Викторианский аттестат о среднем образовании (VCE) в Австралии

School qualification offered in Victoria, Australia

The Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) is one credential available to secondary school students who successfully complete year 11 and 12 in the Australian state of Victoria as well as in some international schools in China, Malaysia, Philippines, Timor Leste, and Vietnam. About 67% of all 19 year olds in Victoria had completed the VCE in 2020. Study for the VCE is usually completed over two years, but can be spread over a longer period in some cases. The VCE was established as a pilot project in 1987. The earlier Higher School Certificate (HSC) was abolished in 1992. Delivery of the VCE Vocational Major, an "applied learning" program within the VCE, began in 2023.

The Victorian Certificate of Education is generally taught in years 11 and 12 of secondary education in Victoria; but some students are able to start their VCE studies in year 10 or earlier if the school or institution allows it. All VCE studies are organised into units. VCE subjects typically consist of four units with each unit covering one semester of study. Each unit comprises a set number of outcomes (usually two or three); an outcome describes the knowledge and skills that a student should demonstrate by the time the student has completed the unit. Subject choice depends on each individual school. Units 3/4 of a subject must be studied in sequential order, whereas units 1/2 can be mixed and matched. Students are not required to complete all the units of a subject as part of the VCE course, meaning they are able to change subject choice between years 11 and 12. On completing a unit, a student receives either a 'satisfactory' (S) or 'non satisfactory' (N) result. If a student does not intend to receive an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank (ATAR), a 'satisfactory' result is all that is required to graduate with the VCE. To gain an ATAR a student must satisfactorily complete three units of any subject in the English field (at least one English field subject is compulsory) and twelve units in any other subjects.

VCE studies are assessed both internally (in school) and externally (through the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA). During units 1/2 all assessment is internal, while in units 3/4 assessment is conducted both internally and externally. VCE Vocational Major units are only assessed internally.

Internal assessment is conducted via "school assessed coursework" (SACs) and "school assessed tasks" (SATs). "School assessed coursework" (SACs) are the primary avenue of internal assessment, with assessment in every VCE study consisting of at least one SAC.

Students will be eligible for a study score of between 0 and 50 if they have completed at least two Graded Assessments, and have satisfactorily completed both units 3/4 of a VCE study. Study scores are calculated by VCAA, and indicate a student's performance in relation to all other students who undertook that study. Study scores are calculated by combining the standardised scores for each Graded Assessment with specific percentages, then ranked against all students in the subject according to a normal distribution, where the mean is 30 and the standard deviation is 7, with most study scores falling between 23 and 37. For studies with many enrolments (1000 or more), a study score of 40 or more places a student in the top 9% of all students in that subject. If a student is ill or affected by other personal circumstances during an external assessment, and whose result is unlikely to be a fair or accurate demonstration of their learning or achievement, they may apply for a derived examination score (DES). Long term illness or other ongoing conditions that have been present over the year are not eligible for a DES. Students will need to supply independent evidence to apply for a DES, and will be examined case by case by VCAA. The derived score is calculated statistically from the student's other assessments, including school based assessments, GAT scores, other external assessment scores (if available) and grades provided by the school.

Scaling is the process that adjusts VCE study scores into ATAR subject scores. The Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) adjusts all VCE study scores to equalise results between studies with stronger cohorts, and those with weaker ones. Contrary to common perception, scaling is not based on the difficulty of the subject, as each study score is in fact a ranking. The score adjustment ensures that in those subjects where it is easier to overtake the cohort, the score is adjusted downward, while in subjects where it is difficult to score highly, it is moved upwards. This makes sure obtaining the average score in one study required the same level of achievement as every other study. Mathematics subjects and language subjects have additional scaling rules. In mathematics subjects (General Mathematics, Mathematical Methods and Specialist Mathematics), all three studies are scaled against each other in addition to being scaled against all other studies, then the higher of the two scaling scores will then be used. This is due to mathematics having a distinct hierarchy of studies with varying difficulties, so students studying the harder subjects will not be disadvantaged by the level of difficulty. In LOTE (Languages Other Than English) subjects, study scores are adjusted by adding up to five to the initial scaled study score average. This adjustment is different for each subject and score, and decreases as the study score moves away from 30.

