The Challenge
The new VCE has been introduced in 2023 to create one universal certificate for Victorian Secondary students.
It is intended that students undertaking these pathways will have access to an enriched curriculum as well as relevant workplace experiences based on their career goals that will develop their real-world knowledge, and technical and transferrable skills that will set them up for further education and employment.
The certificate reforms are part of a suite of 38 recommendations from the review into vocational and applied learning pathways for senior secondary students (the Firth Review), led by former VCAA Chief Executive Officer, John Firth.
The Firth Review found that we need to do more to make vocational and applied learning in schools consistently high quality, relevant to the needs of students and employers, and accessible to all students across the state. Key recommendations included creating a new vocational and applied learning pathway within the VCE and a new foundation certificate.