What is Dance about?
[ Video Resource ]
- Title: Dance
- Description: Dance Subject Expert Group members discuss their experiences in the Review of Achievement Standards
- Video Duration: 5 minutes
- Video URL: https://player.vimeo.com/video/571874553
- Transcript: In conversation with Ryan Timoko-Benjamin Trudy Dobbie Gillian Payne Transcript below: I'm hoping the outcome will be that teachers will be able to teach and learn. That assessment will happen more authentically
In conversation with
Ryan Timoko-Benjamin
Trudy Dobbie
Gillian Payne
Transcript below:
I'm hoping the outcome will be that teachers will be able to teach and learn. That assessment will happen more authentically, and will be able to be gathered as the teaching/learning occurs, rather than working towards assessment.
Having fewer Standards is going to allow students to have more time, less stress, more manageable workload, and focusing more on the learning, rather than being assessment driven, which is nice. That's the best part of it, taking it back to, in this in this subject, what is the stuff that we want to be celebrating and emphasising. And letting the assessment fall out of that later.
We started with the Big Ideas. Embedding them from the overarching teaching and learning that we want to do in the classroom. Looking at the how. There's many different ways for kids to submit their understanding of what we're doing in the classroom, what we're learning about.
It's valuing their culture, language, identity, and bringing that into the learning, rather than keeping it as an outside thing. It's part of the way we approach and the way we're changing the approach to learning.
I think in terms of Mana ōrite mō mātauranga Māori, it's about acknowledging what's always existed as two separate entities. Now we will see through the vehicles of te ao Haka. But also what we've done with the changes to Dance.
The ability for Māori medium, but also Māori learners in English medium settings to bring all of those skills that they've always explored so deeply. And now be acknowledged on a valid platform with every other learner.
Each teacher brings in their own knowledges, and experiences, and understandings. It was a really interesting conversation, because we all held different things. But what we managed to find is the fundamentals that we all agreed on. That was the driving force in our practice. It's a new tool as well for teachers, having that Learning Matrix and the Big Ideas. Using that to guide course design, and thinking about the overall, the whole year, the whole big picture, rather than separating things out. It's made me think about my curriculum design.
I'm really excited to go back to my courses, my programmes, and reimagine them and rethink them. I've worked in isolation for a very long time as a sole Dance teacher. To collaborate with other Dance teachers, be challenged on my biases, and what I think about what I'm doing, has been invaluable.
Our subject association feedback told us that there was lots about the existing Achievement Standards that they liked. There was lots that they loved. For us, the challenge has been how do we embed better practices into what teaching and learning looks like in Dance.
Strip away some of the clog in the assessment. But still give space and voice to those things that we've liked, while being able to refine and make more explicit the things that had been left to chance in the past. And now are right up there, centre stage with everything else. Change is going to be overwhelming for some people, and I think we understand that. Particularly if you just get given something and you have to make sense of it.
I think as scary as change is, not to be afraid. To think about it as a way of taking the moment, the opportunity and the time to re-look at what you're doing.
Yeah, and those tools there. That Learning Matrix, which is a new tool, the Big Ideas. Looking at the tasks, the example tasks, example course outlines. Taking time to kind of wrap your head around it. Start picturing it, how it could work for you and what you've been doing.
One hope I would have, and I'll cushion it as advice, is that we don't just jump straight to finding that piece of recognition in the change, and find ways to mould our existing approaches to assessment and practice into these new Standards we've delivered.
By design, they are different. Taking that time, and to acknowledge the complexity and uncertainty that sits in change spaces. Take time to wallow in that space. Find those moments where your perspective, and the perspective of your learners, gives you that opportunity to start afresh.
Subject-specific terms can be found in the glossary.
Dance is an embodied language. In dance education, ākonga learn to communicate through movement and interpret meaning from movement. Learning in Dance supports ākonga to expand the ways they express ideas, feelings, values, and beliefs, as well as how they understand those of others. Ākonga develop literacy in dance as they learn about, and extend their skills in movement, performance, and choreography.