It is possible for students to complete an unscored VCE. Under this option, students complete the VCE course but do not sit final exams and are not given an ATAR. The number of students completing an unscored VCE has increased every year since 2015, with 8.3% of VCE students completing an unscored VCE in 2020.

The 2011 English exam contained a column about tattoos attributed to "part time journalist and blogger Helen Day", who wrote for the fictional "Street Beat" blog. The Age newspaper accused VCAA of plagiarism and breach of copyright as the column was very similar to an opinion piece featured in the newspaper's 23 September 2010 edition, written by Melbourne writer Helen Razer. The newspaper called the exam's column "clumsily edited".

In 2012, the History: Revolutions exam was meant to include a picture of Nikolai Kochergin's artwork Storming the Winter Palace on 25th October 1917, depicting the events of the 1917 October Revolution in Russia. Instead, a doctored picture was used in the exam, in which a large robot had been edited in to the background of the scene. (Said robot was a Marauder from BattleTech, a science fiction setting in which a fictional 28th century general named 'Aleksandr Kerensky' like the nonfictional October Revolution leader played an important role during a pivotal coup and civil war.) A VCAA spokesperson admitted that the image was "sourced and acknowledged by the VCAA as coming from the Internet", and new internal guidelines were issued for using internet sourced content in exams. Of the 5,738 students that sat the exam, 2,379 chose the Russia section, of which 130 received an adjusted score.

In 2016, a computer error allowed for 2075 students (approximately 2.5% of VCE candidates) to receive their ATAR score and VCE results five days earlier than they were supposed to be announced. External SMS provider for VCAA and the Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC), Salmat Digital, created an error that enabled students to receive their results before the expected release date by texting VCAA. Suzanne Connelly, a spokeswoman for VTAC and VCAA, apologised on behalf of all agencies involved. This sparked outrage from parents of students who did not receive their scores, considering it as "unfair". Students who were able to receive their results also questioned its legitimacy and reliability. The VCAA and VTAC acted to contact affected students and their schools to reassure them regarding the accidental early results release. The release of the remaining 97.5% of results took place without further issue at the planned time. Education Minister James Merlino ordered an investigation into the situation, which had compromised results that are normally closely guarded until the official release.

The 2018 English exam included an article in which fictional writer Jonty Jenkins scathingly attacked a café franchise named "Calmer Coffee" opening in his local town, criticising its unfriendly staff and unwelcoming ambience that he described as "an assault on the senses". After the exam completed, students discovered that a real "Calmer Cafe" existed in Aberfeldie, a suburb just north west of Melbourne. The café's manager, Elise Jenkins, shares the same surname as the exam question's fictional writer. Within hours, the café received over 100 negative reviews on Google Maps from Year 12 students, bringing down its rating from nearly 5 stars to as low as 3.3. Google Maps temporarily removed the café from search results, and later reinstated it but kept reviews inaccessible. At the time, the café had 405 reviews. The next day, Tara Conron, owner of the cafe, told The Age she had hired a lawyer and would be pursuing legal action against VCAA for "uncanny" similarities between the exam and the actual cafe. Conron noted the identical surnames of Jenkins, stated that she employs someone with a "man bun", as does the employer in the exam article, and both the fictional and actual cafe "stand out" in their respective suburbs.

On 8 September 2023 the Herald Sun newspaper published an article about colour blind students being given red green scaled maps in the 2022 Geography Exam (Herald Sun 8 September 2023 page 11 "Students see red or not") (Colour blind students forgotten in VCE Geography exam).

