Social Studies webcasts

Kia ora and welcome.  

This webcast is intended to provide guidance and advice on the requirements for Social Studies 92051: Describe a social action undertaken to support or challenge a system.  

Specifically, this webcast will explore what is meant by a ‘system’ and how this interacts with the selected social action at Achieved, Merit, and Excellence. 

92051 encourages students to take real-world action on social issues that matter to them. To achieve success in the standard, they need to understand not just the social issue, but also one of the systems that connects to it. 

To support success in 92051, students must explicitly identify the system that they are supporting or challenging and describe how their selected action fulfils this purpose.  For Merit, they need to explain how the action impacted the system. At Excellence, they evaluate how suitable the action was in supporting or challenging that system.   

A system is like a machine made of different parts working together for a purpose. Each part – like policies, people, or processes – has a role, and when one part changes, it affects the whole. Whether it’s a school, a health service, or social media, understanding how these parts connect helps students see where their action can make a real difference. 

Without a clear link between the system and the issue, the action risks missing the mark, and therefore students may not meet the standard. 

Let’s look at some examples of systems that may be relevant to student selected issues, and how the connection can then be made between the issue, the system, and the action.  

The education system is made up of interconnected parts – like schools, teachers, curriculum, assessments, and funding – that all work together. Each part influences the others. This system is organised with a clear purpose: to support learning, promote equity, and prepare students for life beyond school.   

Understanding how these parts connect helps students identify what types of social action can make a real difference and thereby consider what action they will take to challenge or support the system. 

These examples show how students can take meaningful action by first identifying an issue, then linking it to a part of the education system. Whether it’s mental health, cultural inclusion, or digital access, understanding how the education system works helps students choose social actions that are targeted and impactful – and, importantly, aligned with the expectations of 92051.  

Local government is a system made up of people, policies, and services working together to meet community needs. When students understand how this system connects to their issue – like transport or youth spaces – they can plan social actions that target the right part of the system for real impact.  

Here are some examples of how students can connect real issues to the local government system. Note the clear connection between the issue, the system, and how the understanding of the system is evident in the social action.  

The key takeaway is to help students clearly connect their issue to a system. That understanding is what drives purposeful action, and success in Achievement Standard 92051. 

For more explanation and examples of this standard, see the exemplars on the NZQA website.     

Further resources for the internal Achievement Standards in Social Studies can be found in our assessor support catalogue, available on the NZQA website.   

Thank you.   

Kia ora and welcome.

This webcast is intended to provide guidance and advice on the requirements for Social Studies.

Specifically, this webcast will explore the requirement for students to discuss points of view, values, and perspectives, what each of these three terms means in senior Social Studies, and how they connect.

Let’s begin by looking at how these requirements appear at each level.

On this slide, you can see where the criterion appears in each of the three internal standards at Level 2. One key point to note at Level 2 is the shift between Achieved and Merit in 91280 – students move from simply describing people’s viewpoints, values, and perspectives to explaining them in more depth.

At Level 3, these concepts remain essential and appear in two of the three internal standards. As with Level 2, the social inquiry standard requires students to extend their thinking. To move beyond Achieved, they progress from explanation to analysis, comparing and contrasting perspectives, values, and viewpoints in a more sophisticated way.

It’s important to recognise that, while connected, perspectives, values, and points of view are three distinct ideas.  

For students to meet the requirements of any standard, all three elements must be evident. The extent to which students can appropriately establish the connection between the three will determine if they have met the criterion.

Let’s look at each term more closely.

Perspectives are the origin from which values and viewpoints are explored. They are broad worldviews shaped by long held ideas, beliefs, and cultural or social influences. At times, they align with ideologies.Examples include environmental, capitalist, social justice, feminist, or Indigenous. Because perspectives sit ‘in the background’, they help to explain why people or groups understand an issue differently.

Values act as the bridge between perspectives and points of view. They are deeply held beliefs about what people consider important or desirable – such as fairness, efficiency, sustainability, or community wellbeing.

Perspectives shape these values, and those values then influence the viewpoints people take on social issues.

Points of view are the most visible element – the opinions or stances people express. They reflect what someone thinks.

A key difference to highlight is that points of view change depending on the issue, whereas a person or group’s perspectives and values tend to remain consistent across different issues. A helpful way to visualise this relationship is through the iceberg analogy:

• The visible part of the iceberg represents viewpoints and actions.
• Just below the surface sit the values that help explain why someone holds that viewpoint.
• And deep below the surface are the perspectives – the broad worldviews that shape those values.

Here is an example of the interplay between the three elements.   

As you look at this table, you can see how different viewpoints on the same issue (the minimum wage) emerge when exploring perspectives and values.

For example, when examining the issue through a capitalist perspective, the focus is on business viability and productivity. Those priorities shape values around efficiency, competitiveness, and financial sustainability for businesses. From here, we can identify that BusinessNZ is a group who are shaped by these perspectives and values, and as such, their viewpoint towards a higher minimum wage is ‘one of caution’, as they see it as something that may place further pressure on employers through increased labour costs.

Contrast this to a social justice perspective. This worldview connects with values that emphasise equity, reducing poverty, and ensuring workers can afford the basic needs for a decent life. As such, some groups, such as Living Wage Movement Aotearoa New Zealand, advocate for the government to adopt a living wage as a way to lift workers and their whānau out of hardship.  

For students to successfully meet this criterion, they must demonstrate an awareness that viewpoints don’t just appear on their own. They grow out of deeper values, which are shaped by broader perspectives.   

For more explanation and examples of what is required for this aspect, see the exemplars on the NZQA website.    

Further assessor support for the internal achievement standards in Social Studies can be found in our Assessor Support catalogue available on the NZQA website.