Purpose
Achievement Criteria
Explanatory Note 1
Demonstrate understanding of the significance of a historical context involves:
- describing a specific aspect or specific aspects of significance of a historical context
- including relevant historical evidence in the description.
Explain the significance of a historical context involves:
- explaining a specific aspect or specific aspects of significance of a historical context
- using historical evidence to support the explanation.
Examine the significance of a historical context involves:
- applying a specific aspect or specific aspects of significance to show depth of understanding of a historical context
- using historical evidence to develop the explanation.
Explanatory Note 2
A historical context refers to:
- a historical place
- a historical event
- a historical person, group of people, or historical movement.
Explanatory Note 3
Historical evidence includes specific historical detail, such as names (of people, places, or events), dates, statistics, figures, short quotes, or a combination of these that relate to and help the response.
Explanatory Note 4
Students may choose to consider aspects of significance such as:
- whakapapa — the event, person, or place may be seen as important in forming, maintaining, or disrupting the relationships between events, peoples, and places
- tuakiri — the event, person, or place may be seen as important in shaping, affirming, or disrupting the identity of individuals, whānau, hapū, iwi, or communities
- collective maumaharatanga — the memorialisation and recollection of the event, person, or place is important to the collective memory of a group over time
- impact — the extent to which an event, person, or place disrupted existing ways, set a new direction, or reinforced the importance of existing ways.
Shared Explanatory Note
Refer to the NCEA glossary for Māori, Pacific, and further subject-specific terms and concepts.
This achievement standard is derived from the Social Sciences Learning Area at Level 6 of The New Zealand Curriculum: Learning Media, Ministry of Education, 2007.
Conditions of Assessment
All teaching and learning for the assessment needs to have occurred prior to the commencement of the assessment period.
Assessor involvement during the assessment event may involve:
- determining the timing of the assessment period
- providing a historical context for students or offering guidance to students when selecting a historical context of their own choice:
- A historical context can be an event, person, or place from a local, regional, or international setting.
- providing a framework, or some criteria, to which students can refer when demonstrating their understanding of the significance of their chosen historical context
- offering resources that help students to discern the significance of their historical context
- offering generic verbal or written feedback to support students with their progress.
During the assessment event, assessors should:
- monitor student progress closely
- require draft materials to be submitted along with the final assessment evidence to ensure all evidence is the student’s own work
- provide a different historical context each year
- use oral questioning to confirm the understanding if doubts over the authenticity of the student’s work arise.
Students may:
- work on their assessment in and out of class time, over the assessment period specified by the assessor
- generate evidence in groups (no more than three students per group)
- present their evidence for assessment in any medium that allows them to demonstrate their understanding of the significance of a historical context.
Where this assessment is completed as a group, assessors must ensure that there is evidence that each student has met all aspects of the Achievement Standard. This might include conferencing with the student to determine their own understanding, having them complete an individual reflection or journal, or observing and making note of the contribution and participation of the various group members, all of which provide the opportunity for students to demonstrate their own understanding independently from the group.
If students present their evidence digitally, through a website, video, or blog, it is best to disable access to this prior to marking and moderation. This helps to ensure that students across the country cannot plagiarise the work or ideas of others (those who have already completed the assessment for this Achievement Standard).
Written responses should be between 750-800 words, while oral responses should be between 2-4 minutes in length.
Useful Pages
Unpacking the Standard
Mātauranga Māori constitutes concepts and principles that are richly detailed, complex, and fundamental to Māoridom. It is important to remember that the practice of these are wider and more varied than their use within the proposed NCEA Achievement Standards and supporting documentation.
We also recognise that the cultures, languages, and identities of the Pacific Islands are diverse, varied, and unique. Therefore the Pacific concepts, contexts, and principles that have been incorporated within NCEA Achievement Standards may have wide-ranging understandings and applications across and within the diversity of Pacific communities. It is not our intention to define what these concepts mean but rather offer some ways that they could be understood and applied within different subjects that kaiako and students alike can explore.
Mātauranga Māori constitutes concepts and principles that are richly detailed, complex, and fundamental to Māoridom. It is important to remember that the practice of these are wider and more varied than their use within the proposed NCEA Achievement Standards and supporting documentation.
We also recognise that the cultures, languages, and identities of the Pacific Islands are diverse, varied, and unique. Therefore the Pacific concepts, contexts, and principles that have been incorporated within NCEA Achievement Standards may have wide-ranging understandings and applications across and within the diversity of Pacific communities. It is not our intention to define what these concepts mean but rather offer some ways that they could be understood and applied within different subjects that kaiako and students alike can explore.
The intent of the Standard
This Achievement Standard assesses ākonga understanding of historical significance. Historical significance asks us to consider what events, people, and places we choose to remember and why. It helps determine the narratives that will be created and those that will not, as well as how they will be told. While this means that significance is not an objective quality of a context itself, establishing criteria of significance, and using these to interpret events, people, and places, can be very useful in the structure and organisation of historical narrative.
