He mihi

Firstly, the Muka Tangata Quality Assurance and Enhancement Team extends ngākau aroha to everyone affected by recent weather events. We are aware that the impact of such events is extensive and will be ongoing.

We have started off the year with the publication of the Moderation Calendar for 2023, as well as several significant documents which you can read more about in this newsletter. It is great to be able to share these documents and demonstrate how we’re working to incorporate mātauranga and te ao Māori into our mahi and to support others to do the same. 

Moderation in Quarter One is usually fairly quiet, so we have taken this opportunity to forecast and plan the activities for the year. Starting in early March, we are holding a series of online professional development workshops for both providers and schooling staff. There are two dates for each topic offered to allow you to find a date and time that works for your schedule.

Ehara taku toa i te toa takitahi he toa takitini kē - Our success is a collaborative effort.

Ngā mihi nui  

Lester

Quality Assurance Online Workshops

Following the success of our in-person workshops last year, we are holding a series of online professional development workshops in 2023. The workshops have been specifically tailored for schools and for providers that deliver and assess food and fibre unit standards. 

Workshop topics: 

• Guide to meeting Workforce Development Council (WDC) Pre-Moderation needs 
• Best Practice Assessing 
• Guide to meeting WDC Post-Moderation needs 
• Incorporating mātauranga Māori into ways of working 
• Guide to meeting WDC Programme Endorsement considerations  
• Guide to gaining Consent to Assess support from WDCs 

Register now

Registration details and for schools and providers are in the links below:

Professional Development Workshops - Schools 

Professional Development Workshops - Providers

Post-assessment Moderation Evolves

We are excited to announce the upcoming Monday 3 April launch of Aka Pārongo, our new online portal for providers to submit all post-assessment moderation files to Muka Tangata, and the other Workforce Development Councils.

Aka Pārongo is designed to simplify the post-moderation process, and to provide you with a more user-friendly, direct, efficient, and secure way of submitting files for moderation. This will give you greater control and flexibility to upload and monitor your submissions in real time, and will remedy the risks, limitations and potential delays brought about by existing submission channels, such as email.

From Quarter Two, we will begin to prompt providers to access and operate through the Aka Pārongo portal – however, for all Quarter One requests, and until your organisation is notified, please continue to submit assessments for moderation through your usual channels.

More information on accessing the portal will follow shortly, and support is available at portalsupport@wdc.nz.

We look forward to your continued partnership as we transition into this exciting new system.

Pānui – News

Te Pūkenga

Members of the Muka Tangata Senior Leadership Team met with new Te Pūkenga Chief Executive Peter Winder in January. It was a very useful meeting; Te Pūkenga are very keen to work closely with us (and the other WDCs) on creating more responsive courses and programmes that integrate workplace, online, and workshop/classroom-based learning. They were very interested in our New Approach to Learner Pathways that outlines our how we’re working to streamline qualifications and standards, and they are committed to fully supporting our upcoming Seafood Qualifications review.

Te Pūkenga are in the process of recruiting a Food and Fibre Ako Network Lead, who we will work very closely with to ensure that their delivery is increasingly adapted to meet the needs of our industries.

Moderation Calendar

Our 2023 National External Quality Assurance and Moderation Plan and calendar have been finalised.

The plan will give education providers (Te Pūkenga, PTEs and secondary schools) information and relevant details about our plan for the year. 

The calendar shows providers and schools the industries we will be moderating in each quarter. Our plan has been developed to support your organisation in preparing for external quality assurance and moderation and may also assist with developing your own internal quality systems. 

Te Whakatōnga 

Te Whakatōnga demonstrates a deliberate approach to embedding mātauranga Māori into quality assurance. The report outlines, identifies and recommends a bespoke approach to deliberately incorporate mātauranga Māori and te ao Māori values into our mahi. The report brings together research evidence and practical examples of te ao and mātauranga Māori in quality assurance and describes successful models of this being used in practice. We are using findings from this report to build our team's cultural competence and ways of working to better advise and support providers to meet te ao Māori needs. 

For any questions or enquiries please contact Poutiaki Te Ara Kounga Māori Kīngī Rakete-Tane at Kingi.Rakete-Tane@mukatangata.nz.

External Moderation Review

In March 2022 Muka Tangata contracted SAARA Consulting Services to carry out an External Moderation Review to test thinking around what excellent external moderation looks like. The focus of the review was to confirm the value of external moderation with partners, explore opportunities for improvement, identify opportunities to be better connected with Māori and te Tiriti o Waitangi through moderation, and research best practice and innovation allowing for flexibility with the evolving VET environment. 

Annual Report

Our first annual report covers our first nine months of establishment and demonstrates the value that Muka Tangata is bringing to the food and fibre and VET sectors. 

Aromatawai and the Principles of Assessment

On the August 11 2022 NZQA released Aromatawai and the Principles of Assessment, a publication designed to support schools and tertiary providers in developing quality assessment and aromatawai practices. We will be incorporating these principles into our own qUniality assurance practices. 

Unit Standard interpretations

Unit Standards interpretations are an interim measure to be applied until such time as the unit standard in question is reviewed in full. The Unit Standard interpretations are updated monthly and published on our website.

There are 6 new interpretations that have been published this year for the following unit standards – 31504, 31501, 31502, 16336, 1654 and 29336.

Reminders

• All assessment resources need to be pre moderated and approved by Muka Tangata prior to use. There is no cost for this service and can be submitted to moderation@mukatangata.nz
• Timeframes – there is a 20-working day turnaround for any pre moderation, post moderation, consent to assess or programme endorsement application.
• Confidentiality - When you submit samples to Muka Tangata for moderation, please be assured that your intellectual property is treated confidentially. It is best practice to also advise the learners that their assessments may be submitted to Muka Tangata or NZQA for quality assurance purposes.
• The coversheet for pre moderation requests can be found here.
• The coversheet for post moderation requests can be found here.
• The Consent to Assess application form can be found here.
• Please use the moderation@mukatangata.nz email address if you have any questions or concerns. This email is checked often, and we will reply to your query as soon as we can.

Our Team