VCAL Program
Senior Secondary Reform Letters
Bradley Moyle
Principal
Epping Secondary College
Dear Mr. Moyle,
RE: Senior Secondary Reform
It has come to our attention that earlier this year, there was an announcement for the redaction of VCAL from schools in Victoria. Now normally this would be a thing that is years in the planning leading us to be better prepared but due to the recent outbreak of COVID 19 we have not been able to adjust for the coming changes. Many points of this erasure have been made clear to us and there are some that we (the participants of this project) would like to protest against, or just simply make clear. Things such as the introduction, induction and after effects of a change on this large of a scale. Our intention is to bring these issues to the forefront of your department’s mind.
The fact that the upcoming VCAL students will be put into VCE classes will be a confusing change for them, because they will probably have a change in thought of what they want to do. Getting the VCAL students to do VCE work can be completely irrelevant and it might demotivate the students and thus make them lose interest in schooling. A good way to make sure they fit into their classrooms is to have a teacher who can support them and show guidance throughout year 12.
Time is a much needed resource, whether you are part of VCE or VCAL. Completing homework as well as classwork can become overwhelming for a student in many situations. Many have been known to just give up on completing work entirely, or drop out of school due to overwhelming stress caused by deadlines and towering mountains of yet to be completed homework. It is a general and well known fact that VCE gets more homework than VCAL, as they are more focused on theoretical work and or situations. VCAL does not receive this type of theory practice. Yet in exchange, we must put in the hours of actual practical work in both our VET subjects as well as our work experience. Receiving work from both VET and VCE is not something that VCAL students are used to or are able to take on. We will not have time for both and schools will surely see an increase in dropouts.
The best thing about VCAL is our great bonds and friendships with each other in class that make us a VCAL family. We fear this comradery and disconnection will be taken away from us when VCAL students are moved into a bigger, different and more populated environment in VCE. A big problem that can happen is that the VCE classes won’t have this relationship with each other and it can make the VCAL students have a loss in confidence and it can make them feel isolated to a point where they won’t be able to create these new relationships.
Learning styles and how to adapt to them have been a big problem for the last few centuries. Many people have learning disabilities or are unable to learn new things if not taught in a specific way. Over the years, we have come to adapt our teaching styles to suit those students that need help. VCE and VCAL have the stigma of being smart and dumb respectively, though this is not true, it does highlight the differences in how we learn. VCE are more wired towards theoretical and data/statistical types of work. Whereas VCAL is wired more towards practical work such as bricklaying and construction. Our point is that if you were to throw both parties together in one classroom, then you would have a clash of learning styles. The teachers would be neglecting more than one student and be having difficulty with another.
In the end, we know, understand and accept that you do not have power over the decisions being made. All we ask is that you help us smoothly transition from one end of the learning spectrum to the other. If that is too much to ask, then we, the whole VCAL cohort are willing to throw our weight behind you and push on till the very end. We do not wish to loose our minds with the additional workload that will be given to us and we do not wish to overstretch the teachers patience and respect. Please and thank you.
Kind regards,
Ervin Paratusic Bilal Makram Jayden Day Joshua Nisbet
Minister for Education
James Merlino,
Level 31 Treasury Place East, Melbourne, Victoria, 3002
Dear James Merlino,
RE: Restructure of VCE/VCAL Program
We are writing to you to address the proposed cancellation of VCAL. We, as VCAL students are very concerned about this decision to remove VCAL from the Victorian Education System.
We, Brodie Whittinglsow-Raines, Dylan Taleski, and Isabel Pontinelli are all students in the graduating VCAL class of 2021 at Epping Secondary College. All three of us started off in mainstream VCE schooling but have since moved into VCAL. The VCAL program has given us the chance to develop important life skills and acquire the knowledge required for the workforce; for example, we have been taught about unions, about our rights and entitlements as workers and about occupational health and safety, among so many other valuable things. We also have the opportunity to do other courses/certificates (i.e., VET) and to undertake placements to figure out what we want to pursue once we graduate. VCAL even gives us the chance to get apprenticeships within our placements.
In VCE we didn’t get that – instead we had PowerPoints read to us, massive assessments with little to no time to do them as there was so much work to do for other classes and on top of those assessments we had SACs and exams. One of the biggest stress factors though, is the ATAR score, the stress of getting an ATAR score high enough to get into your dream course. VCE is stress on top of stress. You don’t get a chance to breathe because there is just so much going on. In VCAL we had the chance to develop skills that are relevant to our preferred industry and to have some fun while doing it. During the tough times of COVID-19, constantly going in and out of lockdowns and online school, you can only imagine the stress levels and strain it has put on all students both in VCE and VCAL, which is increasing dramatically.
We as VCAL students have a few questions we would like answered. What will happen to all of the VCAL-based and trade schools? Will they just be shut down or will they be changed to a normal VCE school? VCAL students are often associated with the inaccurate stereotypes of “dropkick”, “dropout”, “lazy” and “dumb”, when in fact we are getting our lives in order and getting prepared for our life after school. Getting rid of VCAL won’t get rid of the stigma that goes with it. VCAL is a safe place for students where we don’t have the same amount of pressure and stress as those in VCE. Students’ mental health will deteriorate drastically with the stress and pressure on their hands. The VCAL teachers support us and help us push through and are constantly making sure we are doing well. They check up on us and how we are doing, they notice when something is wrong and try their hardest to make you feel better and they make us laugh and let us have fun while we complete our units. Once the VCE and VCAL have merged, how do you plan on providing support for the students who need it?