Dance is a way of strengthening relationships. Personal experiences and identities are valid and valued components of learning in Dance, which supports whanaungatanga. Working as a collective emphasises core values of fa'aaloalo/faka’apa’apa, aro’a, tautua, and kuleana, which nurture vā in learning spaces. These values are fundamental to positive learning experiences that will support ākonga in Dance. Dance supports ākonga to develop relational skills they can take beyond the learning environment, such as collaboration, communication, teamwork, and problem-solving. At the same time, ākonga will also develop confidence and a deeper awareness of their own identities.
Dance is always evolving as innovations develop from or alongside dance forms and practices. Dance can be seen as a social and historical artefact reflecting the culture from which it descends.
Subject-specific terms can be found in the glossary.
Dance is an embodied language. In dance education, ākonga learn to communicate through movement and interpret meaning from movement. Learning in Dance supports ākonga to expand the ways they express ideas, feelings, values, and beliefs, as well as how they understand those of others. Ākonga develop literacy in dance as they learn about, and extend their skills in movement, performance, and choreography.
Dance is a way of strengthening relationships. Personal experiences and identities are valid and valued components of learning in Dance, which supports whanaungatanga. Working as a collective emphasises core values of fa'aaloalo/faka’apa’apa, aro’a, tautua, and kuleana, which nurture vā in learning spaces. These values are fundamental to positive learning experiences that will support ākonga in Dance. Dance supports ākonga to develop relational skills they can take beyond the learning environment, such as collaboration, communication, teamwork, and problem-solving. At the same time, ākonga will also develop confidence and a deeper awareness of their own identities.
Dance is always evolving as innovations develop from or alongside dance forms and practices. Dance can be seen as a social and historical artefact reflecting the culture from which it descends.
Big Ideas and Significant Learning
This section outlines the meaning of, and connection between, the Big Ideas and Significant Learning, which together form the Learning Matrix. It then explains each Dance Big Idea.
The Arts Learning Area, including its whakataukī, inform this subject’s Significant Learning — learning that is critical for students to know, understand, and do in a subject by the end of each Curriculum Level. This covers knowledge, skills, competencies, and attitudes. It also includes level-appropriate contexts students should encounter in their learning. The Learning Area's whakataukī is:
Te toi whakairo, ka ihiihi, ka wehiwehi, ka aweawe te ao katoa.
Artistic excellence makes the world sit up in wonder.
Dance can be understood as a form of carving. In dance, the body carves the space with movement. The artist pours their essence and energy into their art, and this mauri is felt when interacting with it.
In Dance, the Learning Area whakataukī is about this exchange of energy — this involves ihi, wehi, and wana. Ihi is shared by radiating energy during choreography, rehearsals, and performance. This energy causes observers to experience wehi when they feel an emotional response to the ihi. Wana is created when these two energies connect, inspiring a sense of awe.
The subject's Big Ideas and Significant Learning are collated into a Learning Matrix for Curriculum Levels 6 and 7, and indicative learning for Level 8. Teachers can use the Learning Matrix as a tool to construct learning programmes that cover all the not-to-be-missed learning in a subject.
There is no prescribed order to the Learning Matrix within each Level. A programme of learning might begin with a context that is relevant to the local area of the school or an idea that students are particularly interested in. This context must relate to at least one Big Idea and may also link to other Big Ideas.
There are five Big Ideas in Dance. The nature of this subject as a discipline means aspects of Significant Learning often cross over multiple Big Ideas, and vice versa.
This section outlines the meaning of, and connection between, the Big Ideas and Significant Learning, which together form the Learning Matrix. It then explains each Dance Big Idea.
The Arts Learning Area, including its whakataukī, inform this subject’s Significant Learning — learning that is critical for students to know, understand, and do in a subject by the end of each Curriculum Level. This covers knowledge, skills, competencies, and attitudes. It also includes level-appropriate contexts students should encounter in their learning. The Learning Area's whakataukī is:
Te toi whakairo, ka ihiihi, ka wehiwehi, ka aweawe te ao katoa.
Artistic excellence makes the world sit up in wonder.
Dance can be understood as a form of carving. In dance, the body carves the space with movement. The artist pours their essence and energy into their art, and this mauri is felt when interacting with it.
