Video transcript
Kia ora and welcome.
This webcast is intended to provide guidance and advice on the authenticity requirements for internally assessed Visual Arts standards.
This webcast covers:
- using appropriated material
- understanding Copyright and Intellectual Property
- tracking and acknowledging other sources, and
- utilising sourced imagery and digital processes.
Appropriation is a long-accepted strategy in Visual Arts for satire, parody, and social commentary.
Guidance for students when re-contexualising material in line with their creative intention is necessary.
Cultural appropriation involves iconography, taonga, and artifacts with deep associated meaning or tikanga.
In some visual arts contexts, cultural appropriation is valid and meaningful. Guidance from kaiako is advised to avoid cultural misappropriation or tokenism.
Misuse of Copyrighted images has increased with internet accessibility.
Visual Arts students need basic knowledge of laws that protect the Intellectual Property of creatives, including the commercial restrictions around publishing trademarks beyond the classroom.
Schools should endeavour to protect students’ Intellectual Property, especially when publishing their work digitally.
Educational permissions information is available at Copyright Licensing New Zealand
Sources for all materials should be clearly attributed to ensure authenticity using simple documentation practices, including:
- labels that indicate student-generated, original imagery
- artists’ names or titles of artworks
- any URLs for imagery sourced online.
Deliberately copying elements of an artist’s work can be useful to show knowledge of conventions.
In these examples, annotations acknowledge the use of artists’ compositional conventions, appropriated text, and explain how artists’ motifs and stylistic devices have influenced student work.
Inadvertent plagiarism can result from omitting attributions.
Kaiako can pre-empt this by outlining good research practices at the start of activities, including tracking templates to record URLs, and encouraging the labelling of artworks and use of quotation marks.
Acknowledging verbal information from experts is also important.
Student generated source imagery is best practice where possible.
Self-generated photographs and drawings allow students to fully control and modify their source imagery.
Collaging from found images is common practice to enable inaccessible subject matter to be utilised.
Using stock photos is an accepted practice in some visual arts fields, such as Graphic Design, where progressive modifications allow the student’s design capability to be assessed, not the stock image itself.
Visual arts study differs from the commercial sector where copyright, royalties, and caveats apply to stock images.
Open-source imagery should be used where possible, and clearly attributed.
Metadata and reverse image searches that have been useful for authentication may no longer suffice.
Current best practices include:
- explicit instruction about how generative AI and digital techniques may be used
- regular checkpoints throughout the creative process, and
- thorough documentation for authenticity purposes.
Fully documenting digital techniques and AI generated imagery is strongly recommended, such as snapshots of digital processes, cataloguing component parts, and annotating work pre and post digital manipulation.
For more guidance and examples of authenticity practices, see the links on the NZQA website.
There are also helpful resources on the Copyright Licensing New Zealand site as well as the Intellectual Property Office of New Zealand.
Authenticity (4:17 mins)
Helpful guidance and advice on maintaining the authenticity requirements for internal Visual Arts standards.
For more information related to authenticity in Visual Arts assessment, please refer to:
Video transcript
Kia ora, and welcome.
This webcast will explore a variety of appropriate research modes for the Visual Arts inquiry standard, 91912. Visual Arts inquiry, also known as practice based research, involves using a variety of exploration and response modes to gather, record, process, and reflect upon imagery and information about a topic.
The purpose of the practice based research is to accumulate the visual material and knowledge of the topic to support the personal artmaking that occurs in later standards.
Drawing media that's used for a variety of specific recording purposes (for example quick sketches) can capture the essential structure of objects, while more detailed observation records the specifics of form, tone, and pattern.
Purposeful selection of media can include pen or pencil for structure and textual elements, ink or monochrome for tonal values, and paint for colour properties.
Scrapbooking involves a range of resource material and information from a variety of sources.
Personal material includes student generated and family photographs, internet images, labels, tickets, etc.
Social or historical pages may include found objects, documents, maps, illustrations, and diagrams related to a time, place, or event.
High quality images support future art making, and brief annotations about the significance of imagery provide evidence of the personal reflection needed for higher levels of achievement.
Annotations serve a variety of purposes. At the level of Achieved, annotations typically involve labels, names, and descriptions.
