VCE Vocational Major and Victorian Pathways Certificate Delivered by Registered External Providers (formerly Community VCAL)

Overview

Context

This guidance applies to arrangements in which the entire delivery of the VCE Vocational Major or Victorian Pathways Certificate (VPC) is delivered by an external provider:

• that is registered with the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA) as a non-school senior secondary and foundation secondary provider (NSSSFSP) or with the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) (as applicable for VET components)
• that has been authorised by the Victorian Curriculum Assessment Authority (VCAA) to deliver the VCE Vocational Major or VPC on behalf of a government school
• to students who have been assessed as eligible to participate.

Course delivery must be tailored to the needs of individual students, including those who have become disengaged from mainstream schooling or are at risk of disengaging from mainstream schooling. When the VCE Vocational Major and VPC is delivered by the NSSSFSP, students are enrolled at a government school (home school) but the program is delivered by the NSSSFSP external to the school site.

A small number of Victorian government schools have entered into contracts with NSSSFSPs registered with the VRQA and authorised by the VCAA to deliver the VCE Vocational Major and VPC, under which the ‘home’ school holds the student’s enrolment but the NSSSFSP delivers the entirety of the student’s VCE Vocational Major and VPC.

This guidance sets out the legal, regulatory, financial and policy obligations of home schools. It is important for all principals and relevant coordinators in home schools to have procedures in place to ensure that the home school is discharging its obligations to students enrolled in the home school but undertaking the VCE Vocational Major and VPC with an NSSSFSP.

There are regulatory obligations that schools must also comply with to ensure that requisite records are kept in relation to a student’s enrolment, attendance, learning progress and outcomes and other issues.

In order to allow a student to undertake their VCE Vocational Major and VPC at a NSSSFSP, the home school must ensure it continues to comply with the Minimum Standards for school registration to provide an accredited senior secondary or accredited foundation secondary course and that the policies and procedures of the department and school are being followed, for example the department’s policies in the Policy and Advisory Library (PAL) relating to:

• enrolment
• duty of care
• supervision
• excursions
• attendance
• student safety and welfare
• student learning outcomes
• maintenance of records and reporting.

Obligations of both home schools and NSSSFSPs will be outlined in detail in Appendix A of the completed VCE Vocational Major and VPC contract.