VCE Curriculum

Saint Ignatius College offers Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and VCE Vocational Major.

The Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) is a senior secondary certificate of education recognised within the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). The Vocational Major (VM) is a new program within the VCE from 2023. The VCE is designed to be completed over a minimum of two years and includes VCE curriculum components and programs from Vocational Education and Training (VET) qualifications.

Students at SICG will be enrolled in one of the two options below:

• The VCE – which includes studies with school-based and external assessments that can provide a study score towards an Australian Tertiary Admissions Rank (ATAR)
• The VCE VM – which includes studies with school-based assessments that do not provide a study score towards an ATAR

Each VCE unit involves 50 hours of scheduled classroom instruction. In addition, students undertake up to 50 hours of self-directed learning for each unit. Satisfactory completion of a VCE unit is based on successful completion of outcomes. Satisfactory unit completion is determined by the school, in accordance with VCAA requirements. All students at SICG undertake Religious Education as part of their senior program.

VCE requirements

The minimum VCE requirement, excluding the VCE VM, is satisfactory completion of 16 units, which must include:

• three units from the English group, including a Unit 3–4 sequence
• three Unit 3–4 sequences, which can include further sequences from the English group.

The Victorian Tertiary Admissions Centre (VTAC) advises that satisfactory completion of a scored Unit 3–4 sequence from the English group of studies is required for the calculation of a student’s ATAR.

VCE VM requirements

The minimum VCE VM requirement is satisfactory completion of 16 units, which must include:

• three VCE VM Literacy or VCE English units (including a Unit 3–4 sequence)
• two VCE VM Numeracy or VCE Mathematics units
•  two VCE VM Work Related Skills units
• two VCE VM Personal Development Skills units
• a minimum of three additional Unit 3–4 sequences, which can include other VCE or VCE VET studies
• a minimum of 180 nominal hours of VET at Certificate II level or above.

Upon satisfactory completion of the VCE VM program, the student will receive the appellation of ‘Vocational Major’ on their VCE certificate. If a VCE VM student meets the requirements for satisfactory VCE completion, but not the requirements for the satisfactory completion of the VM appellation, the student will be awarded the VCE without an appellation.

Optimising student outcomes

A) Additional study workshops and seminars

The College compliments its curriculum offerings with linked workshops provided by Elevate Education to optimise student outcomes in Senior years.

C) Overseas Language Study Tours

Students studying Indonesian or Italian at VCE level are provided with the opportunity to access an in-country language tour in alternate years to further their aural and oral skills as well as their cultural understanding and awareness.