For assessors & operators
Foundation E-learning: the theory behind the practical
Nine short lessons a guide works through in their own time, each with a four-question quiz at the end. It carries the knowledge you shouldn’t have to teach twice on a riverbank — hydrology, hazards, briefings, signals — so your day on the water is spent on skills.
It does not change how you assess. You sign units off exactly as you do now. The one thing it holds up is the certificate at the end.
Start here
The idea in one line
Theory is done before the river, on their own time, and marked by the system.
Nine modules
Read at their own pace. The shortest lesson is about 6,600 words of content, the longest — Natural Hazards & Weather — about 15,700.
Four questions each
36 questions in total, four options apiece. All four right to pass a module. Nothing partial.
One stamp at the end
Finish all nine and a single date goes on their record. That date is what releases a raft guide certificate.
The content
The nine modules, in order
- 1Introduction to the River Guiding Industry
- 2NZRA River Guide Qualification
- 3Natural Hazards & Weather
- 4Hydrology
- 5Environment & Cultural Considerations
- 6Client Management, Briefings & Suitability
- 7Emergency Response & Egress
- 8Equipment for Commercial Operations
- 9General River Signals
Every one of the 36 live questions has been read and approved by an NZRA admin, with who approved it and when recorded against it. A reserve bank of a further 32 questions is written and held back, so the quiz can be rotated without writing new content from scratch.
How it is marked
The quiz, and why it can't be guessed
All four, or it’s a fail
There is no pass mark to scrape. Four out of four passes the module; three out of four doesn’t.
Ten minutes before a retry
A failed attempt locks that module for ten minutes. The server won’t even mark an attempt inside the window — it just tells them when they can go again. It stops the quiz being brute-forced.
A fail tells them which, not what
They’re shown which questions they got wrong. The correct answers and the explanations are stripped out before the response leaves the server, and only appear once they’ve passed.
The answer key never reaches the browser
Marking happens on the server. The page a candidate loads contains the questions and the options — and no answers to read out of it.
There’s no limit on attempts. A guide who needs five goes at Hydrology can have five goes at Hydrology — ten minutes apart. The point is that they know it by the end, not that they got it first time.
The important bit
What the theory holds up — and what it doesn't
No certificate until the theory is done
For these five awards, the certificate waits on the Foundation stamp:
- Grade 2 Raft Guide
- Grade 3 Raft Guide
- Grade 4/5 Raft Guide
- Senior Grade 3 Raft Guide
- Senior Grade 4/5 Raft Guide
What it does not touch
- Enrolling, or paying
- Being assessed — every unit still signs off
- River Rescue Endorsement
- Oar Guide Grade 2
- Kaituna Endorsement
So you can assess someone who hasn’t finished it
And your sign-offs are kept. Mark every unit competent on a guide with the theory outstanding and nothing is lost — the assessment sits complete, and the certificate issues by itself the moment they finish the last module. Nobody has to reassess anything, and you don’t have to go back in.
Until recently that happened silently, which caught Tim out on a Grade 2 — he signed off all 19 units and nobody was told why no certificate appeared. The assessment page now says so on the screen, with the reason.
On your screen
What you see as an assessor
Foundation E-learning complete — cleared to assess practical skills
With the date they finished. Nothing in your way.
Theory not yet complete — the certificate can’t issue until they do
Assess them anyway. Your marking saves, and the certificate follows them finishing.
You can do the e-learning yourself — it’s in your own sidebar under Foundation E-learning, and it’s worth a look so you know what they’ve been taught before you meet them on the water. Six of the current assessors have been through it.
Honest status
Where this is actually up to
16
guides have finished all nine modules
27
have started, across 205 quiz attempts
36
questions live, every one admin-approved
Two things we know aren’t right yet
- The candidate copy says “retake as many times as you need” without mentioning the ten-minute wait. True, but the first they hear of the wait is after they’ve failed.
- Finishing the theory doesn’t email anyone. If a certificate was waiting on it, it issues and the guide hears about that — but an assessor waiting on a candidate has to go and look.
The e-learning needs an active NZRA membership ($25/year) to open. Every current assessor has one, so you can go in tonight.