The VCAL gives you practical work related experience as well as Literacy and Numeracy skills and the opportunity to build personal skills that are important for life and work. And like the VCE, it is a recognised qualification.
The VCE is widely used by students as a pathway to further studies at university or TAFE. Students who choose to do the VCAL are more likely to be interested in going on to training at TAFE, doing an apprenticeship, or getting a job after completing school. However if you start your VCAL and then decide the VCE is the right option for you after all, it won't be too late to change your mind.
Students timetables are structured to organise their study and work around these four Strands. This allows them ample time to complete the Personal Development Skills Strand, which involves projects determined by the student around their own areas of interest and related to understanding community and themselves.
The VCAL program at Swinburne SSC is designed to sit alongside the VCE to give students the opportunity to continue with their VCE after completing their VCAL. Subjects taken in three of the four VCAL Strands are credited as both VCAL and VCE units, so students can gain up to 8 units towards their VCE from Units 1 & 2, which would enable them to proceed to year 12.
The VCAL is made up of four Strands:
• Literacy and Numeracy Skills
• Work Related Skills
• Industry Specific Skills
• Personal Development Skills