Are you more likely to become a tradie if you go to a public school? Check your school’s VCE and VET enrolments

Vocational education continues to surge in popularity at Victorian high schools, but new data reveals a participation gap, with students at independent schools much more likely to be heading to university than into a trade.

Enrolments in vocational subjects among Victorian year 11s and 12s have been surging since the state government introduced the Vocational Major VCE in 2023, replacing the old VCAL certificate.

But while about one in four year 12 students across the state attends an independent school, those students account for just one in six VET enrolments.

The Age is examining VCE performance across the state as part of the launch of the Victorian Schools Guide, a new interactive dashboard allowing parents and students to examine the performance of the state’s government, Catholic and independent schools.

The dashboard will be updated regularly and feature new sections in the future, to help guide students and families in their school choices.

About 15 per cent of the 65,000 students who completed their VCE last year did so with a vocational major, and those numbers are expected to grow in the coming years.

But the data reveals that the vast majority of those vocational enrolments are from government schools, with 83 per cent of the students taking VET subjects doing so at a public school.

But one independent school bucking the trend is Methodist Ladies College Ladies’ College, which has been working quietly to establish itself as one of the state’s VET powerhouse schools, and has made the top 10 list of schools with the most vocational enrolments.

Indie School Wodonga, an independent alternative secondary school for years 9 to 12 near the NSW border, topped the list of vocational enrolments with 1437, followed by its neighbour Wodonga Senior Secondary College and another regional school, Bendigo Senior Secondary College.

SEDA College, a Camberwell independent school with a sporty focus, had the most vocational enrolments of the metropolitan schools, with 724 VET enrolments.

MLC rounded out the top 10 with 428 VET enrolments.

Laura Brady, MLC’s director of learning and curriculum, said teachers encouraged students to choose subjects according to their passions rather than what they thought they were expected to study.

The senior educator said the college’s status as a registered training organisation, unusual for an upmarket private school, was one of the keys to its VET edge, allowing vocational courses to be delivered at its Kew campus.

“Students do not need to travel off-site to access these qualifications,” Brady said.

“This provides greater accessibility and allows us to maintain a very high standard of teaching, support and integration across a student’s entire VCE program.”

Brady said the VET subjects on offer allowed students to explore different interests without blocking off other pathways, like VCE and university, or even to get a more hands-on experience in an area of academic study.

“For example, VET music focuses on performance, but also provides knowledge that is important if students want to pursue a career in music, including copyright arrangements, setting up for a performance, stagecraft and improvisation,” she said.

“This knowledge and skills allow them to confidently approach different performance venues to arrange their own gigs, for example.”

That approach is working for MLC student Charlotte Low, who is studying hospitality and cookery alongside her VCE subjects.

“It’s interesting because rather than sitting in the classroom, and taking notes, I get to cook,” she said.

The 17-year-old, who dreams of owning her own restaurant one day, said she was confident that everything she learnt in her VET course would be useful in her post-school career, whether it was hands-on food training, getting out to local hospitality businesses to learn at the coalface, or cooking with her classmates in the school community cafe.

“Every time I’m sitting in cookery, learning about food, or sitting in business and learning communication skills or how to work best in a team, I just think, ‘I’m going to need this every single day’, and I’m more motivated to study and all that,” she said.

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