About JITO - Moderation
MODERATION
Introduction
A significant cornerstone of the National Qualifications Framework is quality management.
The Joinery Industry Training Organisation (JITO) has a responsibility to ensure all assessment against unit standards it manages is:
- Authentic
- Fair
- Valid
- Open
- Consistent.

The Moderation System developed by the JITO is the quality management system it uses to monitor and evaluate assessment carried out by:
- Accredited Training Providers
- JITO Registered Workplace Assessors.
This page explains the moderation system for registered unit standards under the auspices of JITO.

JITO is committed to ongoing review of current unit standards and to adding new unit standards where an industry endorsed need is identified. Providers are invited to suggest changes that would improve the quality and clarity of the standards.
There are two prerequisites for Candidates to gain credit for these unit standards:
  1. The organisation carrying out the assessment must be accredited to do so under the terms of the JITO Accreditation Action Plan (AAP)
  2. Assessments need to be externally moderated according to the terms of the JITO Moderation Action Plan (MAP).
These two Plans combined are referred to the AMAP. A copy of the JITO AMAP is available.

What is Moderation?
The term moderation includes any activity that ensures consistency of Assessor judgements and reduces variations of interpretation of a standard.
Moderation is the quality assurance process to help make Assessor judgements nationally consistent.
Moderation should ensure that where more than one Assessor is assessing a particular unit standard, interpretation of the standard is consistent between those Assessors. All Assessors will be involved in moderation at some stage.
Moderation can ensure that Assessors who are working in different locations around the country and in different settings, whether with a Provider or in workplaces, are all making consistent judgements.
The New Zealand Qualifications Authority (NZQA) requires all Industry Training Organisations (ITOs) and Training Providers who assess for the National Qualifications Framework to operate a moderation system.
Moderation provides opportunities for Assessors to build confidence in their assessment skills. It provides a chance to check that what they are doing is in line with all other Assessors and gives opportunities to gather new ideas, different approaches, and to work through issues about standards and assessment processes.

The System
Why is a national moderation system necessary?

National moderation ensures that Assessors make consistent judgements about Candidate evidence and interpretations of the unit standards. Moderation is the fourth step of the quality assurance process of the National Qualifications Framework. The steps are:
  1. The development and registration of industry standards
  2. The registration of private providers
  3. Accreditation of providers to assess standards
  4. Moderation of assessments
  5. Audit
Every moderation system focuses on quality in the setting of assessment activities (pre-assessment) and quality in the assessment of Candidate work (post assessment).		 What do moderators do?
Moderators evaluate samples of pre-assessment material and verify assessment of sample Candidate evidence. They may also provide information that helps Assessors interpret unit standards.

How will the system work?
The JITO Moderation system has three levels.

Level 1 - Internal Moderation
Internal Moderation takes place in two situations.
  1. Where more than one Assessor is assessing the same unit standard for an Accredited Training Provider. Providers are required by their Quality Management Systems to organise internal moderation. The provider's internal moderation system must be structured and operate in a way which ensures that all assessments undertaken are in accordance with the quality requirements of their organisation and the requirements of the JITO moderation system.
  2. Where more than one JITO Registered Workplace Assessor in the region is assessing the same unit standard. In this case an appointed representative of the JITO Workplace Assessors in the region will collect samples of Assessor decisions and evidence undertaken by each Workplace Assessor assessing against that unit standard, carry out an initial moderation of those samples andselect and submit representative samples for moderation by the Regional Moderation Panel.
Level 2 - External Moderation at a Regional Level
The external moderation system is based on three regional groups of Providers and Workplace Assessors, whose representatives meet once a year as Regional Moderation Panels to consider:
  • Samples of assessments carried out on-job by Workplace Assessors using JITO pre-approved national Assessment Guides.
  • Any assessment instruments submitted by Providers for moderation before they are used for assessment. The assessment instruments are analysed, and amended if required before they are used.
  • Samples of assessments carried out by Providers who assess against the unit standards for which JITO is responsible. Each Provider provides samples of assessments selected to the requirements of the JITO National Moderator.
Level 3 - External Moderation at a National Level
The three Regional Moderation Panels will provide the National Moderator with reports on the moderation exercises they complete and recommendations for changes to unit standards, to assessment instruments or to assessment processes where required.
The National Moderator may attend the meetings of the Regional Moderation Panels to observe the moderation process first-hand.
The National Moderator will invite the Regional Moderation Co-ordinators to a National Moderation Meeting following the Regional Moderation Rounds to discuss the Moderation Reports and compile recommendations for improvement.
The National Moderator will at the end of each annual Moderation period, submit a Moderation Report to the JITO Board.

Therefore three integrated systems of moderation will operate to make up the JITO moderation system.
Internal Moderation occurs between Assessors and occurs between Tutor/ Assessors within Provider organisations.
External Moderation at a Regional level occurs between assessors from Providers and Workplace Assessors and is conducted at a Regional Moderation Panel.
External Moderation at a National level occurs between the three Regional Moderation Panels and is conducted by the National Moderator.
Click here to get more information on individual assessment guides

Click here to get the moderation handbook in a PDF file
Click here to get the forms for moderation
Top