Qualifications and standards overview

Our role for qualifications and unit standards

Hanga-Aro-Rau was responsible for developing and maintaining qualifications, and for developing, setting, and maintaining unit standards for the industries within our coverage area.

These qualifications and standards were previously managed by Transitional Industry Training Organisations and were transferred to Hanga-Aro-Rau when Workforce Development Councils were established.

Identifying which qualifications and unit standards have been transferred to Hanga-Aro-Rau

All qualifications and standards have been updated on NZQA’s system. You can find out which ones were transferred to Hanga-Aro-Rau by searching NZQA’s website:

• For qualifications, search for the qualification by keyword or qualification number on the NZQF. Click on the qualification to view the name of the current qualification developer.
• For standards, search for the unit standard by number (or via field/subfield/domain) on the Directory of Assessment Standards. The name of the current standard-setting body is displayed on the resulting screen. Note: the individual Word and PDF documents relating to the standard will still show the previous standard setting body’s details.

Skill Standards

Skill standards were introduced to replace unit standards as the core components of vocational programmes. NZQA worked with WDCs and other stakeholders on the definition and design of skill standards, and substantial progress was made on their design.

Providers were given opportunities to participate in the development of skill standards where they had an interest in the subject area. When unit standards were replaced, this was communicated to providers with existing consent to assess, and time was provided to update programmes to reflect new skill standards.

Support for Providers developing programmes for our qualifications

Hanga-Aro-Rau developed a range of guidance documents to support providers developing programmes that led to the award of our qualifications.

Last date of assessment for any qualification or standard

When providers planned to request an extension for the last date of assessment for any qualification or standard, NZQA required additional evidence to support these requests, particularly for extensions beyond two years or for repeat requests. NZQA began work on a policy to guide the review of these applications, and Hanga-Aro-Rau’s role was to ensure providers had the most up-to-date guidance available.

Hanga-Aro-Rau developed a form to capture the information needed to support these applications.

Contact us

This page reflects the role Hanga-Aro-Rau previously held for qualifications and unit standards within our coverage.

For current information about qualifications, standards, and programme development processes, please refer to the NZQA website in the first instance.

Details of the ISB now responsible for these functions, including updated contact information, will be added to this page once confirmed.