VCAL works in its own separate department where different resources can be applied to help the students in need. This will all change. VCAL and VCE students learn in different ways, just as teachers teach in different ways. Teachers may experience difficulty managing all the different learning styles of students in one class. There is a question that has been bothering us more than anything else. Was the decision to remove VCAL based off factual evidence? What was the reason behind cancelling the Pathways and VCAL program? If the proposed cancellation of the VCAL program comes to pass, many of us are curious as to how we would be able to manage the workload of VCE, usually 6 VCE subjects, as well as learning the practical and personal development skills we learn in VCAL, all while having to complete work placements and VET and TAFE courses. On top of all of the subjects we would be taking, we would have many assessments and exams that would require many hours of preparation. We have been wondering how we will be able to complete all of those tasks in order to finish school. Do you genuinely believe that merging the VCE and VCAL programs will improve anything? We strongly feel that taking VCAL away will only cause more students to drop out of school with no sense of direction of what they want to do with their lives.
Thank you for your time.
Sincerely,
Isabel Pontinelli Brodie Whittingslow- Dylan Taleski
Raines
Bradley Moyle
Principal
Epping Secondary College
Dear Mr. Moyle,
RE: Senior Secondary Reform
It has come to our attention that VCAL as its own separate program will be coming to an end and we would like to address our thoughts and concerns about the matter. It is a government decision made by the Education Minister James Merlino, due to VCAL’s reputation, basically removing VCAL because of its stereotype. We know of the following changes: VCE and VCAL will be merged together, students studying VCAL in 2022 will transfer into VCE with credit for completed VCAL subjects in 2023 and by 2025 VCAL will be completely scrapped and integrated with vocational study into the senior secondary study certificate. We know that the VCAL curriculum as we know it may be changed to a new and modified curriculum. As concerned as we are, we are still trying out best to be open minded with the upcoming changes but we do have many questions and concerns that we are anxious to find out.
To begin with, we would like to acknowledge the benefits of keeping VCAL. We spoke to some VCAL students to hear about their VCAL experiences and this was a student’s response, “Keeping VCAL would personally be beneficial as for me without the VCAL program I’d still be wagging classes, getting into trouble and not completing my schoolwork. Moving into VCAL, the pathways program was the best thing I ever did in my schooling career, my teachers gave me way more support than I ever got in mainstream and my teachers gave me a chance to get back on track and succeed in school. While I was in mainstream, I wasn’t enjoying school at all but ever since I joined VCAL I’d rather come to school. I haven’t been in any trouble at school since year 10, I’ve completed all my work and I respect my teachers as they respect me. Without VCAL I can honestly say I’d still be getting in trouble weekly, I’d still be ditching classes, starting fights with teachers and still not be completing my schoolwork, I’d more than likely be failing school.”
There are many benefits to keeping VCAL. Yes there is a bad stereo type about VCAL that makes it look like the low end of the school but we are confident that VCAL is a life changing program and can’t be told otherwise by people who aren’t a part of the program to begin with. If you were to talk to both the students and the teachers, you would see how much the program actually does for its students and how much you can really get out of it. We have 3 days of in school learning, one day to complete work experiences that can lead to apprenticeships and then one day to complete a VET course to help you with your chosen career path. VCAL is very beneficial for the students that can’t handle the constant tests, the mainly theory-based learning and the stressful environment it carries. VCAL is extremely helpful for the more hands-on learners and not only that we also have 3 different classes for your appropriate level of work you need. Everyone gets the chance to do work at their appropriate level, meaning you never have to be under so much pressure to the point where you are failing because you simply can’t do it. VCE is simply just not an option for VCAL based students.
Following the benefits, we would now like to address some of our concerns. An ex VCE student has expressed their perception on the issue: “I only joined VCAL this year and it’s made me feel 100x better than when I was in VCE as I feel like I’m learning more towards my interest so I would like to express some of my concerns for VCAL coming to an end. VCAL getting shutdown means students will not have the freedom to work towards their interests, passions and strengths in a hands-on manner, whether that’s through placements or VET courses. VCAL is also more of a family where people want to be a part of not only for its hands-on education but its welcoming and supportive environment, which is why you see a high number of people wanting to transfer into it compared to students leaving VCAL to return to VCE. Another major concern is that it’s being shut down for the wrong reasons and the VCAL stereotypes are getting in the way of students needs and different ways of learning. It feels like they’re not doing it to improve the school system but instead to make it look better when in truth it’s just limiting students from reaching their full potential through a beneficial and unique pathway of their own. I don’t see a need to change anything as it seems to be working very well and students haven’t said or asked for a change to the structure of the current curriculum.
As we understand this is something done out of your control, we would like to suggest some things that could be used as a solution to these concerns that you may be able to assist with. Firstly, there could and should be a student/s representative leader for the VCAL based students such as a VCAL captain like there currently is, to not only voice any further concerns but also provide a first contact support for other VCAL based students who struggle with the change, as well as the support of a VCAL based co-ordinator who could further support the students out of the VCAL captains ability. Another major concern that we have is that if the VCAL curriculum is integrated with VCE, there should still be days to provide not only the opportunity for VET and TAFE courses but for placement too. Work experience is an important aspect of a VCAL based curriculum, (as well as a requirement for VET and TAFE schools) and to do this we suggest making the VCAL based subjects, for those who are interested in VCAL, to only be an option during the other three days whilst at school.
Overall, we really do want the best for other students and are hoping you are willing to help with these issues. If you would like to discuss the situation further, we would love to hear back on your thoughts about the matter. In the meantime, we appreciate your time taken to read our letter.
Kind regards,
12V VCAL students:
Anastasia Lambrou Jacque Nelson Ngor Kury