In Dance, the Learning Area whakataukī is about this exchange of energy — this involves ihi, wehi, and wana. Ihi is shared by radiating energy during choreography, rehearsals, and performance. This energy causes observers to experience wehi when they feel an emotional response to the ihi. Wana is created when these two energies connect, inspiring a sense of awe.
The subject's Big Ideas and Significant Learning are collated into a Learning Matrix for Curriculum Levels 6 and 7, and indicative learning for Level 8. Teachers can use the Learning Matrix as a tool to construct learning programmes that cover all the not-to-be-missed learning in a subject.
There is no prescribed order to the Learning Matrix within each Level. A programme of learning might begin with a context that is relevant to the local area of the school or an idea that students are particularly interested in. This context must relate to at least one Big Idea and may also link to other Big Ideas.
There are five Big Ideas in Dance. The nature of this subject as a discipline means aspects of Significant Learning often cross over multiple Big Ideas, and vice versa.
Big Idea Body:
Dance is shaped by the culture from which it comes and that it represents. All ākonga come with their own culture and whakapapa that can be expressed and shared through movement. Dance enables learners to engage with, and value, diverse cultures and ideas. Through dance, ākonga in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific are able to access and benefit from mātauranga Māori and te ao Māori. Dance empowers learners to recognise the diversity of Aotearoa New Zealand and build connections across cultures.
He atua, he tipua, he tangata — dance is a descendant of culture
Dance is shaped by the culture from which it comes and that it represents. All ākonga come with their own culture and whakapapa that can be expressed and shared through movement. Dance enables learners to engage with, and value, diverse cultures and ideas. Through dance, ākonga in Aotearoa New Zealand and the Pacific are able to access and benefit from mātauranga Māori and te ao Māori. Dance empowers learners to recognise the diversity of Aotearoa New Zealand and build connections across cultures.
Big Idea Body:
Dance is a vehicle for creating, forming, exploring, and sustaining relationships with self, others, and the environment. There is a partnership that is formed between the performer and the audience — the exchange of information and energy is inherent in this relationship, which is created through ihi, wehi, and wana. Nurturing relationships is a continuous and active process. It is crucial to the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of self. Through whakawhanaungatanga, a safe and respectful space is created to support this. A respectful space values alofa, vā, manaakitanga, and the connections ākonga can make by bringing their whole selves to the creative process.
The collectivism of dance is powered by the idea that in working together, the process is deepened and the art becomes richer: “A fia vave o'o lou va’a alo na o oe, ae a fia tuli mamao le taunu’uga tatou ‘alo’alo faatasi” (Samoan proverb) - If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.
Through shared moments, experiences, and collaboration, learners can gain a sense of belonging, community, and identity. Diverse identities, abilities, and roles are respected and celebrated, creating a foundation for collaboration, interdependence, and valuing and learning from one another. Roles in the group can take many forms in this context and are not fixed (such as who leads and who follows).
Dance nurtures whanaungatanga
Dance is a vehicle for creating, forming, exploring, and sustaining relationships with self, others, and the environment. There is a partnership that is formed between the performer and the audience — the exchange of information and energy is inherent in this relationship, which is created through ihi, wehi, and wana. Nurturing relationships is a continuous and active process. It is crucial to the physical, emotional, and spiritual aspects of self. Through whakawhanaungatanga, a safe and respectful space is created to support this. A respectful space values alofa, vā, manaakitanga, and the connections ākonga can make by bringing their whole selves to the creative process.
The collectivism of dance is powered by the idea that in working together, the process is deepened and the art becomes richer: “A fia vave o'o lou va’a alo na o oe, ae a fia tuli mamao le taunu’uga tatou ‘alo’alo faatasi” (Samoan proverb) - If you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together.
Through shared moments, experiences, and collaboration, learners can gain a sense of belonging, community, and identity. Diverse identities, abilities, and roles are respected and celebrated, creating a foundation for collaboration, interdependence, and valuing and learning from one another. Roles in the group can take many forms in this context and are not fixed (such as who leads and who follows).
