External Evaluation and Review (EER) into Fire and Emergency’s approval and accreditation

Today NZQA has published an External Evaluation and Review (EER) into Fire and Emergency’s approval and accreditation of its NZQA accredited training programmes and unit standards.

For background, Fire and Emergency is accredited for two NZQA accredited programmes and approximately 300 different, individual NZQA Unit Standards. Last year alone, 13,500 unit standards were achieved across 60 different unit standards.

The EER confirms a downgrade from being a category 2 to a category 4 Government Training Establishment provider.  We fully accept there are areas we need to improve, and we are working hard to do better by our people, the other agencies we provide training for and all New Zealanders.  We had already identified the areas for improvement set out in the EER and work was already underway when the EER was undertaken.

We are confident the training our people are providing to personnel is of a high standard. This downgrade is focused on the systems and processes we have in place to provide assurance over the quality of our training and assessments. We are engaging with two external providers to support us as we work through the redevelopment and moderation of the assessments that need reviewing.

Whilst overall confidence of the Fire and Emergency training system cannot be assured until the time of the next EER, significant steps in the right direction have occurred. It is on this basis, and the assurance of the external oversight that will be provided by external providers, that has given NZQA the confidence to grant an exemption to the normal restrictions that would apply to a Category Four provider. The steps taken to date have clearly indicated the systems put in place provide assurance that the training delivered will be to the required standard.