Moderation

We moderate assessments to ensure fairness and consistency.

Moderation is a quality assurance process that monitors and evaluates assessor decisions and assessment resources to ensure that standards are applied validly and consistently to all learners.

Our Quality Assurance team oversees the moderation process by:

Conducting internal moderation of registered assessors. This process ensures that our assessors are making assessment decisions that are fair, valid, equitable, and consistent.

Conducting pre-assessment moderation of assessment tools. This ensures that assessment resources meet national standards before they are used by learners and assessors.

We work closely with our Workforce Development Councils (WDCs) to understand sector moderation requirements and support their external moderation plans.

How we conduct Moderation

We conduct moderation in different ways.
Postal moderation: Our Quality Assurance team requests assessment samples from our registered assessors in line with the Annual Moderation Plan. We send the samples to external contracted moderators for review.
Peer moderation: Our Quality Assurance team, assessors, and moderators get together to review a set of samples.
Observed moderation: This involves the Quality Assurance team and a nominated industry specialist moderator conducting moderation during the assessment activity, usually conducted at the employer’s workplace.

Annual Moderation Plan

Each year we set a new Annual Moderation Plan. The moderation plan is based on the following selection criteria:
Frequently used unit standards/ high volumes of assessing
High risk unit standards and new assessors
Unit standards that have been requested for external moderation by WDCs and NZQA
Industry feedback and alerts, for example health and safety concerns, new legislation requirements, ensuring best practice, etc.
Previous moderation results. Assessors who have previously not met moderation requirements will participate in more frequent moderation, until best practice assessment standards are met.

Our Quality Assurance team will inform assessors of their moderation requirements individually.

Assessors have the right to appeal

Assessors can formally appeal if they disagree with a moderation decision.
How moderation appeals work:
The assessor must appeal to us in writing within 30 days of receiving the moderation result. 
Our Quality Assurance team overseas a formal review of the appeal. 
We’ll inform the moderator and the assessor of the result of the appeal within 15 days of receiving it.

To appeal a moderation decision, assessors need to complete the following steps:
Fill out the Moderation Appeals Form
Email the form to: qa@taihape.earnlearn.ac.nz