Self-Review: Looking Back to See Our Future

I have to admit, I find self-review season a little daunting. There is a lot to pull together, and making sure it is all documented the right way can feel like a very big task.

We submitted ours to NZQA on 5 October 2026, and what helped as I pulled it together was noticing that most of what we were being asked about is simply what we do every day.

The evidence was already there. It was a matter of gathering it up so it told our story.

What is a self-review?

A self-review is the required yearly check every NZQA-registered Private Training Establishment (PTE) runs on itself. It asks whether learners are safe, supported and learning what they need, and what the provider is doing about any gaps.

City First Aid has been training first aiders in Christchurch since 1999, and each year we measure ourselves against NZQA’s requirements, the standards set by the Health, Education and Community Industry Skills Board, and the Education (Pastoral Care of Tertiary and International Learners) Code of Practice 2021.

What did we find we do well?

The part I am proudest of is that we listen. Every learner is asked whether they felt welcome, safe, included, engaged and prepared for real life, and whether they left more confident than they arrived. Those answers are reviewed every month, and they refine what we do.

When a learner told us our class opening did not reflect all South Island iwi, we rewrote it, and we now acknowledge the mana whenua and kaitiaki of the land wherever we teach.

It is the same with the businesses we work with. I like to know the people who book with us, what their workplace is like and what could go wrong there, so the course their team sits through is useful on a Monday morning and not just a certificate on the wall. That relationship is key to us.

This year all of our tutors also completed in-house trauma awareness training, and our complaints process is now easy for learners to find.

What did we find needs work?

This is the less comfortable bit to write, but a review that only found good news would not be worth much.

There are three things, and we have put dates on each.

• Our written incident-reporting procedure and form will be completed by March 2027.

• We want fewer technical issues in our online learning, also by March 2027.

• And we want to hear from more of our learners, so we are aiming to lift the amount of feedback we receive by July 2027.

How did we rate ourselves?

Against the four Code outcomes that apply to us, we rated two as Implemented and two as Well Implemented, the top two of the four ratings. You can read our full public summary.

What happens next?

Next comes a 90-minute video call with our NZQA evaluator, where the team will talk through what we found and the evidence behind it. I will probably find that a little daunting too.

But self-review is not something we finish and file. Our next review will be published by October 2027, and you will be able to see how we went against those three dates.

Our goal stays the same: practical first aid training that helps people feel confident to step in when it matters. If that is what your team needs, see our courses here.

Vicky | City First Aid

Managing Director