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 Physical Education.
On this page
Insights
91505: Examine contemporary leadership principles applied in physical activity contexts
Performance overview:
This standard involves examining contemporary leadership principles applied in physical activity contexts. The common leadership principles examined at level 8 of the curriculum are transactional, affiliative, transformational and situational, rather than democratic, laissez faire and autocratic.
Mātauranga Māori contexts such as whanaungatanga, manaakitanga and Tuakana-Teina provided effective examples of Kaupapa Māori leadership principles used and applied in a range of physical activity contexts. There was use of a range of modes including podcasts, vlogs and written reflections to collate evidence towards the standard, showcasing good Universal Design for Learning (UDL) practice.
Practices that need strengthening:
Common issues seen by moderators are around the Merit/Excellence grade boundary. For example, students need to question and challenge the identified assumptions about contemporary leadership principles to attain Excellence.
Successful students at Excellence level can clearly identify and challenge assumptions relating to their leadership principles and physical activity contexts and question. Successful evidence challenged these assumptions from different perspectives, rather than just identifying them. For example, “this is not always the case…”, “I can challenge this assumption because the research shows…”, “this could be challenged more whether…”, “I wonder what would have been the result if I had tried a different strategy” or “I wonder if my assumptions are untrue because I saw…”
Students should specifically relate the assumptions to the selected contemporary leadership principles and explain (or insert relevant word from standard) how these are applied, in order to draw coherent and insightful conclusions about their relevance and suitability for physical activity contexts.
91501: Demonstrate quality performance of a physical activity in an applied setting
Performance overview:
The standard requires a focus on demonstrating quality performance in an applied setting at level 8 of the curriculum. This involves the effective demonstration of a wide range of elements and skills to participate proficiently in physical activity in an applied setting. Examples of good practice include a collection of assessor evidence of the elements and skills demonstrated over a period of time, e.g. observation dates and teacher commentary. This allows for fair and valid judgements to be made when determining consistency.
A good practice seen by moderators is where teachers create their own assessment resources, such as exploring a range of ngā taonga tākaro as an applied context. For instance, a new kī o rahi resource developed for standard 91501. It is positive to see teachers contributing to the 'Guidelines' for this standard.
Practices that need strengthening:
Out-of-date assessment resources (including expired performance rubrics) invalidate the assessment, limit student achievement, result in student evidence not meeting the standard, and do not reflect the requirements of the current standard.
It is good practice to check each year that the rubric for the chosen physical activity is the most up to date, before assessing. The ‘Guidelines for assessing against standard 91501’ document can be accessed from the Physical Education subject page on the NZQA website.
Before developing a new rubric, assessors should check that an existing and current rubric is available in the 'Guidelines for assessing against standard 91501' document. These ‘Guidelines’ help to ensure national consistency. When assessors develop their own assessment resources for a new physical activity context for this standard, the elements and skills should be defined in more detail and reflect level 8 of the curriculum. Consulting with a range of professionals or sporting bodies will assist in determining the appropriate elements and skills at the appropriate level for each criterion.
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 Physical Education include:
- 91335: Linking Outcomes to Aims
- 91789: The process of devising strategies
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:
- 91500: Evaluate the effectiveness of a performance improvement programme
- 91502: Examine a current physical activity event, trend, or issue and its impact on New Zealand society
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 Physical Education.
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:
- 92016: Apply movement strategies in an applied setting
- 92017: Demonstrate understanding of the application of strategies in movement
- 91504: Analyse issues in safety management for outdoor activity to devise safety management strategies
- 91505: Examine contemporary leadership principles applied in physical activity contexts
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.