New sign language achievement standards and resources released

Education Minister Hekia Parata says the new standards and resources will help strengthen the teaching and learning of NZSL.

The achievement standards and resources were developed in partnership with Kelston and van Asch Deaf Education Centres. They complete a suite of initiatives and resources for NCEA Levels 1-3 that will help to make NZSL more widely available in secondary schools.

"These new achievement standards and assessment resources will help strengthen the teaching and learning of NZSL in secondary schools so that more young people can develop the ability to communicate confidently in NZSL," she explains.

 "The new standards align with the New Zealand Curriculum and Te Marautanga o Aotearoa, and will further enable students to gain the NCEA credits needed to study NZSL at university or develop a career using sign language," says Parata.

Parata says the resources will support the teaching and learning of the achievement standards.

"This is all part of the Government's ongoing work to improve the use and promotion of NZSL as an official language of New Zealand," she adds.

The achievement standards are available on NZQA's website. The assessment resources to accompany the standards, along with the teaching and learning guide, are now on the Te Kete Ipurangi website.