At Merit, annotations include summaries of histories and/or narratives, and explanations of the key features of objects.
Excellence annotations often include reflection about personal relationships of objects and imagery, and/or connections between selected contexts. However, the focus should be on visual evidence rather than extended written responses.
Photography for research investigations differs from photography for art making purposes in terms of its exploratory intention. This means the primary goal is to document the visual qualities of objects, including form, detail, structure, and texture, using a range of viewpoints.
Photography can also record ephemeral qualities, such as light, contrast, atmosphere, motion blur, or other transient effects. Digital processing can be used to explore symbolic relationships between objects.
Most pages we’ll see for moderation include a blend of modal responses to the subject being explored. Richer pages typically include personal photography, drawing studies, and annotations summarising key information and personal responses.
Reflective responses, needed for Merit and Excellence, can be visual or written. For example, an identity collage can explore a connection with or relationship between cultures, but are not intended to be finished artworks.
Annotations, or summary statements explaining the selection and juxtaposition of imagery and visual responses, help to clarify the research purpose of the evidence.
Further support for this and other internal achievement standards in Visual Arts can be found on the subject page and the Assessor Support catalogue, available on the NZQA website.
Practice-based inquiry, standard 91912 (3:28 mins)
Information and guidance on appropriate research modes for the Visual Arts standard 91912
Video transcript
Kia ora and welcome.
This webcast will explore the requirements for Achievement Standard 91913.
The Explanatory Notes unpack the nature of resolved work outcomes for this standard.
These include: the scope of approaches related to a specific set of design properties and production practices, the substance of outcomes which need to have both sustained development and significant production values, the requirement for a specific communicative intention (such as a thematic idea or narrative proposition), and the requirement for technical finish aligned with the credit weighting and curriculum level of the standard.
Design conventions include the visual properties and principles related to a specific art making practice. For example, Zine projects need to be informed by pagination principles such as page inversion, double page spreads, and the location of cover and back pages.
As well as typography, layout, and illustrative properties, other contexts such as portrait painting or sculptural installation employ their own unique set of related visual principles and ways of working.
Production conventions are the technical principles and properties related to the fabrication of the resolved artwork – or the manner in which the artwork is created.
This supporting evidence shows understanding of the procedures for gathering and preparing flax for a harakeke project, including both cultural protocols and technical procedures.
‘Sustained’ can mean the investigative depth and critical decision making in the supporting evidence. This may include: research into the visual and technical conventions of the established practice, a study of selected artists and artworks, technical trials, conceptual options, and reflective thinking about the strengths and weakness of each option.
Sustained investigations typically take between four and five weeks. ‘Significant’ refers to the scale, conceptual depth, design complexity, and production processes of the outcome.
While scale is a regular feature of significant artworks, it is not always a requirement. For example, this ceramic outcome is smaller in scale than the dress installation and shaped painting, yet it is significant in terms of its conceptual intention and fabrication complexity.
Significant outcomes typically need between four and six weeks to produce. Resolved artworks for 91913 need to have a clearly defined communicative intention. This can be thematic, such a Zine based on a specific Whakataukī, or a more personal identity-based topic such as the ceramic artwork on the right.
An accompanying artist statement which explains the concept, narrative, or symbolism of the artwork can support assessment in terms of showing the specific communicative intention.
For Achieved, outcomes need to be fully complete with skills appropriate to New Zealand Curriculum level 6.
For Merit, artworks need to show control of both design principles and production techniques.
Control relates to the consistent management of visual elements and the level of competence with production materials and techniques.
For Excellence, artworks need to show fluency with both design principles and production techniques. Fluency means critical consideration of visual elements and consistent facility with production materials and techniques.
For more explanation and examples of what is required for this standard, see the exemplars on the NZQA website. There are also annotated samples of student evidence in the Assessor Practice Tool for 91913. These show the type of evidence required at each level of achievement.
Resolved work, standard 91913 (4:25 mins)
This webcast explores the requirements for the Visual Arts standard 91913
Video transcript
Kia ora and welcome.
This webcast will outline the mātauranga Māori expectations for standard 91912.
This standard requires students to explore a ‘Māori context’ alongside another distinct context, which is expanded on in Explanatory Note 2.
