HUTT VALLEY HIGH SCHOOL

Guide to National Certificate of Educational Achievement and other national qualifications

Contents:

• Keeping information safe, course handouts, and assistance

Information for you about the National Certificates

• Gaining a Level 1, 2, or 3 National Certificate
• Internal and external assessment
• Entrance to subjects at the next level
• University Entrance
• Scholarship
• Reporting of progress and results
• Topping up a National Certificate

Things you are responsible for

• Late work and extensions of time
• Cheating
• Managing computer problems

Things to help you

• Reassessment and resubmission
• Compassionate consideration for external qualifications
• Checking your assessment data
• Privacy Act

The NCEA/NQF INFORMATION BOOKLET

This guide is for you and your parents to read so that everyone understands what is required of you throughout the senior years regardless of which certificates you are studying for.

It contains:

• information for you about the National Certificates
• things you are responsible for
• things to help you

Keeping Assessment Information Safe

You will need to refer to this NCEA Information guide over the next three years.It is important that you file it and any subject information about assessment, in a safe place. If there are any changes to the information about the NQF or the procedures used at HVHS, these will given in the HVHS Newsletter as well as to the students via the Deans.

Course handouts

Each subject you study provides you with a course handout containing crucial details about that subject, the topics learned and its assessments. The assessment details will include the assessment standards, their credit weighting, how much time is available for each assessment, other assessment conditions, due dates and so on. Copies of the course outlines and assessments are available from subject departments.

People who can help you with assessment matters

• Your subject teachers and the head of departments as well as your form teacher. Your dean.
• NZQA liaison person (Principal’s Nominee): Mr Larkin
• Principal: Mr Sinclair
• The New Zealand Qualifications Authority

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Information for you about NCEA

The National Certificates of Educational Achievement

Gaining a Level 1, 2 or 3 National Certificate

NCEA Level 1

If you get fewer than 80 credits you will not be awarded an NCEA but you will get a ‘Record of Achievement’ from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) which has on it a list of the credits you did get.

NCEA Level 2

The twenty level 1 credits can count towards level 2 even if they were used towards a level 1 certificate

NCEA Level 3

You gain a Level 1, 2 or 3 National Certificate by achieving enough credits.To complete the national certificates you must combine credits from the five or six subjects you study:

• eighty (80) credits must be achieved to be awarded an NCEA possibly including credits earned from the other qualifications like the Young Enterprise Certificate.
• sixty (60) of these credits must be at the certificate standard or higher, e.g. 60 at level 2 or higher for a Level 2 NCEA.
• twenty (20) of these credits could be at a lower level, e.g. from level 1 for a level 2 NCEA, or from level 2 for a level 3 NCEA, so these 20 credits can be used twice.
• for level 1, a minimum of eight (8) credits have to be literacy credits gained from any of the standards studied in English or Maori
• for level 1, another eight (8) at least have to be numeracy credits gained through any of the mathematics courses
• there are no literacy and numeracy requirements for a level 2 certificate but to gain University Entrance you need level 1 numeracy and level 2 literacy (see the University Entrance section).

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Note on Standards

• To gain a standard you complete assessment tasks in your subject.
• Every standard is worth a set number of credits
• You collect credits if you achieve the standard
• Both Unit Standard and Achievement Standard credits go towards your total NCEA credits

These assessments will be either achievement standards or unit standards. Every standard is worth a set number of credits. You collect credits if you achieve the standard and they are like points towards each Level certificate.

Your subject course handouts will list the standards being assessed in that subject and how many credits each one is worth. The assessment in most subjects will add up to 20 - 24 credits. So, from the 5 to 6 subjects you are enrolled in, you will complete assessments worth perhaps 120 - 144 credits. To be awarded an NCEA you have to achieve in enough assessment tasks to get 80 of these credits.

Grades

Each achievement standard you complete will be marked using four grades: excellence, merit, achieved or not achieved.

Not achieved means that you have not met the standard and you will not be awarded that standard. High performance will be rewarded with a merit standard or an excellence standard. Achieved gives you the credits.

You will get a set of grades for each subject, one for each achievement standard in that subject. Unit standards do not use merit or excellence grades. You will either gain the credits or fail to meet the standard.

Endorsement of National Certificates of Educational Achievement

• Students gaining sufficient numbers of Merit or Excellence results will receive an Endorsed Certificate from NZQA.
• Students require 50 plus credits at Merit level to get a Merit endorsed certificate
• Students require 50 plus credits at Excellence level to get an Excellence endorsed certificate

Internal and external assessment

Most of your subjects will have some standards marked at school and some standards assessed by outside markers at the end of the year.