Big Idea Body:
As an embodied language, dance has its own literacy. In Dance, ākonga process and demonstrate their thinking through movement. They use their bodies to both communicate and interpret the message and purpose of a dance. Through moving and observing movement, ākonga explore and transform ideas into expressive works that communicate meaning. Through dance, ākonga can value, sustain, and reflect stories, concepts, whakapapa, and tikanga. Dance is a way through which knowledge can be shared and passed down.
Dance is embodied cognition
As an embodied language, dance has its own literacy. In Dance, ākonga process and demonstrate their thinking through movement. They use their bodies to both communicate and interpret the message and purpose of a dance. Through moving and observing movement, ākonga explore and transform ideas into expressive works that communicate meaning. Through dance, ākonga can value, sustain, and reflect stories, concepts, whakapapa, and tikanga. Dance is a way through which knowledge can be shared and passed down.
Big Idea Body:
Dance education empowers learners to find and use their voice through curiosity and exploration. They gain skills for life by questioning, communicating, critiquing, challenging, negotiating, and testing meanings and ideas. Dance encourages learners to be creative, take risks, and express alternative viewpoints through composing, analysing, and performing movement. Dance can be a challenge to the status quo, a questioning of societal expectations, or a commentary on inequity. Expressing or interpreting dance in these ways involves deep critical awareness of social context. Through whakawhanaungatanga, a safe and respectful space is created to support this.
Dance develops creative and critical thinking skills
Dance education empowers learners to find and use their voice through curiosity and exploration. They gain skills for life by questioning, communicating, critiquing, challenging, negotiating, and testing meanings and ideas. Dance encourages learners to be creative, take risks, and express alternative viewpoints through composing, analysing, and performing movement. Dance can be a challenge to the status quo, a questioning of societal expectations, or a commentary on inequity. Expressing or interpreting dance in these ways involves deep critical awareness of social context. Through whakawhanaungatanga, a safe and respectful space is created to support this.
Big Idea Body:
Movement making is an ongoing process using cycles of action, response, and revision. Ākonga continue to iterate based on external and internal forms of feedback, exploring additional inspiration and drawing on an evolving understanding of the collaborative process.
Dance involves learning to use choreographic processes and performance practices. Through these ākonga will explore, select, refine, practice, reflect, synthesise, and edit while learning in, about, and through dance.
Ākonga use processes to take creative risks on a journey to create new and surprising movements. The knowledge that every risk can lead to discoveries and that further iteration is expected, creates a structure for innovation. This iterative process also allows for ākonga to narrow down an idea, refining the intention as they explore and compose.
Dance uses iterative processes
Movement making is an ongoing process using cycles of action, response, and revision. Ākonga continue to iterate based on external and internal forms of feedback, exploring additional inspiration and drawing on an evolving understanding of the collaborative process.
Dance involves learning to use choreographic processes and performance practices. Through these ākonga will explore, select, refine, practice, reflect, synthesise, and edit while learning in, about, and through dance.
Ākonga use processes to take creative risks on a journey to create new and surprising movements. The knowledge that every risk can lead to discoveries and that further iteration is expected, creates a structure for innovation. This iterative process also allows for ākonga to narrow down an idea, refining the intention as they explore and compose.
Key Competencies in Dance
Dance education provides meaningful contexts for developing Key Competencies from The New Zealand Curriculum. These Key Competencies are woven through, and embedded in, the Big Ideas and Significant Learning. For example, Big Ideas and Significant Learning may delve into critical thinking and analysis, collaborating and building relationships, and exploring cultures and identities.
Thinking
Students of Dance will:
- engage in embodied cognition where the intersections of knowing, doing, and being are expressed through movement
- analyse and understand choreography and performance
- examine the whakapapa of dance in various contexts
- participate in processes of refinement, practice, and reflection
- structure and manipulate movements and communicate their meaning
- purposefully understand that dance communicates meaning.
Using language symbols and text
Students of Dance will:
- understand that dance knowledge and information can be represented in many ways such as physical, verbal, and written
- recognise that dance is an embodied language with its own structures and ways of communication
- use dance as an embodied language to interpret and communicate.
