About these guidelines
These guidelines are for tertiary education providers seeking consent to assess against standards on the Directory of Assessment and Skill Standards (DASS) for use in programmes and micro-credentials, or independently.
These guidelines set out our quality assurance process for granting consent to assess. They explain each step in the process and the application requirements.
Tertiary education providers that can apply for consent to assess, directly through a consent to assess application, or indirectly via other application types, are:
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New Zealand Institute of Skills and Technology (NZIST)
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polytechnics and institutes of technology
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wānanga
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government training establishments
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private training establishments (PTEs)
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former divisions of NZIST temporarily trading under Industry Skills Boards.
Changes made since last update in July 2024
The updated guidelines reflect the new rules that apply to tertiary education providers seeking NZQA consent to use standards, which came into force on 19 January 2026, including to:
- clarify when evidence of a standard-setting body's (SSB) evaluation of a tertiary education provider’s capability to use standards is required
- refer to the requirements for maintaining consent to assess in the Quality Assurance of Tertiary Education Providers Rules
- refer to requirements for sub-contracting by tertiary education providers, which were removed from the programme and micro-credential related rules and are now in the Quality Assurance rules
- refer to requirements for sub-contracting consent to assess by tertiary education providers that are other bodies, per Rule 8 in the Consent to Assess Against Standards on the Directory of Assessment and Skill Standards Rules.
Information for schools and kura seeking consent to assess
Consent to assess for secondary schools
Guide to requirements for consent to assess for schools [PDF, 646 KB]
On this page
Context
The Education and Training Act 2020 (Sections 441(4A) and 446A (4)) authorises tertiary education providers who hold accreditation to provide programmes or micro-credentials (assessed against standards) to use those standards.
This means that tertiary education providers applying for the following application types — where they are proposed to be assessed against unit, achievement or skill standards — do not need to apply for consent to assess separately:
- programme approval and accreditation
- programme accreditation
- micro-credential listing, approval and accreditation
- micro-credential accreditation
Tertiary education providers must apply for consent to assess separately if they intend to use the standards independently of programmes or micro-credentials.
Quality assurance
NZQA quality assures applications for consent to assess against standards, whether these applications are for the use of standards independently, or when authorising the use of standards via applications for accreditation to provide programmes or micro-credentials proposed to be assessed against standards.
Consent is granted on the evidence that the tertiary education provider has the capability and resources to assess a learner’s level of knowledge and competency fairly, equitably, consistently and with authenticity.
We use the same criteria to quality assure all applications to use standards. This applies whether the standards are to be used independently, or within an accredited programme or micro-credential assessed against standards.
We will clearly explain the information and evidence that support our decisions. Applications are approved or not approved based on the overall quality of the application.
Te Hono o Te Kahurangi quality assurance
Te Hono o Te Kahurangi is a whare ako framework and methodology NZQA uses for quality assurance in the non-university tertiary sector.
If your organisation uses kaupapa Māori and teaches mātauranga Māori, Te Hono o Te Kahurangi lets you engage with NZQA using Māori approaches and values. The framework also contains practices that will add to learner success by assuring national consistency.
The Te Hono o Te Kahurangi guidelines guidelines inform tertiary education providers about how NZQA quality assures educational outcomes. They also show how NZQA prioritises Mātauranga Māori and the acceleration of Māori learner success in the tertiary education context.
What is consent to assess?
Consent to assess is NZQA approval for a tertiary education provider to assess learners against standards on the Directory of Assessment and Skill Standards (DASS) and report learner achievement to NZQA or the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC).
A tertiary education provider with consent to assess can assess those standards as a part of:
- their education delivery, independently of any NZQA accreditation to deliver an NZQA approved programme or micro-credential
- an NZQA accredited programme or micro-credential.
Tertiary education providers with consent to assess against standards must engage in a system of national external moderation to ensure assessment is at the national standard.
National external moderation for tertiary providers
Consent to assess may be granted for:
- any standards used in an NZQA accredited programme or micro-credential
- individual standards
- standards classified in a domain up to a specified level.