Internal standards

Some of the achievement standards you complete in each subject, and all of the unit standards, will be assessed at school. These are called internal (I) standards.

They will take the form of in-class written tests, practical tasks and performances, assignments done over several weeks, portfolio work and so on. Your teachers will mark them and there will be strict rules about due dates, how long you have to complete the tasks, where and how you do the work. There are, occasionally, resubmission or reassessment opportunities (see the later section).

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Moderation of assessment of internal standards

A sample of the internal assessment tasks and the way they have been marked will be checked by outside markers. If there is a major problem with the marking your achievement standards may alter in your favour; your grade will not become lower. Unit standards are checked in the same way. Within the school, all standards are checked within subject departments for consistency.

External achievement standards

At least half of most subjects’ achievement standards will be external (E) assessments. Most will be assessed in written examinations run by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority in November-December and marked by outside markers. Other methods could include outside markers checking portfolios of work or audio tapes of performance. There are no external unit standard assessments.

If you are unhappy about your results, external achievement standards can be remarked. You apply to NZQA in February when your marked examination papers have been returned to you. A fee is charged.

There is no reassessment opportunity for external achievement standards. You have to resit them at the end of the following year.

Hutt Valley High School will have in-class tests during the year and one set of practice external examinations in September to prepare students for these externally assessed achievement standards.

There are no examinations for unit standard assessments.

Entrance to subjects at the next level

Getting entry to the following year’s subjects is probably more important than worrying about gaining 80 credits for an NCEA certificate. For most people achieving the NCEA certificates happens automatically as the credits build up. You gain entry to each subject by doing well in that subject in the year before. Usually more than half the standards must be achieved to enter the next year’s course. Sometimes particular standards or merit grades are required. The 2005 requirements for entry to Hutt Valley High School’s level 2 and 3 courses are published in Subject Outline Booklets available from the Deans. These may change slightly from year to year but they give you a guide to the requirements.

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University Entrance

Entrance to university will be gained by achieving at least 42 level 3 credits from three to four subjects.

Two of the subjects must be conventional school subjects (Approved subjects), e.g. the languages, the arts, the social sciences, the sciences and a minimum of 14 credits must be achieved in each one. The other 14 credits may be achieved from up to two conventional subjects or from non conventional domains, e.g. the joinery, design or hospitality unit standards offered in the technology and design faculty.

There are quite complicated literacy requirements for university entrance. At least 4 level 2 reading credits from specified English or Maori standards and at least 4 level 2 writing credits from specified English or Maori standards are required. Your English and Maori teachers have the details. The numeracy requirements are at least 14 level 1 mathematics or Pangarau credits.

It is important to plan ahead for university entrance. You gain the 14 numeracy credits in year 11 and the literacy credits in year 12 when you may not even be thinking about your university entrance.

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Scholarship

Students in a secondary school have the opportunity to win a Scholarship.

Scholarship is a monetary award to recognize top students. It does not attract credits nor contribute towards a qualification but the fact that a student has gained a Scholarship will appear on the Record of Learning.

Scholarship will enable students to be assessed against challenging standards, and will be demanding for the most able students in each subject. Scholarship students will again be expected to demonstrate high-level critical thinking, abstraction and generalization, and to integrate, synthesise and apply knowledge, skills, understanding and ideas to complex situations.

The following subjects were available for Scholarship in 2008.

Accounting	Art History	Biology	Chemistry
Chinese	Classical Studies	Drama	Economics
English	French	Geography	German
Graphics	History	Japanese	Latin*
Mathematics with Calculus	Media Studies	Music Studies	Physical Education
Physics	Science	Spanish	Statistics and Modelling
Te Reo Maori	Technology	Visual Arts	Agricultural and Horticultural Science

* subject not currently offered at Hutt Valley High School

(See the NZQA website for further details).

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Reporting of progress and results

School reporting

• You will receive Hutt Valley High School reports during Terms 1, 2 and 4.
• Parent/teacher interviews will occur at least once a year. Teachers may also telephone home if they are concerned about your progress.

Official documents from the New Zealand Qualifications Authority

Results notices

In January, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) will send you a Result Notice telling you how well you did in your external achievement standards and giving you your official internal standard results. This will record all results including N (Not Achieved) for both external and internal standards.

