By Elissa Doherty
Two days a week, year 12 student Lavena Yaqo’s alarm blares at 6am for work. She pulls on her boots and safety clothes, jumps on the bus and clocks on for her shift while many of her classmates are still waking up.
Lavena, 17, is doing a school-based apprenticeship as part of the new VCE Vocational Major (VM), and is fast learning the ropes of metal fabrication.
On Wednesdays and Fridays, she feels like a real metalworker.
Lavena Yaqo is juggling year 12 studies with a metalwork apprenticeship.
“I enjoy it, it’s a different job every day,” she says. “It was hard at first because of the early wake-up. I have to start at 7am. I was always tired, but then I got used to it. There’s always something to do and if anything feels hard, people are always happy to help.”
Lavena is incorporating a Certificate III in engineering into her senior year studies, and getting a taste of work life at the Vehicle Development Corporation in Coolaroo.
For the remainder of the week, she splits her days between on-campus studies at TAFE and year 12 classes at Roxburgh College. She’s proof that learning can take many paths, weaving between school, on-the-job training and vocational training institutions – even in high school.
Lavena Yaqo attends Roxburgh College.
Lavena says she’s always had a passion for metal fabrication and is helping to convert left-hand-drive trucks to right-hand-drive.
“When I’m wearing my uniform outside of work, people often ask me what I am doing, and I tell them, ‘Welding, engineering, all of that,’” she says. “People have said to me: ‘Isn’t it men that do that?’ And I tell them no, there are women too.
“I’ve always been interested in welding, ever since I was taking engineering classes in school.
“I wasn’t interested in getting an ATAR but this means I can still graduate from year 12. And I can start working earlier as I’ve already started my apprenticeship.”
VCE Vocational Education and Training (VET) programs are one of the options offered to students as part of the VCE, which gives them the opportunity to study at a registered training organisation such as TAFE.
Students undertaking VET can receive credit towards their VCE, VCE VM and Victorian Pathways Certificate – a more flexible, individualised option – and gain nationally recognised qualifications.
There are 28 VCE VET programs with 55 qualifications to choose from, including animal care, dance, information technology, hair and beauty, and trades such as building and construction, and plumbing.
VCE VET students can also use certain VET courses to gain an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR) through graded assessments, including at least one exam.
The Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority says VET students gain practical skills and knowledge that can complement their other studies.
Bendigo Secondary College tailors the vocational major to the students’ interests.
“For example, if you want to be an engineer and you are studying VCE physics and VCE mathematical methods, you can develop practical skills, technical knowledge and industry insight by doing VCE VET engineering,” the authority says on its website.
Students must display a “consistent application of skills and knowledge” to a workplace standard to be marked as “competent” in their units of study.
Lavena says she has always wanted to complete a high school certificate, and is interested in further study after she graduates.
“I don’t know what’s next but I want to study in the future,” she says. “I want to finish the apprenticeship first and then I might go and work for a few years, then do another course for something else. I might do a security course and work with my sister.”
In the meantime, she’s saving some of the money she earns on her apprenticeship and hopes to buy a car next year.
“It’s pretty interesting,” she says. “I’m also learning how to work with other people, problem-solving and how to not always ask for help with tasks.
“That’s one of the big areas that I’ve been working on. When I first started I was asking a lot of questions but now I am just trying to work more independently.”
New enrolment data has revealed that 56,000 Victorian students enrolled in vocational education and training (VET) programs at school in 2024 – an all-time high. Of those, more than 25,000 students are doing the new VCE Vocational Major (VM), which was introduced last year in a shake-up of the high school certificate.
The Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority has reported a steady increase in VET take-up since 2018, bucking an interstate trend of largely declining enrolments.
The VCE VET programs offer students industry experience and hands-on training, giving them an employment edge when graduating in a tight labour market. This can lead to nationally recognised qualifications, allowing students to take a skills-based rather than academic pathway.
University of Melbourne education policy expert Professor John Polesel says it is important for students to have options in year 11 and 12 to suit their needs, talents and abilities.
“Not all students want to go to university and not all students need to go to university to realise their ambitions,” he says.
But Polesel says the level of support for alternative pathways is dependent on individual schools and teachers.
“There are now many schools which value vocational education and teachers who are committed to excellence,” he says. “It’s important for students to find a school that will provide them with the subjects they need to achieve their ambitions.
Jessica House received a VCE Premier’s Award for Outstanding Vocational Major.
“Students and parents need to be open to non-university pathways, schools need to build and maintain quality vocational options and employers need to be supportive by providing a range of work experience options, internships, workplace training and mentoring.”
Among the in-demand skills that students can train for are: digital media and technologies (e.g. Certificate III in information technology); community services and early childhood education (e.g. Cert III in early childhood education and care); clean energy and engineering (e.g. Cert II in electrotechnology, Cert II in engineering studies); health (e.g. Cert II in health support service, Cert III in allied health assistance).
The two-year VCE VM study program prepares students for apprenticeships, traineeships, further education and training, university, or a job straight after school.
Students do not qualify for an ATAR, but it is possible to achieve the ranking through some VCE VET programs.
For the first time, the VCE Premier’s Awards featured the Outstanding VCE Vocational Major Students Award.
One of the recipients was Jessica House, 18, who was instrumental in the rollout of the new program at Mordialloc College.
House helped ensure VCE VM students were involved in school activities, developed resources and worked on policy development.
“Choosing VCE VM relieved me of the stress and pressure involved in completing Year 12 exams which was a significant reason I chose [it],” she says. “I have dyslexia, and exams would have been extremely stressful and challenging for me. Although I didn’t receive an ATAR, I intend to go to university to further my qualifications and one day become a ... teacher.”
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