PENZ

Start here: the shift that fixes most of it

Hauora is the concept. Fonofale is the tool.

Ākonga are not assessed on how well they can explain Fonofale. They are assessed on how well they can explain the influence of their movement on their wellbeing, and Fonofale is the framework they use to do it.

Where kaiako get stuck

Hauora is taught as a new, separate concept that has to be defined before anything else can happen.
The task becomes “explain Fonofale”, and the movement experience turns into an example bolted on at the end.
Fonofale gets confused with Te Whare Tapa Whā, and last year's dimensions are quietly relabelled.
Reflections describe the activity in detail and the wellbeing influence in a sentence.

The move that unlocks it

Treat hauora as holistic wellbeing. Models such as Fonofale, Te Whare Tapa Whā, Te Wheke and Fonua are ways of explaining that wellbeing.
Reframe the task as: explain how your wellbeing was affected, using parts of Fonofale to support your explanation.
Start every reflection from the movement experience, then reach for the element that fits it.
Spend the teaching time on why. That is where Merit and Excellence live.

If a student asks what hauora is, a workable answer is: your overall wellbeing, across a number of connected dimensions. The standard defines it as a Māori philosophy of holistic wellbeing grounded in bodies of mātauranga unique to Aotearoa New Zealand. NZQA assesses against the definitions in the standard, so that is the reference point rather than any other document.

Four non-negotiables

1

One discipline only

All movement experiences come from a single physical discipline or sport. Not a sampler of three sports.

2

Repeated participation

Ongoing involvement over time, not a one-off session or a school camp.

3

Fonofale, for 2026

The specification names the model. The whole portfolio is framed by it.

4

Personal examples

Evidence from the student's own participation, collected as the experiences happen.

The fale, layer by layer

Fonofale is a Pacific model of health developed by Fuimaono Karl Pulotu-Endemann. It uses the metaphor of a Samoan fale: a roof, four pou, a foundation, all held inside a cocoon. Every part is interactive with every other part, and that interconnection is the point of the model: and it is what lets a student trace one movement experience through several dimensions of their wellbeing.

The fale is drawn the way the model describes it: a curved falealuga sheltering four pou, standing on the fa’avae, with the whole thing enclosed in a cocoon so that nothing sits outside time, environment and context. Every part interacts with every other part. Diagram after Fuimaono Karl Pulotu-Endemann’s Fonofale model of health. Each aspect keeps its colour for the rest of this guide, in the table below, on the planner, and in the worked example.

What each part means, and what it sounds like in movement

Element	What it means	What it sounds like in a movement context
Falealuga Roof · culture	Cultural values and beliefs that shelter the family. Culture is dynamic and adapting: traditional, Pālagi, or a blend along a continuum.	The culture of the club, team or sport. Tikanga and protocols around play. How your family's culture shapes what you play and how you play it.
Fa’aleagaga Spiritual pou	Wellbeing that stems from a belief system: Christianity, or traditional spirituality relating to nature, spirits, language, ancestors and history, or both.	Karakia or prayer before a game. Feeling part of something bigger than yourself. Connection to the awa, moana or maunga you train on.
Fa’aletino Physical pou	Biological and physical wellbeing: the body, and the substances taken into it such as food, water and air, which can affect it positively or negatively.	Fitness gains and fatigue. Injury and recovery. Sleep, hydration and fuelling around training. How your body felt during and after.
Mafaufau Mental pou	The health of the mind: thinking and emotions, and the behaviours that come out of them.	Confidence and focus. Nerves before competition. Frustration at a mistake, and what you did next. Headspace after a hard week.
Isi mea Other pou	Variables that directly or indirectly affect health, including but not limited to gender, sexuality, age, and socio-economic status.	Cost of gear, subs or travel. Getting to training. Age-grade selection. Gendered expectations about who plays this sport.
Fa’avae Foundation · aiga	Family as the foundation of Pacific cultures. Nuclear, extended or constituted, bound by kinship, titles, marriage or covenant, and carrying history and gafa.	Who drives you to training and who watches from the sideline. Playing alongside cousins. Family expectations about the sport.
Time Cocoon	The actual or specific time in history that affects people.	Where you are in the season. Exam term. A long injury layoff. Your stage of life relative to the sport.
Environment Cocoon	The relationship and uniqueness of people to their physical environment, rural or urban.	The pool, the court, the harbour, the bush track. Weather. Distance to the nearest facility. What the space is like to be in.
Context Cocoon	The where, how and what, and the meaning it holds for that person, including country of residence, legal, political and socio-economic settings.	School sport, club sport or the backyard. What this sport means in your community. Why it is available to you at all.

Element meanings follow Fuimaono Karl Pulotu-Endemann's description of the model, as set out by Open Polytechnic. The movement prompts are PENZ's, written to help kaiako open each element with a class. They are not part of the standard.

