Quality Assurance
New Zealand has strong quality assurance systems which ensure consistent, high quality education across all levels of the education system.
Quality assurance of ECE centres and schools
The Education Review Office (ERO) conducts external reviews of early childhood centres, primary and secondary schools.
ERO is an independent government department reporting directly to its own minister.
Schools and early childhood services are reviewed, on average, once every three years. Reviews are undertaken more often where the performance of a school or centre is poor and there are possible risks to the education and safety of the students. All schools and their boards of trustees are reviewed.
ERO reviews and publishes reports on:
- the quality of education provided for students
- specific aspects of schooling and early childhood education
- regional and national educational issues
- the quality of management by school boards of trustees and the managers of ECE centres
- the education of students exempted from attending school, ie home-school students.
All ERO reports are freely available to the public. To find out more go to the ERO website.
The New Zealand Qualifications Authority
The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA):
- sets and regularly reviews standards for qualifications
- registers and monitors all national qualifications on the National Qualifications Framework (NQF)
- operates national senior secondary school examinations
- conducts external moderation of internal assessment in schools
- registers and monitors private providers of tertiary education to ensure they meet quality standards
- administers a qualifications recognition service for overseas people wanting to live, work or study in New Zealand
- approves courses that are mainly or wholly for international students in schools.
NZQA posts a large, complete list of all quality assured qualifications on KiwiQuals, a register of quality assured qualifications. For more information, go to the KiwiQuals website.
The register has ten levels and uses an agreed set of title definitions.
It also benchmarks New Zealand qualifications internationally. For more information, go to the New Zealand Qualifications Authority website.
Teaching quality
The New Zealand Teachers Council’s (NZTC’s) role is to maintain the professional standards of teachers. It registers teachers, renews their practising certificates, defines standards, and jointly approves teacher education programmes that lead to registration. It has the power to investigate complaints and act upon them.
Every school teacher must be registered with the NZTC. NZTC ensures a minimum quality standard applied to all teachers. It considers a teacher’s experience, character, qualifications and police record.
Early childhood education teachers are progressively becoming registered and by 2012 will either be registered, or in teacher education programmes.
Teaching in tertiary education does not require compulsory registration. The term ‘registered teacher’ is protected by law. It is illegal for a person without registration to use these words to indicate that he or she is a registered teacher.
Ongoing quality assurance in all teaching is managed with:
- professional development programmes for each individual
- performance monitoring and appraisal
- selected programmes of study leave and sabbaticals
- various scholarships and fellowships.
Most teacher education in New Zealand takes place in the Faculties of Education in universities. Teacher education courses are approved and quality-assured by the NZTC.
Overseas trained teachers considering teaching in New Zealand can find useful information by going to the TeachNZ website. This website provides the latest information on teaching and teacher education in New Zealand.
Quality assurance of tertiary education
Quality assurance in the tertiary sector focuses on the quality of learning outcomes recognised through qualifications as a whole.
It also examines the systems and processes that support delivery of quality by providers.
Only those tertiary qualifications and providers that are quality assured by a Quality Assurance Body (QAB) can receive government financial assistance. QABs decide if providers and qualification developers meet the required standards.
NZQA registers private education providers and recommends the approval of Government Training Establishments (GTEs) to the Minister of Education. It accredits and audits educational institutions and other registered learning establishments that offer approved courses and award credit for registered qualifications. It also accredits Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) to register workplace assessors.
All registered education providers, and approved courses and qualifications outside the universities are listed on the New Zealand Qualification Authority (NZQA) website. To find out more, go to the NZQA website.
NZQA has delegated authority for the approval and accreditation of ITP courses up to bachelor’s degree level to Institutes of Technology and Polytechnics Quality (ITPQ), the quality arm of ITPNZ.
The New Zealand Vice Chancellors’ Committee (NZVCC) provides quality assurance for university qualifications through its Committee on University Academic Programmes (CUAP), and through the independent New Zealand Universities Academic Audit Unit (NZUAAU).
NZVCC and NZQA use the same criteria for the approval and accreditation of qualifications.