Rhiannon presented to a group of staff, sharing her experience of the Consistency Review
What is a Consistency Review?
The Consistency Review process is one of the ways we ensure our Certificates and Diploma qualifications are providing a high-quality, nationally consistent learning experience. The NZQA reviews come around every four years and can be a daunting process for teachers, so in this series of stories we’ll demystify the Consistency Review process and share insights, tips and advice.
Tips and tricks from those who have been through the process
We heard from two teachers who have recently been through a Consistency Review. They shared how they prepared, their experience of the review itself and the feedback they received.
Rhiannon McNamara and Lynn-Elisabeth Hill teach the New Zealand Certificate in English Language – Lynn-Elisabeth in the Level 4 programme and Rhiannon in Level 5, both in our Bridgepoint School. They both received excellent feedback following their Consistency Reviews, including comments around their “coherent and convincing sources of evidence”.
To receive a ‘sufficient’ rating, teachers need to show that graduates have achieved the expected outcomes at the level of the qualification.
What is needed to prepare for a consistency review?
A team effort
Lynn-Elisabeth Hill
Rhiannon and Lynn-Elisabeth called on people from across Unitec to help source the data they needed.
“We gathered evidence from the programme, the graduates and the ‘next users’, such as Unitec lecturers in mainstream programmes, so it took some months to prepare” said Lynn-Elisabeth.
“This required a lot of input and support from many different people, particularly Sue Crossan and Eric Stone from TKK, AQA’s Hiroko Hodge and Fiona Riches. We also had help from Steve Varley, Yoshie O’Neil, our student advisor and Sally Conway, our APM. Many busy lecturers also took the time to complete our surveys, which was much appreciated as their input provided crucial evidence.”
Presenting to NZQA
Along with a written report, an oral presentation is required by NZQA.
Lynn-Elisabeth said due to COVID-19, the presentations were done in small groups on Zoom and conducted by a reviewer from NZQA.
“We were given a lot of help by TKK and others and so felt very well-prepared, although still a little anxious. Before our own presentations, we could watch and listen to the presentations of the others in our group. Our own sessions took about 30 minutes which included questions from NZQA at the end.”
The verdict
Both courses have had good feedback, receiving a Sufficient grade (the only other option being Insufficient).
“The main thing we’re proud of is that this reminded us of the hundreds of students over the past five years who we have helped to move on to their next stage in life. It was great to hear back from so many of them, hear what they are up to now and share in their fond memories of Unitec,” said Rhiannon.
Tips and advice from Rhiannon and Lynn-Elisabeth for anyone with an upcoming Consistency Review
- Start gathering evidence early.
- It really helped that we had kept in touch informally over the years with many of our students and so we got a good response when we asked for information from them.
- Using Microsoft forms to send out our surveys made data collation easier.
- We added in our own questions as well, so not only did we get back the data required for the consistency review but also data that will help us with course development in future.
- Including photos of students and their stories livened up the presentations and were well received by the reviewer. Photos of students’ graduating with masters and postgrad diplomas was strong evidence that our programme had prepared them well for future success.
For more information on Consistency Reviews, visit the Nest page.