Education in Victoria
[2] A student is free to leave school on turning seventeen, which is prior to completing secondary education.
In recent years over three-quarters of students are reported to be staying on until they are eighteen[citation needed], at the end of the secondary school level.
[4] Independent schools, both religious and secular, charge fees, which are subsidised by the Federal and State governments.
Richard Heales, a short-lived Premier of Victoria, was an opponent of the clause, and favoured a unified secular education system.
In 1862 Heales (no longer the Premier) introduced a bill in Parliament to create a single Board of Education to rationalise the colony's school system, which was passed with broad support.
In 1872, following growing dissatisfaction with State funding of religious schools and the burgeoning cost of funding and administering a dual school system, the government introduced free, compulsory and secular education, establishing the first Education Department.
[7] From 1979 to 1982 the Hamer Liberal government initiated and implemented the most significant and far-reaching reorganisation of the Victorian Education Department in the 20th century.
[11] Together they made a formidable team in the pursuit of their mission to reform the administration of the centralised and inefficient department.
[4] The Government legislated – at the end of 1981 – to scrap the teaching divisions (Primary, Secondary and Technical) and to remove the statutory bodies (The Committee of Classifiers and the Teachers' Tribunal).
The first exposure many Australian children have to learn with others outside of traditional parenting is day care or a parent-run playgroup.
[16] Between Prep and Year 9 the Victorian Curriculum[17] framework and Achievement Improvement Monitor (AIM) certificates apply.
Students in Years 10 to 12, whether in government or non-government schools, normally are assessed for the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE).
Years 10, 11 and 12 students may study under the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) or International Baccalaureate programs in place of the VCE.
They do not charge compulsory fees, with the majority of their costs being met by the government, and the rest by voluntary levies and by fund raising.
The remainder are open schools which accept all students from the government-defined catchment areas, although some are single sex.
Although non-tertiary public education is free, 36% of students attended a non-government primary or secondary school as of 2006.
[22] The classification of tertiary qualifications in Victoria is governed in part by the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), which attempts to integrate into a single national classification all levels of tertiary education (both vocational and higher education), from trade certificates to higher doctorates.
They include: In size these RTOs vary from single-person operations delivering training and assessment in a narrow specialisation, to large organisations offering a wide range of programs.
Vocational education and training (VET) VET programs delivered by TAFE Institutes and private RTOs are based on nationally registered qualifications, derived from either endorsed sets of competency standards known as Training Packages, or from courses accredited by state/territory government authorities.
All trainers and assessors delivering VET programs are required to hold a qualification known as the Certificate IV in Training and Assessment (TAE40110) or demonstrate equivalent competency.
Learn Local organisations deliver a broad range of education and training in community settings.
To be part of the Learn Local network and deliver pre-accredited training, an organisation must be registered with the Adult, Community and Further Education (ACFE) Board.
Pre-accredited training programs are designed to help learners gain the confidence and skills needed to seek employment and further education opportunities.
Other options include business, computers, human services, languages, wellbeing, fitness and literacy.
[26] CAE's objective is to deliver courses designed to help adults complete their secondary education and begin or change their career direction.
AMES Australia provides initial settlement support, English language and literacy tuition, vocational training and employment services to migrants, refugees and asylum seekers living in Victoria, and employment services in Western Sydney.
