Sunday, February 18, 2007

NCEA 2007
Changes to standards
Please check the version of the standard students are to be assessed against. Check the date on the standard to ensure you are using the current version of the standard and you are familiar with any modifications that have been made.

Assessment Specifications
The assessment specifications for the external standards have been posted on the NZQA NCEA website.
These need to be checked carefully. Changes have been made, particularly to standards related to the use of geographic skills and ideas.

Assesment Activities for internally assessed standards
Check that the assessment activities you plan to use match the current version of the standard. When selecting activities from the TKI website, choose ones with a recent revision date. These are not moderated activities, so they need to be checked with care. They should be appropriately modified to meet the teaching and learning focus of your school.

National Assessors/Moderators reports
These are not usually posted on the NZQA website before April. Special note should be made of the comments and recommendations in the reports related to external assessments.
Welcome to Geoteachers 2007

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COURSES
Hamilton 1 March, Rotorua 2 March - 2006 NCEA : What can we learn from the results
These days were scheduled following requests from last year's course participants for a repeat in 2007. Each day will offer an opportunity for teachers to look closely at the scripts of their own students and those of students from other schools in order to gain insight into how assessors made judgements about student performance.
Geography teachers may wish to focus particularly on AS9074. There have been a number of comments made to the social sciences advisor about poorer than expected student performance in the externals, particularly for Select and apply skills and ideas in a geographic context.
Steve Bargh, National Assessment Facilitator, NZQA, will be making a brief presentation to course attendees in the morning of each day and will answer teacher questions. Please email your questions to suzannes@waikato.ac.nz so Steve has an opportunity to research his responses where necessary.
Enrolment forms can be found on p106 of Choices. They have been emailed to all people on the social sciences advisor's lists and faxed to all schools.
Participants must bring copies of students scripts to the course.

14 March: Symposuim on Urban Sustainability
This event has been organised by the Waikato Branch of the New Zealand Geographical Society. The focus is indicated by the title. The keynote speaker is visiting New Zeland specifically for this event. Y12 and Y13 geography students are specifically catered for in the workshops, which will have a particular focus on planning and decision making for the future of NZ urban and regional environments.
For details about the symposium and resource materials to enable students to prepare, please check the NZGS website and/or emailed information.


14-16 March: Leading Learning Conference
This course has been designed for secondary teachers interested in leading learning initiatives inside their schools, particularly SCTs, HoDs, Supervising Teachers and PRT Coordinators. Conference flyers have been distributed to all schools.
Enrolment forms are in Choices.