Teachers' one-stop shop for subject resources

Teachers now have an online "one-stop shop" to find materials relating to the subjects they are teaching.

NZQA has created a simplified way to find subject-related materials via its website. Each NCEA subject will have a single page with links to a wide range of subject-specific resources.

"The aim is to have this subject homepage act as a one-stop shop for teachers to find materials relating to the subjects they are teaching and assessing. It may also be useful to students and parents," says NZQA School Relationship Manager Barbara May.

"Previously teachers would have accessed this information from a range of websites or other sources, or it would be difficult to find."

The pages contain links to subject-relevant information and downloadable files, including:

• both internal and external standard documents
• assessment specifications and other reports
• additional subject-specific documents (eg. Drama theatre forms, or guidelines for portfolio submission)
• web links to subject-related websites

Two new documents are also being made available as they are developed by the new national moderators: assessment clarification documents and newsletters. Clarification documents clarify professional understandings that are possibly only clear to moderators or the well-informed and explain how to assess a particular standard. Moderator newsletters aim to give helpful information and advice, discussing issues or themes noticed in moderation.

Trevor du Mez (left) and Alan Menzies, of Verdon College, Invercargill, view the subject-specific resource pages online.

Exemplars for internal assessment will also be available from the subject pages as they are developed, along with links to the growing list of exemplars for external standards.

"One of the recommended NCEA improvements was to give more professional support to teachers. One of the ways of doing this is providing documents in a centralised place," Barbara May says.

A 'suggest-a-link' form at the foot of each page allows users to recommend subject-specific websites or links that they find useful and wish to tell others about.

Subject-specific resources are available on the NZQA website, with more added as content is available.