Don't map it onto Te Whare Tapa Whā

This is the most common error, and it is avoidable

The temptation is to run a one-to-one swap: taha tinana becomes the physical pou, taha wairua becomes the spiritual pou, taha whānau becomes the foundation, and last year's teaching carries over untouched. NZQA's position is that the spiritual dimension of Fonofale, while similar, is not interchangeable with taha wairua. All of Fonofale's dimensions sit beneath the falealuga, which recognises the evolving and adapting nature of culture. That framing does not exist in the same way in Te Whare Tapa Whā.

NZQA also directs kaiako to the definition of Fonofale in the NCEA glossary as the point of reference. There are obvious similarities between the models, and no especially broad interpretation should be needed. Where a student does stretch an element, context and justification are what carry it.

Structural difference	Fonofale	Te Whare Tapa Whā
Family	The fa’avae, the foundation everything else stands on.	Taha whānau, one of four walls, equal with the others.
Culture	The falealuga, a whole element in its own right, sheltering the rest.	Not a separate dimension.
The fourth element	Isi mea, an open category covering age, gender, socio-economic status and more.	No equivalent.
The surround	A cocoon of time, environment and context wraps the whole fale.	The whenua as the foundation the whare stands on.

Worth knowing before you write your unit

The NCEA glossary describes the four pou as the spiritual, physical, mental and social aspects of wellbeing. Fuimaono Karl Pulotu-Endemann's own paper names the fourth pou other, and places aiga as the foundation rather than as a pou. Both descriptions are in circulation and students will meet both. Pick your naming, use it consistently across the course, and make sure ākonga always name the element they are working with and justify why it fits their example. That habit protects them whichever wording a marker is reading against.

What the portfolio is

Four reflections. Three on separate movement experiences within the one discipline, each focused on a different aspect of Fonofale. One final reflection drawing overall conclusions.

1

Reflection one

One dated movement experience. One aspect of Fonofale. A specific example from your own participation showing how and why it was influenced.

2

Reflection two

A different experience, a different aspect. No repeated material from reflection one.

3

Reflection three

A third experience, a third aspect. Influence can be positive or negative, and negative is often the richer reflection.

4

Final reflection

Overall conclusions across the movement context, connecting to at least four elements of Fonofale. What have you learnt, and how might it shape your future movement?

Evidence

Still or moving images, audio, or detailed written examples, collected through the year as the experiences happen rather than reconstructed in October. When ākonga capture something, get them to note there and then which element it speaks to and how the experience influenced it. Reflections stay concise: only evidence that relates to the task.

Conditions

Candidates choose the format, whether slideshow, audio, video, written, or a combination, and must be identifiable in any photo or video evidence. You may unpack the task with your class, but you cannot give guidance or feedback on their responses, and candidates should not work on responses outside class time. Read the current specification in full before you set anything up.

Portfolio coverage planner

Print this and keep it in the front of each student's folder. It catches the two failures that surface late: the same element used twice, and evidence that was never actually captured.

Reflection	Date	Movement experience	Fonofale element	Positive or negative	Evidence held
One
Two
Three
Final		Four or more elements connected: ....................................................................................................................

Discipline or sport for the whole portfolio: .................................................................................

Tick off coverage

Nine aspects, four reflections. Cross one off each time it is used, and the gaps become obvious well before October.

☐ Falealuga · culture ☐ Fa’aleagaga · spiritual ☐ Fa’aletino · physical ☐ Mafaufau · mental ☐ Isi mea · other ☐ Fa’avae · aiga ☐ Time ☐ Environment ☐ Context

A repeatable thinking frame

Give ākonga the same four moves for every reflection. The first two get them to Achieved. The fourth is where the grade is won.

1 · What happened

Describe the movement experience and date it.

2 · Which element

Name the part of Fonofale that was affected.

3 · How

Say how it was affected, positively or negatively.

4 · Why

Explain why it affected you. Merit and Excellence live here.

What each grade actually asks for

Grade	The standard asks students to	In plain terms
Achieved	Demonstrate understanding of the influence, by describing how movement experiences influence hauora, describing how hauora is influenced using an appropriate model, and using examples from personal movement experiences.	Names the element, describes the influence, and backs it with something that actually happened.
Merit	Explain the influence, by discussing how and why personal movement experiences influence hauora, using an appropriate model of health.	Gets under the surface. Explains the mechanism, not just the outcome.
Excellence	Evaluate the influence, by drawing conclusions about how and why personal movement experiences influence hauora, using an appropriate model of health.	Steps back and reaches a judgement that holds across the experiences, and takes it forward.

One reflection, annotated

Deliberately not the physical pou. Ākonga reach for that one first and it crowds out the rest of the fale, so model a harder element early.

1 · What happened 2 · Which element 3 · How 4 · Why

Element used: Fa’avae · aiga

Waka ama, Saturday morning race day at the lake, 14 March 2026. My aunty and two of my cousins came down to watch, and my nan came for the first time all season. This one sits in the fa’avae, the foundation of the fale, which in Fonofale is aiga: family, and everyone connected to you. Having them on the bank lifted me. I paddled a cleaner race than I had in training all month, and I stayed calm at the start when I usually rush the first ten strokes. It affected me because in this model the family is not one wall among four, it is what the whole fale is standing on. Paddling is not something I do on my own time. It is something my whānau turn up for, so the strength of that foundation shows up directly in how I race. When I looked over and saw nan, the reason I was in the waka got bigger than my own result, and the pressure I usually put on myself dropped away.

