The 'best practise' moderation principles are that:

• moderation is a quality management tool
• both pre-use moderation (of assessment tools) and post-use of moderation (of the assessment itself) should be done
• pre-use moderation should be based on assessment tools being 'fit for purpose'
• post-use moderation should be based on moderating an assessor's professional judgement
• the moderation process should be used to upskill and educate assessors
• the moderation process should be based on trust between assessors and NZITO
• moderation should be an ongoing process of feedback between assessors and NZITO on the assessment process and assessment tools.

All NZITO assessors and providers are required to take part in one moderation activity every year. This may be a postal moderation systems, a moderation visit or participation in a moderation group meeting. NZITO publishes its moderation requirements in an Annual Moderation Plan, available from the NZITO Quality Assurance Manager.

In moderation, the assessments are evaluated for:

• sufficiency of evidence (normally 3 pieces)
• the validity of the assessment tool
• evidence of documentation authenticity
• evidence of performance consistency

Assessors are provided with feedback on the moderation findings.

Assessors need to keep (or be able to find) assessment evidence for at least 12 months for the NZITO moderation activity (company policy may be for a longer term - ISO).

In most cases this evidence will be part of the company records and retrievable when needed. If the evidence is in the trainee's ROA, a copy of the relevant page will need to be presented when required for moderation.

Evidence supplied for moderation can include:

• assessment procedures/guides (common assessment tasks)
• written instructions to the trainee (or apprentice)
• assessment material (documents for recording and reporting results), including evidence of off-job training that has been achieved if relevant to the standard assessed.
• how professional judgement was exercised
• assessments resubmitted
• the type of assessment (e.g. RCC, formal on-job assessment)

Once evidence has been moderated it can be returned to the apprentice and/or employer.