We’re proud to highlight the culmination of a major collaborative effort — the development of four key guideline documents for providers.  

These resources are designed to support providers and practitioners across the food and fibre sector to deliver high-quality, equitable, and future-focused education and assessment. Each document reflects sector-specific needs, provides practical insights, and acknowledges the evolving direction of vocational education in Aotearoa New Zealand.  

The guidance documents are: 

Designing online assessments: Supports providers in designing effective, equitable and accessible online assessments. The document is anchored in NZQA principles, making it especially relevant for our education providers. 

Embedding Tirohanga Māori: Encourages the assessment of related behaviours, such as teamwork, empathy, and communication, within a te ao Māori context. The document includes real-world examples from the food and fibre sector, reinforcing the importance of cultural connection, inclusive design, and holistic learner wellbeing.  

Skill standards: Skill standards are replacing traditional unit standards in Aotearoa’s vocational education system. This document describes how skill standards are structured, how they differ from unit standards, and how to design, assess, and moderate assessments based on them.   

Programme development guidance: This document focuses on seven distinct themes, and offers structured guidance for developing educational programmes that meet the needs of industries in the food and fibre sector 

In addition to the Programme Development Guidance, we have created some guidance for meeting the Programme Content consideration when developing and submitting programmes for Programme Endorsement by Muka Tangata: Meeting considerations around programme content in programme endorsement 

 

Whether you’re developing programmes, assessing learners, or embedding te ao Māori values into your practice, these guidelines offer the clarity and consistency we all need to move forward together.  

View and download the guidance documents here: Publications