Standards on the DASS
Standards-based assessment is about recognising learner achievement. A standard describes what a learner who has achieved the standard knows and can do. Standards are used to assess knowledge, skills, and abilities against quality assured criteria.
All standards have a unique ID, are assigned level and credits, and a classification.
There are 3 types of standards:
- skill standards
- unit standards
- achievement standards.
Skill standards are the newest type on the DASS. Progressively, skill standards will replace unit standards. Standard-setting bodies (SSBs) will work through a programme of transition to include new skill standards in qualifications and micro-credentials.
Skill standards and unit standards are developed and maintained by SSBs for use across the secondary and tertiary sectors.
Skill standards are mandatory where specified in qualifications and micro-credentials.
Achievement standards are developed and maintained by the Ministry of Education primarily for use by secondary schools and kura. Tertiary education providers seeking consent to assess for achievement standards must comply with the following rules:
DASS classification system
The DASS has a 3-tier classification system comprising fields, subfields and domains. All standards are classified in a domain.
The DASS is searchable by standard number or title, or can be browsed by classification:
Search Framework (external link)
The use of each standard is governed by a system called 'Consent and Moderation Requirements'.
A Consent and Moderation Requirements (CMR) document is linked to every standard on the DASS.
Consent and Moderation Requirements
The Consent and Moderation Requirements (CMR) for a standard outlines the specific requirements that tertiary education providers must meet to be granted, and to maintain, consent to assess.
CMR requirements are also considered when a tertiary education provider applies to NZQA for accreditation to provide a programme or micro-credential assessed against standards.
CMRs include general criteria applying to every standard they cover. They may also include industry specific criteria for standards or domains where there are, for example, additional health and safety or legislative requirements. It is important that tertiary education providers check for industry specific criteria:
- industry specific criteria may be set out in appendices to the CMR
- for Field Māori standards, industry specific criteria include requirements for organisations to ensure staff have relevant knowledge and skills of te reo Māori, tikanga Māori and te ao Māori where appropriate.
CMRs are developed by standard-setting bodies (SSBs) such as Industry Skills Boards, NZQA and the Ministry of Education.
SSBs are responsible for setting and maintaining the national standard. They do this through the CMR.
The CMR:
- Sets down the requirements for TEO capability - the particular skills and knowledge of teachers and assessors, any special resources required for assessing against the standards, learner access to resources, and practical experience.
- Describes the national external moderation (NEM) system to moderate assessment decisions made by tertiary education providers.
These 2 systems are described in the CMR under the headings Consent Requirements and Moderation Requirements.
How to find a CMR
Go to the DASS search tool to find the CMR that applies to the standard. Enter the standard number and the CMR will appear in the results with the standard:
Consent requirements
Consent requirements provide assurance that providers have capable teachers or trainers, verifiers and assessors, as well as the resources needed for assessing against the standards.
SSBs work with their stakeholders to establish these requirements for providers seeking consent to assess.
The format of CMR documents was reviewed and changed in 2024. This means that the section headings for consent requirements will be different in recently published CMRs as set out below.
SSB involvement and site visits
Where consent and moderation requirements (CMR) require it, tertiary education providers applying for consent for standards must provide evidence of the evaluation by the relevant standard-setting body (SSB) of the applicant’s ability to meet the CMR.
Several CMR published prior to 2024 do not require evidence of SSB evaluation of the applicant’s ability for standards at certain levels (usually lower levels).
For example, if the Ministry of Education or NZQA are the SSB, and the CMR states for the levels concerned "Evaluation of documentation by NZQA", evidence of SSB evaluation is not required.
Where a CMR requires for the levels concerned "visit by NZQA" or "and teaching professional in the same field from another provider" applicants can apply to NZQA without prior evaluation by an SSB.
Likewise, if a CMR refers to "Evaluation of documentation and visit by NZQA and Whakaruruhau" applicants can apply to NZQA directly.
