October 2000 ISSUE 35

Anniversary marks new era for New Zealand Qualifications Authority

The key ideas that underpinned the establishment of NZQA remain 'terribly important' ideas to carry forward now that NZQA has had its original role restored to it, says Norman Kingsbury, NZQA chief executive.

"When I came to NZQA last October, one of the first things I did was to look at the legislation which sets out the purpose and role of NZQA. I was struck by how well it had survived over a ten-year period and how the ideas that underlay it were still important. Even though NZQA had been through some difficult times, it seemed to me very important that those ideas flourished."

Central among those ideas was the development of an education and assessment system that could offer people increased choice and access and an assurance of quality.

"A lot of what was planned for NZQA worked on the assumption that people would need to pick up education and training when they needed it throughout their lives and they would be able to have this recognised in their Record of Learning."

Now that all the uncertainties of the green and white papers are in the past, an exciting challenge is to reinvigorate a flexible, accessible National Qualifications Framework, says Norman Kingsbury.

"Some standards and qualifications need reviewing and we need to think about new areas to be developed which are relevant to learners' aspirations and the country's future economic and social needs. That's a major task for the next year or two. Generic standards are very important for transferability of skills and the flexibility of the Framework.

The National Qualifications Framework will be part of a broadened framework, the Register of Quality Assured Qualifications which will include all qualifications assured by NZQA, the New Zealand Vice-Chancellors' Committee, the Association of Polytechnics in New Zealand and the Association of Colleges of Education in New Zealand. NZQA has set up a consultative group of those bodies plus Te Tauihu o Nga Wananga, the National Association of Wananga, and the Ministry of Education to oversee the establishment and maintenance of this Register. A draft document on registering qualifications is currently under consideration," Norman says.

"Within the Authority we have divided off this over-arching responsibility from the direct Quality Assurance Services that we provide for PTEs (private training establishments) and ITOs (industry training organisations). These services will be audited the same way we audit the work of the other quality assurance agencies."

Norman Kingsbury says a strategic priority for the Authority is the enhancement of the quality of educational provision across all providers through a new model of quality assurance audit (a model of which was considered a few years ago). This role is vital in safeguarding the interests of existing and prospective students.

The audit model involves evaluating the capacity of a provider as a whole, the overall quality management systems they have in place, and their success in implementing them. It is a more comprehensive and efficient way of determining the quality of what is being offered, and provides a basis for accreditation decisions. Under quality assurance in the past, institutions were assessed more narrowly in relation to their capacity to offer particular qualifications.

Audit involves a provider visit perhaps once every two or three years, says Norman. "When people put up a new qualification, you can then make accreditation and approvals decisions on a documents basis. The process is a lot more efficient in general. However, the current systems will be retained for degrees and in certain other circumstances."

As part of its role in enhancing the quality of educational provision, NZQA plans to run a four-year programme to assist providers implement effective quality management systems.

"Now that NZQA's legislative responsibility for qualifications across the board has been approved by the Minister, many developments are now possible."

Another priority is to renew and extend substantially the Māori presence in the Authority. Two units are being established, one to develop Māori qualifications and the other to support Māori providers. Increased Māori participation in the Authority will also enable greater input into Government policies affecting Māori , such as Closing the Gaps.

"The Government's Closing the Gaps strategy is in fact very closely related to the work we do," comments Norman. "Over the last few years there has been a very satisfying take-up of standards and qualifications by Māori . It is an excellent foundation on which we can now build."

Work has begun on qualifications and provider development to help meet the needs of Pacific peoples.

A major task for the Authority is the strengthening of its relations with industry and the further development of opportunities for work-based learning. It has close relations with the Industry Training Federation and values its association with the New Zealand Employers Federation, the Combined Trade Unions, the Manufacturers' Federation and a wide range of business and community groups. It has of course a whole network of relationships with government ministries and other government agencies.

Norman Kingsbury says there are many achievements the Authority can be proud of. He points to the Authority's impressive record in running examinations and developing sophisticated learner information systems. The Record of Learning in particular is a great innovation that needs to be developed further.

"Examinations, moderation, learner information - we have traditionally done these things well. They provide a great base for the new developments underway, such as the introduction of the National Certificate of Educational Achievement (NCEA), the new qualification to be introduced in 2002."

NCEA will become the main qualification for senior secondary students and will complement external exams with internal assessment. It is being introduced to provide a more comprehensive record of what students achieve while they are at school. It will also give students a better launching pad for ongoing learning and their future careers.

Comments Norman: "The NCEA will provide a variety of routes for students with different skills and will give a more complete picture of what they achieve. It will be rigorous, with a lot of assessment and a lot of flexibility.

"The achievement standards which students complete will be registered on the Qualifications Framework. So the strength of this qualification is that it will be much more related to the concept of a lifelong Record of Learning - an idea that got lost for a while there."

"If we're talking about a knowledge society, we're talking about everybody getting on the education highway and having access to education throughout their life."

"We must provide options for people who haven't had a very happy or successful secondary schooling. We call it second-chance learning, but for a lot of people it's a first chance."

Norman Kingsbury sees NCEA as having an important role to play in closing the education gaps that are one of the big dividers in society. He accepts though that success rides on how well it's implemented and the Authority is working on that now.

"We can't afford, socially as well as economically, to have large numbers of people outside the system. NCEA will enable providers such as the Kura (Kaupapa), to tailor special courses to meet the needs of their students. I think the result will be far greater take-up by a broad range of people."

Hard work and enthusiasm seem to be the order of the day around NZQA these days. In the ten months or so that Norman Kingsbury has been chief executive, stability has returned and the Authority has been given the mandate to complete what it set out to do.

New initiatives will see staff numbers grow from 160 to 240, and the Authority is planning a shift across town to The Terrace where all staff can be housed under the one roof, on several levels. The shift will mark a new era and a new challenge for the Authority.

Norman is full of praise for the NZQA staff who have withstood lots of pressure and "cooperated wonderfully".

"When I arrived I was struck by how many good staff there were who were prepared to put in vast amounts of extra work. I would like to say how much I have appreciated the staff. We also have a forward-looking Board."

A lot has happened to NZQA in ten years but there's little doubt that for current staff, the turnaround of the last ten months has been a highlight.

"We're in pretty good shape now," says Norman. "People are ready to do new things."

"We can't afford, socially as well as economically, to have large numbers of people outside the system." "Now that all the uncertainties of the green and white papers are in the past, an exciting challenge is to reinvigorate a flexible, accessible Qualifications Framework."

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