IN THIS ISSUEPage 9 of 50

Completion of the VCE What is the VCE?, Prerequisites for Unit 3 & Unit 4, Subject Preference Order, Assessment, Authentication , Special Provision

Vocational Major (VM) About the VM, VCE VM subject overviews

Accounting Unit 1: Role of accounting in business, Unit 2: Accounting and decision-making for a trading business, Unit 3: Financial accounting for a trading business, Unit 4: Recording, reporting, budgeting and decision-making

Art Creative Practice Unit 1: Interpreting artworks and exploring the Creative Practice, Unit 2: Interpreting artworks and developing the Creative Practice, Unit 3: Investigation, ideas, artworks and the Creative Practice Artworks ideas and values, Unit 4: Interpreting, resolving and presenting artworks and the Creative Practice Artworks, ideas and viewpoints

Biology Unit 1: How do organisms regulate their functions?, Unit 2: How does inheritance impact on diversity?, Unit 3: How do cells maintain life?, Unit 4: How does life change and respond to challenges?

Business Management Unit 1: Planning a business, Unit 2: Establishing a business, Unit 3: Managing a business, Unit 4: Transforming a business

Chemistry Unit 1: How can the diversity of materials be explained?, Unit 2: What makes water such a unique chemical?, Unit 3: How can chemical processes be designed to optimise efficiency?, Unit 4: How are organic compounds categorised, analysed and used?

English Unit 1 , Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4

English as an Additional Language Banner Photo

English as an Additional Language Unit 1, Unit 2, Unit 3, Unit 4

Literature Unit 1 , Unit 2 , Unit 3, Unit 4:

Economics Unit 1: Economic decision-making, Unit 2: Economic issues and living standards, Unit 3: Australia’s living standards, Unit 4: Managing the economy

Environmental Science Unit 1: How are Earth’s dynamic systems interconnected to support life?, Unit 2: What affects Earth’s capacity to sustain life?, Unit 3: How can biodiversity and development be sustained?, Unit 4: How can climate change and the impacts of human energy use be managed?

Food Studies Unit 1: Food origins, Unit 2: Food makers, Unit 3: Food in daily life, Unit 4: Food issues, challenges and futures

Global Politics Unit 1: Political ideas, political actors and political power , Unit 2: Global connections - Global links, cooperation and conflict

Health & Human Development Unit 1: Understanding health and wellbeing, Unit 2: Managing health and development, Unit 3: Australia’s health in a globalised world, Unit 4: Health and human development in a global context

History Units 1 & 2: Empires , Units 3 & 4: Revolutions

Languages French, Japanese, Units 1 & 2: , Units 3 & 4:

Legal Studies Unit 1: Guilt and liability, Unit 2: Sanctions, remedies and rights, Unit 3: Rights and justice, Unit 4: The people and the law

Mathematics overview What Mathematics pathway should I choose in VCE?, Possible pathways for studies in Mathematics , VCE Foundation Mathematics

General Mathematics Units 1 & 2: General Mathematics, Units 3 & 4: General Mathematics

Mathematics Methods Units 1 & 2: Mathematical Methods, Units 3 & 4: Mathematical Methods

Specialist Mathematics Units 1 & 2: Specialist Mathematics, Units 3 & 4: Specialist Mathematics

Media Unit 1: Media forms, representations and Australian stories , Unit 2: Narrative across media forms , Unit 3: Media narratives and pre-production , Unit 4: Media production and issues in the media

Music Units 1 & 2: Music, Units 3 & 4: Music Repertoire Performance, Units 3 & 4: Music Contemporary Performance, Units 3 & 4: Music Inquiry

Outdoor & Environmental Studies Banner Photo

Outdoor & Environmental Studies Unit 3: Relationships with natural environments, Unit 4: The future of human-nature interactions, Video presentation

Physical Education Unit 1: Bodies in motion, Unit 2: Physical activity, sport and society, Unit 3: Movement skills and energy for physical activity, Unit 4: Training to improve performance, Video presentation

Physics Unit 1: How is energy useful to society?, Unit 2: How does physics help us to understand the world?, Unit 3: How do fields explain motion and electricity?, Unit 4: How can two contradictory models explain both light and matter?

Product Design & Technology Banner Photo

Product Design & Technology Unit 1: Sustainability redevelopment of a product, Unit 2: Collaborative design, Unit 3: Applying the product design process, Unit 4: Product development and evaluation

Psychology Unit 1: How are behaviour and mental processes shaped?, Unit 2: How do internal and external factors influence behaviour and mental processes?, Unit 3: How does experience affect behaviour and mental processes?, Unit 4: How is wellbeing developed and maintained?

