By Elissa Doherty
Hannah Valenti can pinpoint the moment she decided to become a youth worker.
She was on a work placement in year 11 as part of her Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL), manning the reception desk at a community services hub.
Valenti, then 16, was intrigued by the stream of people through the doors at a youth addiction service. She wandered over to chat to one of the youth workers and felt a rush of excitement.
Hannah Valenti as a high school student.
“I have always wanted to help people, and when I spoke to this lady, she had some great stories,” she recalls. “Talking to her really cemented that I wanted to do that job. She was happy to be going to work every day and making a difference in people’s lives. To see that first-hand and be able to mix with industry professionals was so important.”
Now 22, Valenti has realised her career dreams. She’s working at Orygen Recovery as a Youth Wellbeing Worker, supporting young people with their mental health.
But, she says if it hadn’t been for the chance to take a non-traditional route at school, her life may have turned out differently.
Valenti began VCAL early, mixing her year 10 studies at school with a VET Certificate in Community Services at TAFE.
In years 11 and 12, she completed as many vocational education and training subjects as she could and won multiple awards.
By the time she graduated, Valenti had done a traineeship, and completed Certificate III’s in education support and community services, and soon landed work as a casual education support worker.
“I probably would have dropped out of school if I hadn’t been supported to do VCAL, which is really sad,” she says. “I felt almost isolated in the regular schooling system. But this really gave me a springboard into starting my career once I graduated.”
Despite not having an ATAR she studied a Diploma of Youth Work at Australian Catholic University for a year, before transferring into a bachelor’s degree.
Valenti, now 22, has realised her career dreams as a youth wellbeing worker.
VCAL was last year replaced by the VCE Vocational Major, which allows students to do their VCE while choosing more hands-on subjects.
The overhaul of VCAL followed a review into vocational and applied learning pathways in senior secondary schooling, which found improved options were needed in a changing working world.
The University of Melbourne’s Professor John Polesel says the revamped course offers better pathways for students who don’t need an ATAR.
“The VCE VM is intended to be a more rigorous and flexible program than VCAL,” he says.
“VCAL could be achieved in one year and provided weaker pathways into tertiary education. By way of contrast, VCE VM provides a more rigorous general curriculum to support the vocational component and provides clearer pathways to higher-level adult VET providers as well as non-ATAR pathways to some university courses.”
Students in the VCE VM must undertake two practical subjects called work related skills and personal development skills, to help set them up for success in the employment market.
From 2025, those subjects will also be available to any VCE student.
VCE VM students must complete a minimum of 16 units, including three literacy or VCE English units, two numeracy or VCE mathematics units, two work-related skills units, two personal development skills units and two VET credits at Certificate II level or above.
This school uses its high-achieving alumni to help motivate students – and VCE results are soaringFor Valenti, the traditional pathway in senior schooling wasn’t the right fit.
“I always struggled with the academic side of school and not because I wasn’t smart ... I just really struggled to learn about things that I wasn’t interested in. Most of the time when we were studying things like English or algebra ... I didn’t really have much interest. I would zone out.”
So, she swapped Shakespeare for books such as The Barefoot Investor, and learnt skills such as how to manage a weekly budget and write a resume.
With no homework to crack into after school during VCAL, she worked part-time at a pharmacy.
On top of her traineeship earnings at a primary school, Valenti saved $45,000 by the end of year 12.
“I was able to pay off my entire university degree and buy a car,” she says.
Valenti says she hopes the VCE reforms will help remove the stigma around VET and encourage more students to consider a path that suits them.
“I was a totally different kid before I started VCAL. I almost look at it as two different chapters of my life.
“But there was a stigma around it and people would make fun of it. Some of the VCE students who would say: “What happens at the end of VCAL exams? Do they say ‘Tools down, blockheads’?”
“At the start it hurt me but I became a lot more confident ... It’s not the easy way out – and I still ended up going to university.”
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