Lifting it to Excellence

The reflection above discusses how and why, which sits at Merit. To evaluate, the student needs to draw a conclusion that holds beyond the single day. For example, weighing this race against a reflection where family expectation felt like pressure rather than support, and concluding something about the conditions under which the foundation strengthens or strains their wellbeing. That is the work the final reflection is for.

How it sits across the year

The evidence requirement drives the shape of the course. Reflections can be written late; the participation and the capture cannot.

Term 1

Lock in the discipline. Teach hauora as holistic wellbeing, then introduce the fale. Set up the capture habit in week one: a two-minute note and a photo after each session.

Terms 1–3

Repeated participation. Rotate the element in focus so ākonga practise noticing the roof, the cocoon and isi mea, not only the physical pou.

Terms 2–3

Push from describing to explaining. Non-assessed practice reflections, then class discussion of why an influence happened, using the four-step frame.

Terms 3–4

Reflections drafted under the conditions of assessment. Check coverage against the planner. Final reflection connecting four or more elements. Submit by 28 October.

What NZQA has clarified

Hauora is a Māori concept. How do we define it when the model is Pacific?

Use the definitions inside the achievement standard. NZQA assesses within those, so the standard is the point of reference rather than any other documentation.

Is the spiritual pou the same as taha wairua?

No. Similar, but not interchangeable. All of Fonofale's dimensions sit under the falealuga, which recognises the evolving and adapting nature of culture.

Is isi mea a category anything can be put into?

Effectively yes, but anything placed there needs context and justification for its inclusion. It is open, not a free pass.

How broadly can we interpret each element?

Work from the definition in the NCEA glossary. There are obvious similarities between models and a broad interpretation shouldn't be needed. Any deviation needs context and justification.

Are there exemplars using Fonofale?

Not yet. NZQA releases exemplars the following year, alongside past papers, schedules and reports, to avoid authenticity issues.

What about sample assessment materials?

Where standards are new or substantially revised, NZQA sometimes publishes these. They are not student work and they are not exemplars, so don't teach to them as if they were.

What tips a portfolio over

Watch for

A portfolio that explains Fonofale rather than explaining an influence on wellbeing.
Different sports across the three reflections, or a single one-off event.
Two reflections landing on the same element, or repeating material.
Te Whare Tapa Whā dimensions relabelled with Fonofale names.
Evidence assembled at the end of the year from memory.
Photos with no stated link to an element.
A final reflection that summarises the first three instead of concluding something new.
Feedback given on drafts, which breaches the conditions of assessment.

Aim for

Reflections that open with what happened and stay anchored to it.
One discipline, several genuinely different experiences across months.
Deliberate spread across the fale, planned in advance on the coverage grid.
Fonofale taught on its own terms, with its own structure and language.
Evidence captured in the moment and tagged to an element straight away.
Negative influences used as well as positive ones, since they often explain more.
A final reflection that reaches a judgement and looks forward.
Unpacking the task thoroughly before assessment begins, then stepping back.

Where to go next

The standard and the assessment

AS92018 on NCEA EducationThe standard, explanatory notes and teaching guidance 2026 assessment specifications · 92018NZQA · the task, conditions and submission date Physical education subject pageNZQA · specifications, past materials and assessor support Fonofale in the NCEA glossaryThe definition NZQA points kaiako to

Understanding the model

The Fonofale model of healthOpen Polytechnic · clear breakdown of every element Fonofale presentation, 2021Ministry for Pacific Peoples · Pacific Wellbeing Talanoa Fonofale · Te Pae OraNZIST · living well, learning well A Pacific approachMental Health Foundation of New Zealand Rauemi Atawhai, appendices 2 and 3Ministry of Health · Pacific models of health

A note on language and care

Spellings of the gagana Sāmoa terms vary between sources. NZQA's specification writes the physical pou as tino faaletino; Open Polytechnic writes fa’aletino. Before you print this or hand terms to a class, have them checked by a Pacific colleague or your school's Pasifika staff, and use the koma liliu consistently once you have settled on a form.

Fonofale belongs to Pacific communities and carries their values and beliefs. Both the Ministry of Education and NZQA note that Pacific cultures, languages and identities are diverse, and that these concepts may be understood and applied differently across and within Pacific communities. Teach the model with the same care you would bring to mātauranga Māori, and make room for the ākonga in your class who already know it from home.

The one thing to hold onto

If a student can say what happened, name the element, describe the influence and explain why it landed the way it did, in their own words and about their own paddling or their own court, they are likely to achieve the standard. Everything in this guide is in service of that.

Teaching Fonofale for the External AS92018