ‘this resulted in’.
For Excellence, student responses must draw explicit conclusions about the effectiveness of how the strategies were applied that led to kotahitanga being promoted, using personal examples from their own experiences. This should include drawing conclusions about how effective the strategies were when applying them, rather than considering what the student may do, or do differently, in the future.