Coffee Break Guide - National Qualifications Framework
The National Qualifications Framework (NQF) is administered by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA). It is a collection of unit standards, achievement standards and qualifications.
NZQA say that the NQF is designed to provide:
- nationally recognised, consistent standards and qualifications
- recognition and credit for all learning of knowledge and skills
The NQF is a three-pronged quality system:
- National standards are registered
- These are used by accredited organisations
- A moderation system ensures national consistency
Different types of standards
In New Zealand, there are two different types of national standards – unit standards and achievement standards –but all standards define what a learner must know or be able to do.
They express a standard way to measure competence of a skill or knowledge.
Unit standards are used to assess industry-related skills and knowledge.
Achievement standards are used to assess knowledge of the school curriculum.
The standards are credited towards the New Zealand national secondary school qualification – the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA).
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Standards are used as assessment tools, not teaching tools. Many standards overlap within a topic or course, so try to aggregate wherever possible.
Different levels
Each standard or qualification on the NQF is rated on its degree of difficulty or complexity. Depending on how complex a standard might be to achieve, it is assigned a level. A qualification is also given a level, depending on the level of the standards that it includes.
The levels on the NQF are graduated from 1 to 10 – 1 is the least complex and 10 is the most complex.
| LEVEL | COMPLEXITY |
| 1-3 | Secondary school years 11–13 (Corresponds to NCEA levels 1–3) |
| 4-6 | Trades, technical and business qualifications (Most certificates and diplomas are in this range) |
| 7-10 | Advanced qualifications of graduate and post-graduate standard |
Accredited organisations
Only organisations that are approved by NZQA to do so may award standards or qualifications from the NQF. NZQA may approve an organisation to be accredited for a particular standard, or for groups of standards according to the hierarchy outlined below.
Example of the NQF hierarchy
| FIELD | |||
| Health | |||
| SUB FIELDS | |||
| Dental Support | Emergency Services | ||
| DOMAINS | |||
| Dental Hygiene | Dental Technology | Ambulance | Pre-Hospital Care |
| Standards or qualifications | Standards or qualifications | Standards or qualifications | Standards or qualifications |
Only organisations that are formally recognised as an educational institution can apply to be accredited. This includes universities, polytechnics, secondary schools, private training establishments (PTEs) or a government training establishment (GTE).
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Qualifications may be registered at any level of the hierarchy, but standards are only registered within domains.
Record of achievement
Once an accredited organisation has assessed students against a standard, they must report the results to NZQA.
Each student may access their record of achievement to see any standards or qualifications that they have achieved.
A student may be awarded a national qualification by completing standards at a range of different educational organisations.
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No matter how many institutes a student studies at, their record of achievement provides a one-stop view of their achievements.
Getting onto the framework
All national qualifications and standards are developed by a standards-setting body such as an Industry Training Organisation (ITO) or the Ministry of Education (MoE).
Once they have been developed, they are registered on the NQF and will be recognised across New Zealand.
There are four standards-setting bodies in New Zealand responsible for developing standards.
| Standards-setting body | Development area |
| Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) | Develop industry-related unit standards and national qualifications |
| Māori Qualifications Services (MQS) | Develop unit standards and national qualifications for field Māori |
| National Qualifications Services (NQS) | Develop unit standards and national qualifications for generic skills |
| Ministry of Education (MoE) | Develop achievement standards and the NCEA |
Moderation
To ensure that all assessment decisions are fair and reliable, standards on the NQF are subject to national moderation by the standards-setting body for that standard or qualification.
The standards-setting body checks that there is a consistent approach to assessment – so the way that one student is assessed at a school, for example, in Northland, is consistent with the way that another student is assessed for the same standard at a school in Taranaki.
Through its moderation processes, the standards-setting body also checks that all assessment decisions are to the national standard – that a candidate has met the appropriate standard in order to be awarded it.
Because standards are nationally recognised, employers, students and educational organisations can feel confident that standards and qualifications are not being awarded inappropriately.
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