Transcript of External Assessment results

This is the reconsideration application form sent with the Result Notice. It will record external assessment results and SNA (Subject Not Attempted) codes.

Transcript of Internal Assessment Results

This will be sent with the Result Notice. It will record all internally assessed results and SNA codes.

School Result Summary

It will summarise all the Result Notices issued to the student while at school and any further results reported since the last Result Notice was sent. It will include N results, but not SNA results.

Record of Achievement

In addition, the New Zealand Qualifications Authority allows you to access your own Record of Achievement. It will show all the credits from all the senior school courses you have studied over the year. It will not record N results or SNA codes. NZQA will send you a copy of your Record of Achievement. You can also purchase an additional copy from NZQA.

National Certificate of Educational Achievement

In April you will be sent your actual National Certificate of Educational Achievement if you achieved 80 or more credits for the standards you achieved.

Sample results notice

An example of an NCEA results notice from NZQA can be viewed on this website: Results Notice

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Topping up a National Certificate

What if you get fewer than the 80 credits needed for one of the NCEA certificates?

• If you are close to 80 credits you will complete that national certificate very quickly by adding the first few credits gained the following year.
• Remember that although a national certificate must have 80 credits, only 60 credits at the particular level or higher are required. The other twenty credits may come from the level below. In effect, twenty credits from each certificate may be counted twice.
• If you are short of literacy or numeracy credits at level 1 see the relevant department promptly about gaining more. This also applies if you want to go to university but have not reached the literacy requirements from level 2 English or Maori.
• You can repeat a course.

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Things you are responsible for during the assessment of internal standards

Getting work in on time

Internal assessment work at school operates under strict conditions just as the external examinations do. This is so that the assessment conditions are fair for everyone.

There are two main types of internal assessment for NCEA.

1. Those done in one or several class spells - you have to be in class to do these assessments.
2. Those done over a longer period using both school and home time - for these you have to hand in the finished work on a specified day, at a specified time and place.

Problems can occur with each of these.

Late work is not accepted nor is absence tolerated unless exceptional circumstances exist or the subject head of department has granted an extension. If extensions are required, they need to be applied for at least seven days before the due date.

You know in advance what your other commitments are and it is your responsibility to get assessments in. Being sick, having computer problems or being away, e.g. on a school trip or family celebration does not excuse you from handing the work in on or before the due date. However, being sick can stop you from being in class to sit a test.

It can get complicated so read these pages carefully. Discuss them with your parents because they may have to help you get official documentation such as a medical certificate.

Late work or absence is NOT acceptable for internally assessed achievement standards or for externally assessed portfolio work.

HOWEVER
You are only entitled to special consideration in these two circumstances:

• ill health or accident (medical certificate or other acceptable medical evidence is required from a non-family member)
• family emergency, e.g. bereavement, major medical or other emergency (documentation required).

1. If either of these two circumstances happen on the day the piece of assessment was to be handed in, the completed assessment work must be delivered to the college office or to your teacher by a family member, courier or friend.
   A phone call is required so that your teacher is aware that the work is coming in to school.
2. If either of these two circumstances happen before the due date and the work is incomplete, or if the assessment was to be done in class, the subject head of department will endeavour to offer you a suitable alternative.

This could include:

• a reassessment opportunity later in the year
• an extension of time
• an opportunity to sit the test or do the practical work on another specified day.
• Students should be aware that it is not always possible to offer practical work at other times as these involve considerable planning, resources and preparation time.
3. Other requests for a change of due date for assessment work may be granted at the discretion of the subject head of department.

The two sets of reasons that may be considered, in priority order, are:

• a curriculum activity (e.g. field trip in another subject) or sport / cultural representation at national or regional level
• a school activity (e.g. a major production), other sport or cultural activities, work overload, a religious festival

You must apply in writing, at least seven (7) days in advance, with a parent’s signature.

Heads of departments consider each application on its merits. These requests are not automatically granted, either because good time management is your responsibility or because reassessment or extensions are not possible.

By law, any family absence from school requires you to notify the Principal in writing.

Families need to be aware that holidays in term time are very likely to make it impossible for you to meet completion requirements for some internal achievement standards. Voluntary absence on a due date may mean the credits are not achieved.

4. Group work for Achievement Standards Check the procedures in the subject course handout for the sciences, drama and other courses which have group assessments. Rescheduling of dates may need to be agreed to by the whole group if a group member is absent. If a group member wags class to prevent the assessment taking place on the specified date that person will receive no credit for the assessment task.

