Wednesday, 22 March 2023

Ministers statements: vocational education and training

Natalie HUTCHINS (Sydenham – Minister for Education, Minister for Women) (14:36): I rise to update the house on this government’s generational change to our senior secondary schooling with the introduction of One VCE across our school system. As the Minister for Education I am very proud to see this reform come into place to recognise and value differences in our students and to give them pathways to better futures. As of day one, term one this year, students have more educational choices and a better quality curriculum to access better workplace experiences while they are still at school.

Just recently I had the honour of visiting Box Hill secondary college with the Premier and the member for Box Hill to see some of these subjects in action. This year all secondary schools are delivering One VCE, but there are 25 secondary schools just like Box Hill that are delivering high-quality vocational training through the new Victorian Pathways Certificate that once were not doing that. They did not have those options there. Every day in Victoria we are now offering vocational options to young people through this government’s rollout of the One VCE. We will continue to prepare our students to step into the demand jobs that we know are there and continue to deliver new and exciting subjects like the new clean energy subject as well as the 10,000 work experience places that we will be rolling out next year. This government has an ambitious plan for Victoria, and the vocational major is a major part of that, delivering in early childhood, delivering in health, delivering in engineering and delivering in agriculture. The One VCE is a game changer, ensuring every student can get the skills they need to get the jobs that they want.