This page contains guidelines for tertiary education organisations (TEOs) about national external moderation of NZQA-managed standards.
Download a PDF version of the guidelines [PDF, 286 KB]
Overview of national external moderation
National external moderation makes sure that assessment decisions for NZQA-managed standards are consistent nationally.
Every standard on the Directory of Assessment and Skill Standards (DASS) is attached to a Consent and Moderation Requirements (CMR).
The Moderation Requirements section in each CMR sets out the national external moderation system for the standard.
If your TEO has consent to assess, you must participate in national external moderation.
The requirements for NZQA-managed standards
To meet national external moderation requirements for NZQA-managed standards, TEOs with consent to assess must:
- provide NZQA with an accurate assessment plan for the year and update it during the year if required
- meet moderation deadlines
- provide assessment materials and evidence that assessor judgements are fair, valid and consistent nationally.
On this page
External moderation application
NZQA national external moderation is done online in the external moderation app. You can access the app from the providers portal.
In the external moderation app you can:
- submit materials for moderation
- access your moderation reports and annual summary
- query a moderation report, or appeal a moderation result, and
- track progress of moderation submissions.
How to access the app
Log in to the providers portal and select 'External Moderation'.
You'll see a 'Welcome to NZQA Moderation' screen if you have the correct level of access. If not, see the moderation liaison section below for how to get access.
Log in to the portal (external link)
Help using the external moderation app
Moderation liaisons
Each TEO must nominate a person as their moderation liaison. The liaison is the key contact between NZQA’s Monitoring and Assessment team and the TEO on all matters relating to national external moderation.
The moderation liaison:
- completes the annual assessment plan and emails your TEO's Monitoring and Assessment evaluator with any changes
- accesses the moderation plan and arranges for assessment materials and samples of assessed learner work to be submitted by the submission date
- accesses moderation reports and coordinates internal communication on the results of moderation and any follow up actions required
- liaises with the Monitoring and Assessment evaluator about the TEO’s moderation results.
Make sure your moderation liaison's details are kept up to date. If there are changes, let us know by contacting Client Services:
(04) 463 3000
Getting the right access to the online moderation system
The moderation liaison needs access to the provider portal. To apply for access, your moderation liaison should complete the Tertiary Staff Access Request form:
Catalogue of tools and online services (external link) - Ministry of Education
Moderation liaisons require the ‘TEO Management Authoriser’ and the ‘TEO Management Representative’ roles for full access to the external moderation app
Assessment plan
An assessment plan is required for all TEOs with consent to assess NZQA-managed standards.
In October each year, you will be asked for an assessment plan for the following year. Your assessment plan must list the NZQA-managed standards your TEO expects to assess and when these will be assessed.
Complete your annual assessment plan by the end of November.
Your TEO may enter a nil assessment plan if no NZQA-managed standards will be assessed.
Your assessment plan must include:
- all NZQA-managed standards your TEO intends to assess (across all assessment sites)
- all NZQA-managed standards your TEO intends to report results for, including standards reported using your TEO provider code (for example under an outsourcing arrangement or by a different education organisation)
- all internally assessed achievement standards
- the earliest date when assessment will be completed for each standard and available for national external moderation. This information will determine your TEO’s moderation submission date
The latest acceptable date is 30 November so moderation results can be summarised by the end of March.
Please indicate in the comment box if any of the standards are assessed in an integrated package.
Assessing achievement standards
TEOs assessing candidates in internal or external achievement standards must comply with the NZQA Assessment Rules.
NZQA Assessment Rules for Schools, TEOs assessing against Achievement Standards, and Candidates 2023
Key things to remember
For national external moderation, you must submit 8 learner samples, not 3. These samples must be randomly selected.
Learners only have 1 resubmission and 1 further assessment opportunity.
Find guidance on random selection [PDF, 70 KB]
Resubmission
If an assessor judges a learner has made a minor error or omission that they should be capable of discovering and correcting on their own, a resubmission may be offered to confirm a grade.
A resubmission must be limited to specific aspects of the assessment and no more than one resubmission must be provided per assessment opportunity.
Further assessment opportunity
Where manageable, and after further learning has taken place, candidates may be offered a maximum of 1 further opportunity for assessment against an assessment standard within an academic year.
All learners, including those who did not complete the original assessment for a reason acceptable under the TEO's policies, must be able to:
- access the further opportunity, if they wish; and
- use the further opportunity to improve their original grade.
Learners must be awarded the higher grade achieved over both opportunities.
Moderation Plan
Our monitoring and assessment team selects the standards for moderation and the submission date, based on:
- the information in your TEO assessment plan
- your TEO’s moderation history
- compulsory selections such as new standards on the framework.
In April, we publish the moderation plans. Your TEO can access the plan through the external moderation application.
The moderation plan indicates the submission date and the standards that will be moderated.
Changes to assessment and moderation plans
Your moderation liaison must advise your TEO's monitoring and assessment evaluator of changes to assessment and moderation plans, this includes:
- adding standards to the assessment plan
- removing a standard from the moderation plan.
We don't make multiple changes to moderation plans. Please collate all changes and let us know 1 month before the submission date.
Where possible, your evaluator will select alternative standards for moderation to replace those removed from the moderation plan.
No moderation submissions will be accepted after 31 January.
Find your monitoring and assessment evaluator's name and contact details in the providers portal.
Submitting assessment materials
You must use the external moderation app to submit moderation material, whether the material you're submitting is digital or physical.
- If the material is for an integrated assessment, include the whole integrated assessment in each moderation submission requested. This will ensure different moderators have access to all relevant material.
- If you have assessment materials and learner samples available well before the submission date, submit them early. We can't guarantee materials submitted early will be moderated immediately, but it helps us and moderators provide timely reporting of your moderation results.
- If the material is from TKI or a commercial source, please indicate on the submission that the source is Te Kete Ipurangi (TKI) or commercial and if you have changed it, select the ‘modified’ option.
Moderation report
The moderation report describes the outcomes of the moderation.
The moderation report is provisionally published once the moderator has completed the moderation.
You have 15 working days to review the provisional report, submit a query or appeal the moderation report's comments or decisions. After this period the report becomes final and no changes can be made.
Your moderation liaison can monitor the status as well as access moderation reports through the external moderation application.
Moderators complete moderation reports within 3 weeks of the submission date.
Moderation reports for Field Māori are moderated at kāhui. The turnaround time for materials moderated at kāhui may be 8 to 10 weeks, depending on the submission date.
Annual summary
Once all moderation reports for your TEO are final, we summarise the results in an annual summary.
We will notify you when your annual summary is available to access through the external moderation app. This is typically within 6 weeks of your submission date.