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Appeals

You may ask for decisions about late work or extensions to be reconsidered. The appeal process is outlined on below.

Submitting work that is your own

Cheating

Cheating is the submission by a student of a piece of work that is not original (not your own work). It takes many forms:

• plagiarism (copying out material from a source like a book or the internet without acknowledging that the words or ideas are someone else's)
• undue help from home, or from a tutor, or from a reader-writer
• copying or handing in all or part of another student’s work
• giving work to another student which allows that student to use it or copy it
• using written or recorded material in a test or examination
• getting another student to sit an external assessment (examination) for you
• using language dictionaries, electronic spell checkers or unauthorised calculators in external assessments

Involving other students

Where a second student has participated in the cheating process, that person will be penalised also.

It is very important that you don’t lend your assessment work. It is okay to discuss the topic you are doing with someone else but the final piece of work must be your own ideas in your own words.

Penalties

A range of penalties may occur depending on the seriousness of the incident.

• The lightest penalty will be loss of all the grades for the task, or part of the task, for all those involved.
• Repeated incidents of cheating may mean you are withdrawn from that subject.
• The most severe penalty is withdrawal from the qualification by the New Zealand Qualifications Authority. (Part 1 Section 8(f) of the regulations is applied).

Appeals

You may ask for the cheating allegation to be considered again. The appeal process is outlined below.

Authenticity techniques

There are a number of methods the school will use to limit the amount of cheating. This is called checking the authenticity of your work. Departments may:

• ask you to complete the task in class
• provide all the resources you need for the assessment
• collect work in at the end of each spell and hand it back to you for the next spell
• ask to see the draft copies of the work as you do it
• ask you to hand in all your photocopies or downloaded resources
• expect you to meet checkpoints before the final deadline
• discuss your ideas and findings with you or ask you to do a different written task to check your grasp of the material. Return to contents

  Managing computer problems

  Senior students find computers very useful but technological problems can add another layer of stress when you are racing to meet deadlines.

  These problems fall into two categories.

  1. Individual computer or printer problems at home or in the school computer labs These are NOT acceptable reasons for late work.

  If you are relying heavily on computer technology, take these precautions:

  • make frequent backups on a new disk
  • print frequent drafts with a dated footer (as protection if you lose all or some of a file)
  • complete your assessment at least two nights before it is due
  • manage your time so that printing is not done on the due day
  • make arrangements to print your work at school if the home printer is broken, and make sure you have a printer balance to do this
  • submit the assessment on time on a disk and organise the printed copy by the end of the due day.
  2. Network or hardware failure in the school computer labs during a computer based in-class school assessment This is not your fault so the teacher will make equivalent time available to you. This may have to be in the lunch breaks or during study spells.

  However, you are responsible for:

  • making effective use of class time when the system is operating well
  • remembering your password
  • using a new disk to do regular backups
  • printing regular drafts with the date in the footer
  • topping up your print and internet account balances well in advance of the assessment spells.

  Payment of NCEA Fees

  You are responsible for paying the NCEA fees which are due each year. The fees pay for entry into all standards (internal and external). The school will issue you with an invoice in Term Two and will give you a deadline for payment at that stage. Schools agree to collect this fee on behalf of NZQA. Late payments incur a penalty from NZQA and non-payment means that Certificates of Achievements, University Entrance Certificates and Records of Achievement will not be released to students.

  Financial assistance is available under certain circumstances. Details and application forms will be advertised in the school newsletter and are also available on the NZQA website.

  Financial assistance help

  Things to help you

  Appeals process

  You have the right to appeal these things:

  • the grade you receive for a piece of internal assessment
  • the loss of credits or grades because of an accusation by the school of cheating
  • the non-acceptance of late work by the subject department
  • head of department declining an application for an extension of time

  None of these decisions is made lightly by the school but you may be unhappy about something. This is how the process works:

  1. First you need to talk to the teacher about your concern within three days of receiving a result or judgement If the matter is not resolved then
  2. Your written concerns must reach the subject head of department no later than five school days after the initial concern was raised (i.e. You have five school days to complete the first two steps.)
  3. The Head of Department (HOD) will arrange for the work to be remarked or for a decision to be reconsidered. The HOD will inform the student of their decision.
  4. If you still have a concern, the next step in the appeals process is to contact the Principal’s Nominee, Mr Larkin, within two days of the HODs decision. If necessary a further review of the decision will be considered.
  5. The Principal’s Nominee will keep the Principal informed.
  6. You will be given a written decision as soon as possible. This decision is final.
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  Reassessment and resubmission

  Occasionally a second assessment opportunity is available for an internal achievement or unit standard. This is only possible if further learning has occurred and if it is possible to offer them. If reassessment is available, there is a maximum of one reassessment opportunity for a standard. You complete a different task assessing the same standard. You are awarded the higher of your two grades for that standard.