The examples that follow are indicative of the breadth and range of visual arts inquiries and Māori contexts that could be explored.
Mātauranga Māori in Visual Arts can include iconic symbolism, specific art practices, historic artifacts, significant objects, local knowledge, pūrākau, values, and beliefs.
This knowledge originates within the tangata whenua of Aotearoa. To understand mātauranga Māori, some awareness of the unique beliefs and values that underpin the collective Māori world view is needed.
At Level 1 this extends beyond generic information to encompass specific visual features in response to a line of inquiry.
Text and annotations are valuable to inform the investigation, but the primary focus is on exploring and examining visual information.
This can involve recording specific visual details, shape, form, colour, and texture. It can also include diagrams of structures, identify component parts and illustrate the functions and symbolism of objects and imagery.
Prior discussions around what is appropriate to document need to occur in all spaces, online and site based. Special consideration around ancestral likenesses and portraits is needed, informed by recognised knowledge-holders.
Teachers should ensure they and their students are working in a culturally safe space through an ongoing practice of whakawhanaungatanga.
This may include further discussions of places, people, and objects referencing aspects of tapu (sacred) and aspects of noa (not restricted). Things that may be photographed and drawn, and things that may not.
The exploration of art forms and objects that align through form, function, or cultural value is an accessible approach for students across a range of ethnic backgrounds to connect to, and learn from, Māori culture.
The dualistic nature of the inquiry means that the degree of alignment between the two contexts can support students to reflect meaningfully about what they have learned.
Site-specific inquiries need to engage with uniquely Māori knowledge such as related pūrākau, place-name significance, and local iwi narratives. It can include noho marae and the exploration of the associated traditional artforms found within.
It is helpful for students if the significance or purpose of the second site selected aligns somewhat with the Māori context. For example, these two pages both explore places for the gathering, processing, and production of kai.
The investigation of uniquely Māori terms such as tūrangawaewae is also a common approach.
This can be aligned with contexts that allow diverse students from a range of other cultures and ethnicities to see a personal connection to their ancestry or similar important places in their own lives.
The study of traditional and evolving Māori arts practices is also a context that is rich with mātauranga Māori.
Sufficiency related to Explanatory Note 2 requires that the investigation into the Māori context is of an equally sustained duration to the other context, in order to align with the 5-credit expectation of the standard.
All knowledge sources (written, visual, and oral) need to be appropriately acknowledged throughout tasks.
Students should be encouraged to carefully check all sources of information, particularly online sources to avoid inaccurate and misleading information.
A glossary provided at the outset of assessment activities can prevent the misspelling of important names for tūpuna and places.
For more guidance and samples of student work for standard 91912, see the links on the NZQA, Ministry of Education, and Subject Association websites.
Māori contexts, standard 91912 (4:39 mins)
This webcast outlines the mātauranga Māori expectations for standard 91912
Video transcript
Kia ora and welcome.
This webcast will outline how visual research and annotations align with key criteria for each grade in this practice-based inquiry standard.
Explanatory Note 1 expands on the key criterion for achievement at each grade, in language that is useful for both kaiako and students.
This webcast includes samples that exemplify these terms.
Exploration involves gathering a range of imagery and information to learn more about a context.
Labelling and annotations identify general visual and cultural elements.
Focused inquiry, identifying areas of interest, may be shown in the grouping of information or juxtaposition of imagery.
Visual Arts techniques and media are used at the expected curriculum level.
Visual arts methods for recording are wide-ranging, encompassing diagrams and drawings, painting, and other mediums that can visually represent the subject.
Photography and video can capture both tangible and ephemeral information, such as specific sites and changing weather. It can also document sculpture and three-dimensional making, exploring techniques such as raranga or other 3D forms.
Recording is not limited to representing the visible world. Beliefs, concepts, emotions, and symbolic meaning can also be visually communicated.
Switching between visual arts methods to collect different types of information supports achievement and provides rich inquiry evidence.
Annotations serve to identify visual elements, such as providing a key to this symbolic whale drawing.
They can also provide valuable cultural information, such as the specific significance and practices related to a mauri stone at a civic memorial site.
Visual arts inquiry methods should be prioritised over text-based approaches in order to align with the intention of the standard.