Relating to others
Students of Dance will:
- collaborate and communicate with other learners as they engage in dance processes
- gain a sense of community and belonging
- explore concepts such as fa'aaloalo, faka’apa’apa, aro’a, tautua, kuleana, and vā
- connect to the wider world by embracing the diversity of people, cultures, and contexts
- understand the roles of tuakana and teina in sharing, learning, and reciprocity
- use dance as a way to express identity.
Managing self
Students of Dance will:
- develop a sense of agency and autonomy
- be curious and creative while exploring movement
- develop self-discipline, adaptability, and openness to learning
- develop personal movement vocabulary and discover how their body moves
- persevere when facing new and challenging experiences.
Participating and contributing
Students of Dance will:
- participate in group settings and understand that this can take many forms such as leading, following, or observing
- share ideas and offer meaningful contributions, negotiate outcomes, and value the participation and ideas of others
- engage in processes to nurture whakawhanaungatanga.
Key Competencies
This section of The New Zealand Curriculum Online offers specific guidance to school leaders and teachers on integrating the Key Competencies into the daily activities of the school and its Teaching and Learning Programmes.
Dance education provides meaningful contexts for developing Key Competencies from The New Zealand Curriculum. These Key Competencies are woven through, and embedded in, the Big Ideas and Significant Learning. For example, Big Ideas and Significant Learning may delve into critical thinking and analysis, collaborating and building relationships, and exploring cultures and identities.
Thinking
Students of Dance will:
- engage in embodied cognition where the intersections of knowing, doing, and being are expressed through movement
- analyse and understand choreography and performance
- examine the whakapapa of dance in various contexts
- participate in processes of refinement, practice, and reflection
- structure and manipulate movements and communicate their meaning
- purposefully understand that dance communicates meaning.
Using language symbols and text
Students of Dance will:
- understand that dance knowledge and information can be represented in many ways such as physical, verbal, and written
- recognise that dance is an embodied language with its own structures and ways of communication
- use dance as an embodied language to interpret and communicate.
Relating to others
Students of Dance will:
- collaborate and communicate with other learners as they engage in dance processes
- gain a sense of community and belonging
- explore concepts such as fa'aaloalo, faka’apa’apa, aro’a, tautua, kuleana, and vā
- connect to the wider world by embracing the diversity of people, cultures, and contexts
- understand the roles of tuakana and teina in sharing, learning, and reciprocity
- use dance as a way to express identity.
Managing self
Students of Dance will:
- develop a sense of agency and autonomy
- be curious and creative while exploring movement
- develop self-discipline, adaptability, and openness to learning
- develop personal movement vocabulary and discover how their body moves
- persevere when facing new and challenging experiences.
Participating and contributing
Students of Dance will:
- participate in group settings and understand that this can take many forms such as leading, following, or observing
- share ideas and offer meaningful contributions, negotiate outcomes, and value the participation and ideas of others
- engage in processes to nurture whakawhanaungatanga.
Key Competencies
This section of The New Zealand Curriculum Online offers specific guidance to school leaders and teachers on integrating the Key Competencies into the daily activities of the school and its Teaching and Learning Programmes.
Connections
Dance provides a framework to provoke deep thinking, discussion, and expression about culture, identity, and society. This creates a bridge between Dance and other disciplines and contexts. For example, expressing viewpoints through Dance education can connect to community outreach, social action, history, religious studies, ethics, and media studies.
Dance provides a framework to provoke deep thinking, discussion, and expression about culture, identity, and society. This creates a bridge between Dance and other disciplines and contexts. For example, expressing viewpoints through Dance education can connect to community outreach, social action, history, religious studies, ethics, and media studies.
Learning Pathway
Arts subjects are vehicles for making connections between the self, ideas, practices, communities, and the world.
In Dance, learners explore and acquire transferable knowledge, skills, and dispositions. This is a holistic process not limited to physicality and movement. These transferable attributes include:
- cognition and critical thinking
- working effectively individually and collaborating in teams
- creative and problem-solving abilities
- self-confidence
- resilience and perseverance
- recognising and respecting diverse viewpoints
- valuing and respecting others’ skills, cultures, and contexts.
Arts subjects are vehicles for making connections between the self, ideas, practices, communities, and the world.
