Victoria’s vocational high school certificate is dogged by its reputation as ‘the VCE’s poor cousin’ and should be overhauled, according to the peak body for VCAL teachers.
The Victorian Applied Learning Association has asked the education department to consider ditching the VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) brand and replacing it with ‘VCE-vocational’. Under the plan, this would sit alongside an academic VCE stream.
VCAL teachers are calling for the certificate to be rebranded to improve its reputationCredit: Jim Rice
“I think VCAL is fantastic but it needs to be rebranded,” the association’s chief executive Helene Rooks said. “It shouldn’t be seen as the VCE’s poor cousin. It’s the rich cousin.”
The association is also lobbying the department to provide VCAL in all government secondary schools and to ensure schools are funding their programs properly.
It’s understood that the department recently evaluated the certificate to identify how it could be improved.
While most schools do an excellent job delivering the certificate, Ms Rooks said some schools treated VCAL as an afterthought for non-academic students.
“If it is done correctly it prepares young people for work, but if it is a tack-on in a portable at the back of the yard it is not doing anything for the students’ self-esteem,” she said.
“I know a student who wanted to be a hairdresser and her school said 'you can't do VCAL you are too smart'.”
She believes many students suited to VCAL are instead choosing the unscored VCE – which lets students finish Year 12 without the stress of exams – because they believe it has a better reputation.
In May, The Age revealed that a record 2072 students completed the unscored VCE last year, almost double the number of students who chose the option in 2014.
“If VCAL is done robustly then it is far more valuable,” Ms Rooks said. “Students come out with a far broader suite of life skills and work skills.”
The number of state, independent and Catholic schools offering VCAL grew from 399 to 429 between 2014 and 2018. Last year, 20687 secondary school students were enrolled in VCAL.
But Ms Rooks said some schools were restricting enrolments in their VCAL programs, or not delivering the certificate because they were concerned it would tarnish their reputation as an “academic school”.
It’s a belief shared by University of Melbourne honorary professorial fellow Richard Teese. Professor Teese, who is also an adjunct professor at Victoria University, said some schools feared being labelled a ‘VCAL school’.
“It is a cultural issue and it is reinforced by the universities' power of selection and matriculation,” he said.
“If schools are not running a VCAL program, or only a small class, that is a very unfortunate state of affairs and says a lot about their approach to their equity.”
Narre Warren South P-12 College runs a highly-regarded VCAL program and treats the certificate just as seriously as the VCE. Around 40 per cent of its senior students are enrolled in VCAL.
The school staffs its VCAL program before VCE subjects, students are encouraged to enrol in VET subjects that lead to jobs and the successes of all students are celebrated on its wall of fame.
“There is no stigma attached to doing VCAL here,” principal Rob Duncan said.
It’s an approach that has paid off: NAPLAN results are up, the school’s attendance record is impeccable and its median VCE study score has risen from 28 to 32 over the past decade.
Mr Duncan said it was unfortunate that many schools had a different approach to VCAL.
“It’s been common for schools to use VCAL as an alternative option for students who they perceive won’t do well in VCE rather than a genuine mainstream option,” he said.
“We are trying to cater programs to a really diverse group of kids, we need VCAL to be successful.”
Victorian Education Minister James Merlino said while VCAL provided opportunities for thousands of students, it wasn’t perfect.
“We are always working to improve education for our kids, and we know we have more to do,” he said.
Mr Merlino said VCAL helped students re-engage with learning and made it possible for students with additional challenges to complete school.