VCE Vocational Major

The VCE Vocational Major

The VCE Vocational Major is a practical option for students in Years 11 and 12. It is designed to prepare students for further education, training or employment by providing them with work-related experience, literacy and numeracy skills and an opportunity to develop personal skills.

To obtain your VCE Vocational Major, you need to successfully complete a minimum of 16 units, including units in:

• VCE VM Literacy or VCE English
• VCE VM Numeracy or VCE Mathematics
• VCE VM Work Related Skills
• VCE VM Personal Development Skills
• VET at a Certificate II level or above (180 nominal hours).

Your program can also include additional VCE studies. Your teacher or careers counsellor can help you plan your program, which will typically take two years to complete.

Throughout your studies, you'll have the opportunity to apply your knowledge and skills in practical settings such as workplaces and community-based projects. You may also receive credit for on-the-job learning.

Your progress will be assessed by your teachers through a variety of activities, as there are no exams or external assessments for the VCE Vocational Major subjects, except for the General Achievement Test and some scored VCE VET programs.

Upon completion of the course, you will receive a Victorian Certificate of Education with the designation 'Vocational Major'. However, these subjects will not count towards an ATAR because they do not have a study score.

Here are your VCE Vocational Major study options:

• arts (including dance, drama, media and music)
• business and economics (including accounting, business management and legal studies)
• cross-curricular (extended investigation)
• English (including foundation english and literature)
• health and physical education (including health and human development)
• humanities (including Australian and global politics, classic studies, geography and history)
• languages (including Arabic, Filipino, German and Indonesian)
• mathematics (including foundation, general and specialist mathematics)
• science (including biology, environmental science and psychology)
• technologies (including food studies and system engineering)
• digital technologies (including algorithmics and applied computing) 

The VCE Vocational Major program provides various options for career pathways such as:

• apprenticeships
• traineeships
• further education and training
• university, via alternative entry programs
• employment.

For more information, refer to the Victorian Government website.

Further information
Parents and students can find further information about tertiary study at The Good Universities Guide. It provides course and institution searches, institution ratings and helpful editorial for prospective teritary students.