In Dance, learners explore and acquire transferable knowledge, skills, and dispositions. This is a holistic process not limited to physicality and movement. These transferable attributes include:
- cognition and critical thinking
- working effectively individually and collaborating in teams
- creative and problem-solving abilities
- self-confidence
- resilience and perseverance
- recognising and respecting diverse viewpoints
- valuing and respecting others’ skills, cultures, and contexts.
Introduction to Sample Course Outlines
Sample Course Outlines are being produced to help teachers and schools understand the new NCEA Learning Matrix and Achievement Standards. Examples of how a year-long Dance course could be constructed using the new Learning Matrix and Achievement Standards are provided here. They are indicative only and do not mandate any particular context or approach.
Sample Course Outlines are being produced to help teachers and schools understand the new NCEA Learning Matrix and Achievement Standards. Examples of how a year-long Dance course could be constructed using the new Learning Matrix and Achievement Standards are provided here. They are indicative only and do not mandate any particular context or approach.
Assessment Matrix
Conditions of Assessment for internally assessed standards
These Conditions provide guidelines for assessment against internally assessed Achievement Standards. Guidance is provided on:
- specific requirements for all assessments against this Standard
- appropriate ways of, and conditions for, gathering evidence
- ensuring that evidence is authentic.
Assessors must be familiar with guidance on assessment practice in learning centres, including enforcing timeframes and deadlines. The NZQA website offers resources that would be useful to read in conjunction with these Conditions of Assessment.
The learning centre’s Assessment Policy and Conditions of Assessment must be consistent with NZQA’s Assessment Rules for Schools with Consent to Assess. This link includes guidance for managing internal moderation and the collection of evidence.
Gathering Evidence
Internal assessment provides considerable flexibility in the collection of evidence. Evidence can be collected in different ways to suit a range of teaching and learning styles, and a range of contexts of teaching and learning. Care needs to be taken to allow students opportunities to present their best evidence against the Standard that are free from unnecessary constraints.
It is recommended that the design of assessment reflects and reinforces the ways students have been learning. Collection of evidence for the internally assessed Standards could include, but is not restricted to, an extended task, an investigation, digital evidence (such as recorded interviews, blogs, photographs, or film), or a portfolio of evidence.
It is also recommended where possible, that the collection of evidence for internally assessed Standards should not use the same method that is used for any external Standards in a programme/course, particularly if that method is using a time-bound written examination. This could unfairly disadvantage students who do not perform well under these conditions.
A separate assessment event is not needed for each Standard. Often assessment can be integrated into one activity that collects evidence towards two or three different Standards from a programme of learning. Evidence can also be collected over time from a range of linked activities (for example, in a portfolio).
Effective assessment should suit the nature of the learning being assessed, provide opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all students, and be valid and fair.
Ensuring Authenticity of Evidence
Authenticity of student evidence needs to be assured regardless of the method of collecting evidence. This must be in line with the learning centre’s policy and NZQA’s Assessment Rules for Schools with Consent to Assess.
Ensure that the student’s evidence is individually identifiable and represents the student’s own work. This includes evidence submitted as part of a group assessment and evidence produced outside of class time or assessor supervision. For example, an investigation carried out over several sessions could include assessor observations, meeting with the student at a set milestone, or student’s use of a journal or photographic entries to record progress.
These Conditions provide guidelines for assessment against internally assessed Achievement Standards. Guidance is provided on:
- specific requirements for all assessments against this Standard
- appropriate ways of, and conditions for, gathering evidence
- ensuring that evidence is authentic.
Assessors must be familiar with guidance on assessment practice in learning centres, including enforcing timeframes and deadlines. The NZQA website offers resources that would be useful to read in conjunction with these Conditions of Assessment.
The learning centre’s Assessment Policy and Conditions of Assessment must be consistent with NZQA’s Assessment Rules for Schools with Consent to Assess. This link includes guidance for managing internal moderation and the collection of evidence.
Gathering Evidence
Internal assessment provides considerable flexibility in the collection of evidence. Evidence can be collected in different ways to suit a range of teaching and learning styles, and a range of contexts of teaching and learning. Care needs to be taken to allow students opportunities to present their best evidence against the Standard that are free from unnecessary constraints.