  Some departments are able to offer resubmission opportunities. The same assessment task or item can be handed in again for remarking within a specified time. This allows you to redo some of the task.

  There is no reassessment available for external achievement standards. If you do not achieve some or all of your external achievement standards you will have to wait 12 months if you want to sit them again during the next year’s examinations.

  The good thing about reassessment and resubmission is that you have a second chance to succeed. However, not all achievement and unit standards have reassessment or resubmission opportunities because of the nature of the assessment tasks and because of the pressure placed on teaching and learning. You must check the subject handouts for all your subjects carefully for details about this.

  Some assessments take place over a longer period of time and there are a number of opportunities to reach the standard. You may do a portfolio of work and select the best pieces of work for submission towards the end of the course. The teachers give you feedback and you have the opportunity to improve your performance before the final submission date. This is different from a formal resubmission opportunity. It is part of the normal teaching and learning process.

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  Compassionate consideration for external qualifications

  If you miss the external examinations because of ill-health, an accident or family bereavement you are able to apply for estimated grades for the external achievement standards that you missed. It is most likely that school practice examinations will be used to estimate these grades.

  You will need to see Mr Larkin during the external examination weeks and get the official forms. You will have to take them to your doctor to complete if you are ill and then hand them in to Mr Larkin on or before the last day of the examination period.

  Special assessment conditions

  For a handful of students with special needs, adults are available to read and/or write their internal assessment tasks and examinations.

  There are strict guidelines and outside professional evidence is required. Normally you will have been identified and have received this support at primary and intermediate school as well as in years 9 and 10.

  It is very rare for students to gain special assessment assistance for the first time in the senior school. Strong outside evidence is needed. You also have to show clearly that you have the potential to achieve much higher grades. Breaking your arm just before the examinations is not grounds for having a writer. (See compassionate consideration above.) Applications are finalised in term 2.

  NZQA’s policy is available on their website, in Section 6. Qualification Authority based Assessment Rules and Procedures.

  Timing of assessments

  Each subject provides you with an assessment timetable which shows when assessments will occur.

  Usually these dates will not change. If for some compelling reason they do have to be altered the department will give you the new date in writing at least two weeks in advance.

  Each subject provides you with the actual due day (and time, e.g. in the class spell or at the end of the day) for your internal assessments in that subject. You get that date at least two weeks in advance and in writing.

  Teachers use a year planner to try and avoid clashes of dates. However, there are always some weeks that have a lot of assessment and some weeks that have very little. You need to manage your time.

  Keeping your work safe

  You should hand in your own work.

  You should give it to the teacher in person at the time specified. The teacher is not responsible if work left on a desk or in a pigeonhole goes missing.

  The only exception to this is if you are absent when a piece of work is due (see the section on late work). You may phone the school office and then get a friend, parent or courier to hand the work to the person in the school office. The office will sign it in and put a time and date on it to protect you.

  Your internal assessment material is likely to be retained by the department especially if other classes have not yet completed the task. In addition, schools have to hold at least one set of assessment work so the standard of marking can be checked by NZQA. The subject departments are responsible for the safe storage of all your internal assessment work.

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  Checking your assessment data

  You have the right to check all the internal assessment data held on computer before it is submitted to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority.

  This usually happens when all the internal assessment is completed in term 4. You are asked to sign that the data is correct. Before you sign, you have the right:

  • to ask your teacher to show you the assessment work held at the school so you can check the original marks
  • to show the teacher that a grade was changed because of an appeal by providing a copy of the appeal letter or changed assessment sheet
  • to view the corrected computer printout.

  It is your responsibility to keep in a safe place all the internal assessment grade sheets as you get them. You should also keep any appeal letters.

  It is not possible to challenge a grade once the appeal period has passed unless you are away from school legitimately.

  Privacy Act

  Your assessment information is held on computer. It is not available to unauthorised people. You have the right to view your own data on request. Your information is used only for reporting and NZQA purposes.

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