Art media and techniques should be selected for their unique recording attributes.
In these examples, pencil linework records basic structures, and found images accompanied by drawings and text explore a range of information about kōwhaiwhai artforms.
Examination includes specific visual and cultural information from observing things in detail.
It results from broad-ranging investigation contained within a focused inquiry into two defined contexts.
A global understanding of each context from examination provides opportunity for insightful responses to be made for higher levels of achievement.
Selection of media to record specific properties of visual subjects can support the closer examination of contexts. Here, pencil records pattern elements, and pen and charcoal record the surface structure and form, alongside colour studies of different whakairo materials.
Aligned contexts support the opportunity to make meaningful responses which might include comparative exercises.
Students can default to text-based methods in attempts to show evidence of specific contextual details (like these comparative charts or lists). Providing explicit visual arts strategies to enable students to illustrate higher level thinking can enhance the visual inquiry.
Stronger samples primarily employ a range of visual strategies that include image placement, juxtaposition, and amalgamation of visual elements.
Annotations are often included to explain the visual responses and background reasoning.
Reflection involves reviewing everything learned from the inquiry in order to consider aspects of the contexts and / or the student’s ahurea tuakiri.
It commonly involves re-processing or reconfiguring previous visual information and personally responding or relating to this with opinions and insights gained from the inquiry.
Reflection includes observations on the significance of cultural contexts, often discussing related insights and personal opinions.
In some cases, amalgamated imagery is presented as an artwork.
In this case, personal insight is reflected in the annotation - that the image of books could be seen to represent the learning from each site visited.
Resolved artworks are not a requirement of this standard and can occupy time needed for further inquiry.
Preparatory planning can show evidence of reflection through connections, insights, and opinions such as this amalgamation of a whale tail and koiri, to represent a mother/daughter bond formed in pregnancy.
Care should be taken to ensure the cultural safety of students when using unique cultural imagery alongside imagery from other contexts.
For more guidance and samples of student work for standard 91912, see the links on the NZQA, Ministry of Education, and Subject Association websites.
Key criteria, standard 91912 (5:33 mins)
This video goes through what meets the criteria for Achievement, Merit and Excellence for Visual Arts standard 91912.
Video transcript
This webcast explains the changes to achievement standard 91912 version 5, published in December 2025.
The title, purpose statement, and achievement criteria for standard 91912 remain unchanged.
The standard still requires students to conduct a visual arts practice-based inquiry into a Māori context and another context.
At higher levels of achievement students are required to examine and reflect upon these contexts.
The changes, circled in blue, relate to the requirements for Merit and Excellence in Explanatory Note 1.
This explanatory note expands on the step-ups for each level of achievement.
For Merit, the explicit requirement to respond by making links between contexts has been removed.
The step-up now focuses on the use of visual arts inquiry modes to explore contexts in more specific detail.
The requirement to use visual arts processes, materials, and techniques is now more explicitly stated. Written notes and annotations are still valid evidence, but the focus is on visual arts inquiry modes such as drawing, photography, and visual methodologies.
The step-up relates to specific visual details and depth of cultural information.
Comparative cultural studies may still be useful in some learning contexts but are not an explicit requirement of the standard.
Connections with students’ ahurea tuakiri and connections between cultural ideas and art forms are recommended as examination strategies. This is mentioned in Explanatory Note 3.
For Excellence, reviewing the inquiry to reflect on relationships has been removed and replaced by responding insightfully.
The explicit requirement to reflect on relationships between the contexts has been removed.
Responding insightfully means making informed personal responses to cultural contexts. This often involves juxtaposition and reconfiguration of cultural imagery to communicate personal understanding and awareness of the significance of the cultural contexts.
Visual arts processes, materials, and techniques have been included to clarify that practice-based modes are the primary means of inquiry.
At higher grades, students often connect personal experiences, ideas, perspectives, and values from their ahurea tuakiri to wider cultural contexts. This shows insightful understanding.
Reflection is a critical process that helps individuals articulate their personal thoughts and feelings about what they have learned through their inquiry.
See these links provided for resources and graded samples related to this standard.
Changes in 2026, standard 91912 (3:20 mins)
This video outlines the changes to the achievement standard 91912 and its explanatory notes made in December 2025.