It was reported in The Herald Sun (3 November 2023 “VCE test can't go the distance” and 6 November 2023 "Teachers at sixes and sevens over exam errors") that the Mathematical Methods Exam 2 contained multiple errors and a question recycled from a previous exam. One of the errors was picked up after printing, with students instructed to amend the paper (replacing the letter "m" with the word "meters" in the phrase "m per second" that proceeded a mathematical formula). But the other errors (including missing words that left questions under specified) were not spotted until after the exam. These errors (as well as many other errors from other 2023 VCAA mathematics exams) have been listed by teachers.

It was reported in The Herald Sun (7 November 2023 “Maths test fails add up Latest mistake the 7th error in 2023”) that the curves in the diagram for Section B Question 6 part (h) were not correctly labelled. This error was acknowledged by the VCAA which
decided to " award all students who attempted the exam a correct score" for that question (Herald Sun 8 November 2023 “Maths fail a plus for students”). This error, as well as errors on the 2022 Specialist Mathematics exams, were discussed in an ABC Radio Melbourne interview between Rafael Epstein and Monash University mathematician Professor Burkard Polster (8 November 2023). During this interview Professor Polster disclosed that he had offered to proof read the VCE mathematics exams for free but the VCAA had declined his offer. He also explained why giving every student 1 mark for this question is not actually fair.

It has been reported that the 2023 Chemistry exam contained an error. The "error was in a question about the composition of coconut oil, which had listed the formula for linolenic acid rather than linoleic acid, as intended."

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that two high schools gave Chinese language students the wrong exam paper. Some students who were meant to take the Chinese Second Language Advanced (SLA) exam were given the paper for the Chinese as a Second Language (SL) exam, which is at a significantly easier level and which was due to be held the following Wednesday. The ABC reported that "students affected have been asked to sign a confidentiality agreement to not share details of the exam before November 16. However, several insiders with knowledge of the exam have confirmed that at least one of the essay questions and details of some listening exercises have already been leaked online and are being circulated on Reddit and Chinese social media sites." Several affected students and parents were forced to decline commenting on the error because of the confidentiality agreement. The VCAA’s response to this mistake has been criticised by VCE Chinese teachers, who told the ABC that "it was the “basic responsibility” of the VCAA staff who were supervising the exam to check everything was correct. There are supposed to be “clear tags” to classify each exam paper. The fact that more than one school gave the wrong exam paper shows it's not an individual mistake, [it shows] the VCAA didn't provide adequate training for supervisors." Sources to the ABC have said that "when one of the students flagged with a supervisor that they received the wrong paper, the supervisor told them it was "impossible" and to "continue with the exam"". The education minister, Ben Carroll, subsequently confirmed that six students were incorrectly given the SL exam. He labelled it "a “traumatic” experience for those who were affected." He said that "the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority [has] been asked to complete a full investigation into the incident." The Minister also said that academics had approached him about the VCE exams in general and that he has asked "the VCAA to partner with academic institutions in the writing, designing and vetting of exams."

It was reported in the Herald Sun that students sitting the Chinese as a Second Language (SL) exam were instructed by supervisors to cross out a question, remove all subsequent references to it and to write on another topic (Herald Sun 16 November 2023 page 3 "Students rewrite exam after leak"). This paper had been accidentally given to some students in the previous week instead of the Chinese Second Language Advanced (SLA) paper. The Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) reported that some students also experienced problems with an audio component of the exam. Students were required to read a text prompt which was to be followed by an audio component. However, the audio component (required to answer several questions) failed to play for some students. This led to some students being unable to complete several questions worth 10 out of the exam's 75 marks. Furthermore, the text prompt associated with the missing audio was among the details that had been revealed on social media.

The VCE is offered at all Victorian secondary schools. The VCE Vocational Major (VM) is a vocational and applied learning program within the VCE and is also offered at many government and non government schools Victoria wide. Students who cannot complete a VCE course at their regular school for certain reasons (i. e timetable clashes, subject is not being offered in the students' regular school) are eligible to apply to Virtual School Victoria and complete up to two VCE units online. Additionally, students interested in a LOTE are able to enrol in the Victorian School of Languages if they meet similar enrolment requirements to VSV.