Moderation requirements
The national external moderation (NEM) system provides assurance that assessment decisions are consistent with the national standard across all organisations that have consent to assess against standards.
Standard-setting bodies are responsible for managing NEM systems for the standards they set.
Industry Skills Boards are responsible for the NEM of industry standards. NZQA runs the NEM systems for general education subjects, generic, and Field Māori standards.
NEM systems are designed to:
- ensure assessment practice is fair, valid, and consistent
- be appropriate to the nature of the learning outcomes and assessment evidence collected
- provide confidence that learners have achieved the specified standard
- provide confidence in the reliability and consistency of assessor judgements about learner performance
- be cost effective
- focus on improving assessment practice
- specify roles and responsibilities within the moderation system
- specify the requirements for collecting assessment samples and moderation activities.
Tertiary education providers with consent to assess must participate in the NEM system
The Moderation Requirements section of a CMR sets out the NEM system for the standards. This may include moderation selection criteria and sampling methods, the selection of standards for moderation, coverage and intensity of moderation, and the moderation process. Processes may be online, onsite or practical, or in communities of practice or cluster group meetings.
Some standards will be moderated every year, especially high use or high-risk standards.
Maintaining consent to assess
To maintain consent to assess tertiary education providers must continue to meet the requirements of the CMR including:
- accurately reporting credits for learners within 3 months of assessment
- paying the credit reporting fee due by the end of the month following receipt of the invoice from NZQA.
TEOs must also meet the requirements of related rules:
Consent to Assess Against Standards on the Directory of Assessment and Skill Standards Rules
Quality Assurance (including External Evaluation and Review (EER)) Rules
And where the tertiary education provider is a private training establishment, the:
Private Training Establishment Rules
Changes to teachers or trainers, verifiers and assessors
Tertiary education providers must ensure that CMR requirements continue to be met when teaching, assessing and moderation staff leave or are replaced.
These roles in the consented organisation must continue to be held by people with the minimum skills, subject expertise, qualifications and experience as set out in the CMR.
New staff must be made aware of the general and industry specific requirements of the CMRs before they commence teaching, training or assessing.
Some CMR documents include requirements for verification and engaging staff in verification. Verifiers are not typically employed or contracted by the consented tertiary education provider.
It is the consented tertiary education provider’s responsibility to ensure that verifiers have the minimum skills, subject expertise, qualifications, and experience as set out in the CMR, and are made aware of the general, and if applicable, industry specific requirements of the CMRs before they perform verification within assessment.
How to apply for consent to assess
Find detailed information on how to submit an application as a tertiary education provider, and what you need to check beforehand, on the main consent to assess page:
Apply for consent to assessAgreements between organisations
Sub-contracting
A consent holding tertiary education provider can arrange for another organisation to deliver education and assess standards on their behalf. This is deemed to be a sub-contracting arrangement.
The Quality Assurance of Tertiary Education Providers Rules apply to NZQA recognised or registered tertiary education providers that subcontract third parties to provide programmes, micro-credentials, or to assess against standards on their behalf.
Rule 8 in the Consent to Assess Standards on the Directory of Assessment and Skill Standards Rules applies to other bodies that subcontract third parties to assess against standards on their behalf. Other bodies provide tertiary education or training funded through non-departmental output classes from Vote Education. They are not typically NZQA accredited to provide programmes or micro-credentials assessed against standards but may be funded to deliver education or training (and by extension, assess against standards) if subcontracted by an NZQA accredited and TEC-funded provider.
Apply or notify
There are different requirements when consent holders engage a sub-contractor depending on whether the sub-contractor involved also holds consent for the standards to be assessed.
When both parties in a sub-contracting arrangement are accredited and consented, a notification of a sub-contract to NZQA (including a copy of the agreement) may be all that is required.
Appendix 1 - Old to new CMR headings
Appendix 2 - Optional cover sheet
NZQA cover sheet for tertiary education provider consent to assess applications [DOCX, 47 KB]