Ringa Hora Services Workforce Development Council has reviewed twelve Level 2-4 unit standards in the Aviation – Core domain and developed skill standards proposed to replace them. These were informed by industry and provider experts on the working group and feedback from national consultations. The skill standards were submitted to NZQA for Quality Assurance in September 2025.
What’s changing?
The proposed skill standards essentially reflect the intent of the unit standards they will replace. Main changes that apply to all are below.
- The titles of all the proposed skill standard replacements of the unit standards have been changed to align with NZQA’s rules and, in some cases, to reflect their content better.
- Indicative content is a new section in the skill standards. This includes what providers are encouraged to cover with their learners even if it is not all assessed.
- Where possible and appropriate, application of the knowledge is now required.
- Updated reference materials across the suite.
There were also changes to the level and/or credits allocated to:
- Aviation law – from Level 1 and one credit to Level 2 and three credits.
- Support structures, aircraft types, and operations – from Level 2 and three credits to Level 3 and five credits.
- Aeronautical decision-making – from Level 4 to Level 5.
Proposed skill standards
These are subject to change as a result of feedback from NZQA.
- Outline civil aviation law and safety systems in New Zealand (Level 2, 3 credits)
- Outline significant milestones in the development of aviation from its inception to current times (Level 2, 8 credits)
- Outline the roles, services, and business requirements needed to support the civil aviation industry in New Zealand (Level 2, 3 credits)
- Describe aviation industry career and training pathways available in New Zealand (Level 2, 3 credits)
- Describe aircraft components and principles of aircraft flight (Level 2, 2 credits)
- Use aviation terminology (Level 2, 2 credits)
- Describe and identify aviation support structures, aircraft types and operations in New Zealand (Level 3, 5 credits)
- Explain business principles for commercial airlines (Level 3, 4 credits)
- Interpret Crew Resource Management, Threat and Error Management, and Human Factors for the aviation industry (Level 4, 8 credits)
- Prepare to handle dangerous goods in an aviation environment (Level 4, 4 credits)
- Apply risk management practices for an aviation enterprise(Level 4, 5 credits)
- Apply aeronautical decision-making in an aviation enterprise (Level 5, 5 credits)
We will update this webpage as the NZQA evaluation of the proposed new skill standards progresses.
If you have any questions, please email us at [email protected].
