Education in Victoria

[Petals]

Children are educated either in the public system or the private system in Victoria and funding is provided to private schools from the Federal Government so they are not totally independent.

 

The web site to find a private school and what it has to offer is as follows:

http://www.ais.vic.edu.au/

 

for public or state schooling the site is:

 

Department of Education and Early Childhood Development - Education

 

Children can transfer from a high school to the TAFE Colleges for years eleven and twelve and do their VCE there. The TAFE college is very good for some students especially those wishing to be more grown up at that stage of their education and results are very good.

 

TAFE is Technical and Further Education.

 

I note that most people want to know about the schools and its difficult to make up ones mind about them so hope these sites will assist in making the task easier.

 

:smile:

[Guest Neesie]

Hi Everyone

(I'm a newie to the forum too - can't believe how much time I spend on here but its so helpful)

 

We're just in the sorting stage before packing and moving to Melbourne in January 2009 (my OH, myself and our 17 yr old son plus our dog)

 

I can't believe I've sorted all the paperwork, jabs, certificates, quarantine place etc for our dog but haven't got our son organised.

We are unsure at this stage where we will be located which obviously isn't ideal but feel it will probably be the East of the CBD as my husband will be working in the CBD.

 

My son has just completed his GCSE's last Sept but I've read that these qualifications aren't really relevant in the Australian education system.

As a typical 17 year old, my son is unsure what occupation he would like once his education is complete and so we're trying to guide him to the widest choices possible.

I have read also that as part of the classroom work there is the possibility of practical, work experience etc. I'm wondering whether the TAFE option is worth looking into?

 

Can anyone shed some light on these options?

 

:huh:

Denise

[olly]

Hi Denise,

Most of the schools now in Victoria do the VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) and the TAFE system does VCAL (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning) which is vocational. TAFE also offers VCE in a more relaxed learning model that the school option. Some kids from Year 10 can do VET (Vocational Education and Training) subjects as single subjects to enhance their vocational skills, they are sometimes 'extra' subjects or part of their normal curriculum. For instance, my daughter did Year 10 at her school, but one day a week would go to TAFE to do a hospitality subject. This would give her a Yr 10 certificate, with a Cert I in hospitality (which may then feed into an apprenticeship if she wanted. Other kids do Cert I in hairdressing for instance, but it is an extra with their Yr 10 usual subjects (Maths, English, etc). Many kids spend time crossing over to the TAFE system to study, and most offer 'pathways' to University if the kids aren't sure right away what they want to do.

 

If you are in Melbourne's eastern suburbs, depending what your child might be interested in, their are several good ones in the east.

There is Swinburne Tafe and Box Hill Tafe (my son is doing mechanics there). The offer different things, so you might like to type them both into google, and click on the subject choices. They are both served by good public transport, mostly trains from the city.

Some private schools do offer VET study, but not VCAL, as they focus more on VCE (they just give a VET choice if need be).

 

Hope this helps.

cheers

Olly

[Guest Neesie]

Hi Olly,

Ohhh still a little confusing - have I got this right? When we decide on a school (providing we're in their catchment area and they have places etc) my son will possibly be in Year 11 (being 17 in April).

See below my understanding so far and hopefully help others trying to get to grips with these new abbreviations. Please correct me if I'm wrong :-

 

VCE (Victorian Certificate of Education) is classroom studies only ie Maths, English, Sciences etc

 

TAFE (Technical & Further Education) system does VCAL (Victorian Cert of Applied Learning) which

is a hands-on option for students in Years 11 and 12. The VCAL gives you practical work-related experience, as well as literacy and numeracy skills and the opportunity to build personal skills that are important for life and work

 

VET (Vocational Education and Training) is for Year 10 combines general VCE studies with vocational training and experience in the workplace

 

My son at present doesn't want to go to Uni but we want to keep all options open therefore we want him to carry on with his studies but at the same time the TAFE sounds a worthwhile addition.

 

As you advise I'm away to google now. Thanks for your help. Really appreciate your time

Denise

 

 

 

 

 

[Petals]

Your son can also complete years 11 and 12 at Tafe and do VCE not just VCAL. My friend's daughter went to TAFE for years 11 and 12 as she did not like the school environment and was a bit of a handful and so her mum sent her to TAFE and she loved it because they treat them like adults. She went on to university and is an accountant now.

 

VCE is not just classroom based learning there are exams as well.

 

There are many subjects students can take in VCE and each subject gives a different amount of points towards the TER = Tertiary Entrance score required for entering university. Science and maths subjects get the highest scores.

 

To enter medicine for example a almost perfect score is required 99.9 or something similar.

[olly]

Hi Denise,

Yes, that's all right. I know these abbreviations are annoying, our governments seem to love them!!

My daughter is in Yr 11 (VCAL) and turned 17 last May. She

has done one year of the VCAL and is deciding whether to do a swap to the VCE next year. Depending on whether your son is bright, he may be able to gain entry to a select entry school, or even sit a scholarship to a private school if that is your preference. What suburb are you thinking of going to?

My sister is an educational consultant and she has significant contact with schools around Melbourne (especially eastern suburbs).

 

Hope you find some useful info on the TAFE websites!

cheers

Olly:smile:

[Guest treesea]

VCE is like A levels or Scottish highers. You study towards them for two years, years 11 and 12, so equivalent to S5 and S6 in Scotland. So you have 13 years of school, Prep (equivalent to P1 in Scotland) then years one through six (so P2 to P7 up here) for primary and seven through 12 (S1 to S6) for secondary.

 

If living in the eastern suburbs of Melbourne I recommend living in the catchment area for Balwyn High School, one of the best state schools in Victoria. There is also a very good high school at Camberwell as well. There are also Melbourne Boys High and MacRoberton Girls High. These are both state schools but selective state schools. i am not sure how they work because we didn't want single sex education for our children when we were there so didn't explore it.

 

Further out, in the north eastern part of Melbourne, the schools deteriorate. I wouldn't send my kids for instance, to Box Hill or Maroondah high/secondary schools. And even more so now I have experienced the Australian private school standard plus level of education you get over here in Scottish state schools. When we lived in Melbourne we sent our kids to Yarra Valley Grammar School, a private school going from prep to Yr 12 all on the same campus. That seemed to be the school of choice for co-ed education out in the north east of Melbourne.

[olly]

Box Hill High isn't bad. Doncaster Secondary is good. The trouble is to live in the catchment for Balwyn High (they are very selective these days) it is very expensive.

Yes, Yarra Valley is great, it's fair bit cheaper than living around Balwyn area. I find Balwyn HIgh very snobby, for a high school!!!

 

Catholic schools are always an option too, and often take non Catholics too. There is Marcellin and Whitefriars in the eastern region.

Cheers

Olly