It is recommended that the design of assessment reflects and reinforces the ways students have been learning. Collection of evidence for the internally assessed Standards could include, but is not restricted to, an extended task, an investigation, digital evidence (such as recorded interviews, blogs, photographs, or film), or a portfolio of evidence.
It is also recommended where possible, that the collection of evidence for internally assessed Standards should not use the same method that is used for any external Standards in a programme/course, particularly if that method is using a time-bound written examination. This could unfairly disadvantage students who do not perform well under these conditions.
A separate assessment event is not needed for each Standard. Often assessment can be integrated into one activity that collects evidence towards two or three different Standards from a programme of learning. Evidence can also be collected over time from a range of linked activities (for example, in a portfolio).
Effective assessment should suit the nature of the learning being assessed, provide opportunities to meet the diverse needs of all students, and be valid and fair.
Ensuring Authenticity of Evidence
Authenticity of student evidence needs to be assured regardless of the method of collecting evidence. This must be in line with the learning centre’s policy and NZQA’s Assessment Rules for Schools with Consent to Assess.
Ensure that the student’s evidence is individually identifiable and represents the student’s own work. This includes evidence submitted as part of a group assessment and evidence produced outside of class time or assessor supervision. For example, an investigation carried out over several sessions could include assessor observations, meeting with the student at a set milestone, or student’s use of a journal or photographic entries to record progress.
Submissions should consist of a dance sequence, between 60–90 seconds in length, in response to a given brief. The sequence may be for a solo, duo, or small group. The dance sequence may be accompanied by music, sound, or silence.
Collaborative choreography is allowed in this Standard. Each student needs to be able to show their individual contribution to the development process to ensure all Standard requirements are met. A student’s engagement in development and rehearsals must be verified by the teacher. Students may perform in their own compositions.
A Statement of Intention (around 50 words in either written or oral form) for each dance sequence must also be submitted. The Statement of Intention is not an assessed component but will support assessor judgement. This Statement should identify the brief used and the specific ideas conveyed in the sequence.
Assessment against this Achievement Standard should occur at a live showing of the composed sequence. There is no requirement for an audience to be present during the assessment of the dance sequence.
A recording of the composed sequence can be used to confirm assessment judgements. The recording will capture the student(s) in the space without camera movement.
The sequence may be presented and assessed at any time in the year. Students should have had a variety of learning opportunities before assessment and may compose more than one sequence before selecting the sequence to submit for assessment.
The focus of the assessment is the composition of the sequence, not its performance. However, the student needs to be aware that the judgement of their composition is assisted by the clarity and preciseness of its performance. That is, compositions are rehearsed pieces of work.
At the start of the assessment event, assessors need to provide students with a brief.
Students may:
- work on the dance sequence both in and outside of class time
- work collaboratively to compose their dance sequence.
Submissions should consist of two dance sequences, each at least 45 seconds in length.
The dance sequences should include sufficient range of movement to allow learners to demonstrate ability at all levels of achievement. Sufficient range of movement will include multiple changes of body parts, levels, directions, body bases, energy qualities, locomotor, and non-locomotor movements.
The dance sequences may be choreographed by the student, the teacher, or a guest choreographer, or may be a collaboration with students.
The focus for assessment against this Standard is on the performance of the individual. However, students can use a duet or group performance for this assessment.
The final grade will be based on the overall weight of evidence across two sequences.
A Statement of Intention (around 50 words in either written or oral form) for each dance sequence must also be submitted. The Statement of Intention is not an assessed component but will support assessor judgement and moderation. This Statement should identify purpose of the sequence. The Statement may be submitted by the student (or group of students), the teacher, or a guest choreographer.
Students must be assessed live, but will be video recorded for moderation and authenticity purposes. The video recording will capture the student(s) in the space without camera movement. Students must be clearly identifiable in their performances. There is no requirement for an audience to be present during the performances.
The sequences may be presented and assessed at different times in the year, or at a single assessment presentation of all sequences. If it is a single assessment presentation of both sequences, students should have had a variety of learning opportunities before assessment.
Students may work on this assessment both in and outside of class time.