Significance is inseparable from the frames, values, and theories that the historian chooses to apply to a historical context. It helps determine the narratives that will be created (and those that will not) and how. The purpose of the learning for this Achievement Standard is not to impose some ‘right’ way of determining significance but rather to stimulate critical thinking.
When helping ākonga to prepare for this Achievement Standard, kaiako are encouraged to think about how historians and tumu kōrero assess the historical significance of a context. The Explanatory Notes suggest a possible way ākonga might consider historical significance that looks beyond conventional western frameworks and considers the social and cultural aspects of significance.
However, there are other frameworks that are also valid to assess historical significance for this Achievement Standard. Such frameworks can be useful for ākonga to explore in the construction and arrangement of narratives on historical significance.
Making reliable judgements
In some cases, the significance of a historical context may hinge on the vested interests of those in power, who maintain its continued celebration and commemoration. These types of considerations highlight the importance of ākonga being alert to the ways in which power and mana have been exercised in the past.
Ākonga will identify the significance of a historical event, person, group of people, or place, with reference to one or more criteria or aspects of significance, and support their claims about the context’s significance by using historical evidence. They will describe how various individuals and groups decide upon the significance of a historical context, with the opportunity to discuss other interpretations of the historical context’s significance.
Frameworks of significance will be used to interpret the historical significance of a context and to help organise their response. This may lead them to notice differences in how people apply the criteria or aspects of significance to a context.
Collecting evidence
Ākonga are able to present their findings in a written, verbal, or visual form in whatever manner they consider most effective for conveying their understanding of the significance of a historical context.
Possible contexts
Ākonga will study a variety of historical contexts throughout the year. They will explore the significance of these contexts, and how judgements are made regarding their significance. Kaiako should place emphasis on the significance of events, people, and places as historical contexts throughout all topics of study. These historical contexts may also extend to shared identities and movements that emerge from the events, people, and places that ākonga explore.
The intent of the Standard
This Achievement Standard assesses ākonga understanding of historical significance. Historical significance asks us to consider what events, people, and places we choose to remember and why. It helps determine the narratives that will be created and those that will not, as well as how they will be told. While this means that significance is not an objective quality of a context itself, establishing criteria of significance, and using these to interpret events, people, and places, can be very useful in the structure and organisation of historical narrative.
Significance is inseparable from the frames, values, and theories that the historian chooses to apply to a historical context. It helps determine the narratives that will be created (and those that will not) and how. The purpose of the learning for this Achievement Standard is not to impose some ‘right’ way of determining significance but rather to stimulate critical thinking.
When helping ākonga to prepare for this Achievement Standard, kaiako are encouraged to think about how historians and tumu kōrero assess the historical significance of a context. The Explanatory Notes suggest a possible way ākonga might consider historical significance that looks beyond conventional western frameworks and considers the social and cultural aspects of significance.
However, there are other frameworks that are also valid to assess historical significance for this Achievement Standard. Such frameworks can be useful for ākonga to explore in the construction and arrangement of narratives on historical significance.
Making reliable judgements
In some cases, the significance of a historical context may hinge on the vested interests of those in power, who maintain its continued celebration and commemoration. These types of considerations highlight the importance of ākonga being alert to the ways in which power and mana have been exercised in the past.
Ākonga will identify the significance of a historical event, person, group of people, or place, with reference to one or more criteria or aspects of significance, and support their claims about the context’s significance by using historical evidence. They will describe how various individuals and groups decide upon the significance of a historical context, with the opportunity to discuss other interpretations of the historical context’s significance.
Frameworks of significance will be used to interpret the historical significance of a context and to help organise their response. This may lead them to notice differences in how people apply the criteria or aspects of significance to a context.
Collecting evidence
Ākonga are able to present their findings in a written, verbal, or visual form in whatever manner they consider most effective for conveying their understanding of the significance of a historical context.
Possible contexts
Ākonga will study a variety of historical contexts throughout the year. They will explore the significance of these contexts, and how judgements are made regarding their significance. Kaiako should place emphasis on the significance of events, people, and places as historical contexts throughout all topics of study. These historical contexts may also extend to shared identities and movements that emerge from the events, people, and places that ākonga explore.
Standard Exclusions
This Standard has one or more exclusions, or Standards that assess the same or similar learning. These Standards are excluded against one another to prevent assessing the same learning twice. You can only use credits gained from one of these standards towards your NCEA qualification.
Find out more about the NCEA Level 1 Exclusions List.
Standard Exclusions
This Standard has one or more exclusions, or Standards that assess the same or similar learning. These Standards are excluded against one another to prevent assessing the same learning twice. You can only use credits gained from one of these standards towards your NCEA qualification.
Find out more about the NCEA Level 1 Exclusions List.
Literacy and Numeracy Requirements
This Achievement Standard has been approved for literacy in the transition period (2024-2027).
Full information on the co-requisite during the transition period: Standards approved for NCEA Co-requisite during the transition period (2024-2027).
Literacy and Numeracy Requirements
This Achievement Standard has been approved for literacy in the transition period (2024-2027).
Full information on the co-requisite during the transition period: Standards approved for NCEA Co-requisite during the transition period (2024-2027).