Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (Senior)

VCAL offers you a pathway into apprenticeships, traineeships or further study. At an senior level, you will gain interpersonal skills and confidence in completing tasks that require leadership and decision making. You will develop:

• literacy and numeracy skills
• work related skills
• industry specific skills
• personal and employability skills
• skills for further education.

VCE and VCAL are delivered under the authority of the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority (VRQA). Find out about our registration and compliance with VRQA standards for the provision of secondary education.

The course structure has been chosen from the following core and elective units. These electives have been selected based on industry needs, graduate pathways and/or student and teacher feedback.

To be awarded the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) (Senior), a student must successfully complete a learning program that contains a minimum of ten (10) credits and includes:

• curriculum components to the value of at least one (1) credit, each of which can be justified against the purpose statement for each of the four (4) VCAL curriculum strands;
• a minimum of two (2) VCAL units;
• one (1) credit for Numeracy, and;
• curriculum components to the value of six (6) credits at the level of the VCAL award (or above), of which one (1) must be for Literacy Skills unit and one (1) for a Personal Development Skills unit. However, credits classified at Foundation Level (VCAL Foundation units, and VET and FE units at Level 1 cannot contribute to Senior Level.

Note: 1 credit = one (1) VCAL Intermediate or Senior Skills Unit or one (1) Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) Unit or a total of ninety (90) nominal hours of completed unit/s of competency/modules from a certificate II or higher qualification.

VCAL Curriculum StrandsEach VCAL award level contains four curriculum strands:

1. Literacy and Numeracy Skills Strand
To satisfy the requirements of the VCAL Literacy and Numeracy Skills Strand, students must successfully attain one (1) credit for Literacy and one (1) credit for Numeracy. The Literacy unit must be at the award level or a VCE unit from Units 3 and 4 or selected FE units at Certificate III level. The Numeracy unit must at Intermediate or Senior level.

2. Personal Development Skills Strand
Students must successfully complete a minimum of one (1) credit from the VCAL Personal Development Skills Strand at the award level.

3. Work Related Skills Strand
Students must successfully complete a minimum of one (1) credit from the VCAL Work Related Skills Strand. Curriculum selected from this strand can include: VCAL Work Related Skills units at Intermediate or Senior level, VCE units at Certificate II or above, VCE/VET units, selected accredited FE modules or certificates or nationally accredited VET modules/units of competencies.

4. Industry Specific Skills Strand
Students must successfully complete a minimum of one (1) credit in the Industry Specific Skills Strand to meet the minimum VCAL course requirements. One (1) credit will be given for the successful completion of accredited vocational education and training units of competency/modules that total ninety (90) nominal hours. VET units must be at Certificate II or higher. Note - the industry specific skills strand requirement is met through enrolment into a vocational qualification and successful completion of the required credits.