Sociology Unit 1: Youth and family, Unit 2: Social norms: breaking the code, Unit 3: Culture and ethnicity, Unit 4: Community, social movements and social change

Theatre Studies Unit 1: Pre-modern theatre styles and conventions, Unit 2: Modern theatre styles and conventions, Unit 3: Producing theatre, Unit 4: Presenting an interpretation

Visual Communication Design Banner Photo

Visual Communication Design Unit 1: Introduction to visual communication design, Unit 2: Applications of visual communication with design fields, Unit 3: Visual communication design practices, Unit 4: Visual communication design, development, evaluation and presentation

About VET Overview, Costs, VCE VET studies offered

Certificate III in Allied Health Assistance

Certificate II in Animal Studies

Certificate II in Applied Fashion Design & Technology

Certificate II in Beauty Services

Certificate II in Dance

Certificate III in Early Child Education & Care*

Certificate II in Engineering Studies

Certificate III in Events

Certificate II in Hospitality

Certificate III in Information, Digital Media & Technology

Certificate II in Laboratory Skills

Certificate III in Music Industry (Performance)

Certificate II in Sport & Recreation

Certificate III in Tourism

View archive

Business Management

Unit 1: Planning a business

Businesses of all sizes are major contributors to the economic and social wellbeing of a nation. Therefore, how businesses are formed and the fostering of conditions under which new business ideas can emerge are vital for a nation’s wellbeing. Taking a business idea and planning how to make it a reality are the cornerstones of economic and social development. In this unit students explore the factors affecting business ideas and the internal and external environments within which businesses operate, and the effect of these on planning a business.

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

Describe a process for creating and developing a business idea, and explain how innovative and entrepreneurial practices can contribute to the national economy and social wellbeing.
Describe the internal business environment and analyse how factors from within it may affect business planning.
Describe the external environment of a business and explain how the macro and operating factors within it may affect business planning.

Unit 2: Establishing a business

This unit focuses on the establishment phase of a business’s life. Establishing a business involves complying with legal requirements as well as making decisions about how best to establish a system of financial record keeping, staff the business and establish a customer base. In this unit students examine the legal requirements that must be satisfied to establish a business. They investigate the essential features of effective marketing and consider the best way to meet the needs of the business in terms of staffing and financial record keeping. Students analyse various management practices in this area by applying this knowledge to contemporary business case studies from the past four years.

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

Outline the key legal requirements and financial record-keeping considerations when establishing a business, and explain the importance of establishing effective policies and procedures to achieve compliance with these requirements.
Explain how establishing a customer base and a marketing presence supports the achievement of business objectives, analyse effective marketing and public relations strategies and apply these strategies to business-related case studies.
Discuss the importance of staff to a business, discuss the staffing needs for a business, and evaluate staff-management strategies from both an employer and staff perspective.
Explain the importance when establishing a business of complying with legal requirements and financial record keeping, and establishing effective policies and procedures.
Explain the importance of establishing a customer base and a marketing presence to achieve the objectives of the business, analyse effective marketing and public relations strategies and apply these strategies to business-related case studies.
Discuss the staffing needs for a business and evaluate the benefits and limitations of management strategies in this area from both an employer and an employee perspective.

Unit 3: Managing a business

The internal environment affects the approach to and success of business planning. The owner will generally have more control over the activities, functions and pressures that occur within a business. These factors, such as business models, legal business structures and staffing, will also be influenced to some extent by the external environment. Students explore the factors within the internal environment and consider how planning decisions may have an effect on the ultimate success of a business.

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

Discuss the key characteristics of businesses and stakeholders, and analyse the relationship between corporate culture, management styles and management skills.
Explain theories of motivation and apply them to a range of contexts, and analyse and evaluate strategies related to the management of employees.
Analyse the relationship between business objectives and operations management, and propose and evaluate strategies to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of business operations.

Unit 4: Transforming a business

In this area of study students develop their understanding of the need for change. Managers regularly review and evaluate business performance through the use of key performance indicators and use the results to make decisions concerning the future of a business. Managers can take both a proactive and reactive approach to change. Students investigate the ways a business can search for new business opportunities as a source of future business growth and consider current forces for change on a business. They apply Lewin’s Force Field Analysis theory to contemporary case studies and consider approaches to strategic management, using Porter’s (1985) Generic Strategies.

On completion of this unit students should be able to:

Explain the way business change may come about, use key performance indicators to analyse the performance of a business, discuss the driving and restraining forces for change and evaluate management strategies to position a business for the future.
Evaluate the effectiveness of a variety of strategies used by managers to implement change and discuss the effect of change on the stakeholders of a business.