Page 1 of 3
Title / Demonstrate knowledge of carving designs and their meaning
Level / 1 / Credits / 5
Purpose / People credited with this unit standard are able to demonstrate knowledge of carving designs and their meaning.
Classification / WhakairoTe Ara Tauira Whakairo
Available grade / Achieved, Merit, and Excellence
Criteria for Merit / Demonstrate acomprehensive knowledge of carving designs and their meaning.
Criteria for Excellence / Demonstrate an extensiveknowledge of carving designs and their meaning.
Entry information
Recommended skills and knowledge / It is recommended that people undertaking this standard consider working towards standards at Level 1 or above from the subfield Reo Māori.
Explanatory notes
1Guidelines for Tutors
Conventions – established procedures, in making art works that use particular techniques or processes to represent, organise or interpret ideas
Design elements– the basic qualities of two and three-dimensional compositions (eg line, point, tone, texture, colour, form or mass, shape, space).
Māori art conventions – the established application of design elements and principles employed by Māori in making art works (eg tone is absent from pre-European Māori art practice). Māori art conventions are intimately associated with Māori terms relevant to techniques, tools, materials, processes and procedures (eg ngao pae – an adzing technique, whao – a chisel, muka – processing flax fibre, whakairo rākau – traditional Māori wood carving, karakia – incantation.); therefore, familiarity with the Māori language is a critical element in the practice and study of Māori.
Experience – learning experience should be experiential (involving all the sense) and experimental across a range of whakairo practices using a range of whakairo media.
Meaning – in this context refer to the interpretation of characteristics aligned to valid Māori narratives.
2Learning should involve the application of basic operational knowledge using readily available information to generate expressive responses to experiences.
Learning should be teacher guided.
3Demonstration of acomprehensiveknowledge of carving designs and their meaningwill be evidenced through:
-explaining the origins, meaning, and kaupapa of the designs.
4Demonstration of anextensive knowledge of carving designs and their meaningwill be evidenced through:
-analysing the links between historical stories, and the meaning and kaupapa of the designs.
Outcomes and evidence requirements
Outcome 1
Demonstrate knowledge of carving designs and their meaning.
Evidence requirements
1.1Demonstration includes a description of the way ideas and processes show meaning in whakairo.
Rangegiven Māori images and objects;
evidence of three is required.
Planned review date / 31 December 2020Status information and last date for assessment for superseded versions
Process / Version / Date / Last Date for AssessmentRegistration / 1 / 21 May 2010 / 31 December 2016
Review / 2 / 21 January 2016 / N/A
Consent and Moderation Requirements (CMR) reference / 0082
This CMR can be accessed at
Please note
Providers must be granted consent to assess against standards (accredited) by NZQA, before they can report credits from assessment against unit standards or deliver courses of study leading to that assessment.
Industry Training Organisations must be granted consent to assess against standards by NZQA before they can register credits from assessment against unit standards.
Providers and Industry Training Organisations, which have been granted consent and which are assessing against unit standards must engage with the moderation system that applies to those standards.
Requirements for consent to assess and an outline of the moderation system that applies to this standard are outlined in the Consent and Moderation Requirements (CMR). The CMR also includes useful information about special requirements for organisations wishing to develop education and training programmes, such as minimum qualifications for tutors and assessors, and special resource requirements.
Comments on this unit standard
Please contact the NZQA Māori Qualification Services if you wish to suggest changes to the content of this unit standard.
NZQA Māori Qualifications ServicesSSB Code 194 / New Zealand Qualifications Authority 2018