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VCAA Bulletin
No.85 – February 2023

VCE curriculum

Accreditation periods for VCE studies effective 1 January 2023

The following accreditation periods for VCE studies have been approved by the VCAA Board and accredited by the Victorian Registration and Qualifications Authority.

Accreditation period expires December 2023

  • Australian and Global Politics
  • Chemistry (Units 3 and 4)
  • English Language
  • English and English as an Additional Language (Units 3 and 4)
  • Languages Collaborative Curriculum and Assessment Framework for Languages (CCAFL) – Units 1 and 2: Armenian, Auslan, Bengali, Bosnian, Chin Hakha, Croatian, Dutch, Filipino, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Karen, Khmer, Macedonian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Swedish, Tamil, Turkish, Yiddish
  • Legal Studies
  • Media
  • Outdoor and Environmental Studies
  • Physics (Units 3 and 4)
  • Product Design and Technology
  • Sociology
  • Visual Communication Design

Accreditation period expires December 2024

  • Accounting
  • Applied Computing
  • Classical Studies
  • Drama
  • Extended Investigation
  • Health and Human Development
  • Languages CCAFL – Units 3 and 4: Armenian, Auslan, Bosnian, Chin Hakha, Croatian, Dutch, Filipino, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Karen, Khmer, Macedonian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Punjabi, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Sinhala, Swedish, Tamil, Turkish, Yiddish
  • Philosophy
  • Physical Education
  • Theatre Studies

Accreditation period expires December 2025

  • Agricultural and Horticultural Studies
  • Dance
  • Foundation English
  • Systems Engineering

Accreditation period expires December 2026

  • Algorithmics (HESS)
  • Biology
  • Bridging English as an Additional Language
  • Environmental Science
  • Geography
  • History
  • Industry and Enterprise
  • Languages: Chinese First Language, Classical Greek, Classical Hebrew, Indonesian First Language, Japanese First Language, Korean First Language, Latin, Vietnamese First Language

Accreditation period expires December 2027

  • Aboriginal Languages of Victoria
  • Art Creative Practice
  • Art Making and Exhibiting
  • Business Management
  • Chemistry
  • Chinese Language, Culture and Society
  • Economics
  • English and English as an Additional Language
  • Food Studies
  • Literature
  • Languages: Arabic, Chinese Second Language, Chinese Second Language Advanced, French, German, Greek, Indonesian Second Language, Italian, Japanese Second Language, Korean Second Language, Spanish, Vietnamese Second Language
  • Mathematics: Foundation Mathematics, General Mathematics, Mathematical Methods, Specialist Mathematics
  • Music
  • Physics
  • Psychology
  • Religion and Society
  • Texts and Traditions

VCE study design wall chart

All schools will be sent a study design wall chart in Term 1. This chart provides VCE coordinators, teachers and librarians with a quick visual reference to the entire collection of accredited VCE study designs for 2023.

Each accredited study design is available from the relevant study pages. It is essential that teachers use the current accredited study design as the basis for all course development and assessment of VCE studies.

Reaccredited study designs

These VCE studies have revised study designs for implementation in 2023:

  • Aboriginal Languages of Victoria (formally known as Indigenous Languages of Victoria: Revival and Reclamation)
  • Algorithmics (HESS)
  • Art Creative Practice (formerly known as Art)
  • Art Making and Exhibiting (formerly known as Studio Arts)
  • Business Management
  • Chemistry (Units 1 and 2)
  • Chinese Language, Culture and Society
  • Economics
  • English and English as an Additional Language (Units 1 and 2)
  • Food Studies
  • Literature
  • Mathematics: Foundation Mathematics, General Mathematics, Mathematical Methods, Specialist Mathematics
  • Music
  • Physics (Units 1 and 2)
  • Psychology
  • Religion and Society
  • Texts and Traditions

Chemistry, English, English as an Additional Language and Physics have a staged implementation, with Units 1 and 2 to be implemented in 2023 and Units 3 and 4 to be implemented in 2024.

These VCE studies have revised study designs for implementation from 2024:

  • English Language
  • Legal Studies
  • Media
  • Outdoor and Environmental Studies
  • Politics (currently known as Australian and Global Politics)
  • Product Design and Technologies
  • Sociology
  • Visual Communication Design

Updated study designs are published online during Term 1 in the year before implementation on the relevant VCE study webpage. This is to assist teachers to prepare for the implementation of the reaccredited studies in 2024 and must not be used for the 2023 academic year.

We will provide details of professional learning implementation briefings later in Term 1.

2023 VCAA Consultation Register now open

Consultation is an important part of the review and accreditation process for VCE studies. Teachers and stakeholders are invited to participate by joining the VCAA Consultation Register for these VCE studies:

  • Accounting
  • Applied Computing
  • Classical Studies
  • Drama
  • Extended Investigation
  • Health and Human Development
  • Philosophy
  • Physical Education
  • Theatre Studies

Consultation registrants will receive email notification once the draft of the relevant VCE study design is available online and will be invited to respond via an online questionnaire. You will be given the option to receive email notification of the implementation briefings for the reaccredited studies in 2024.

Drafts of the listed study designs will be available for consideration throughout 2023. Each study or group of studies will have a 4-week consultation period. The draft study design and consultation questionnaire will be available on the relevant VCE study page.

Join VCAA Consultation Register

Administrative information for school-based assessment now available

Administrative information for school-based assessment is now available on the study pages for these VCE studies:

  • Algorithmics (HESS)
  • Applied Computing
  • Art
  • Media
  • Product Design and Technology
  • Studio Arts
  • Systems Engineering
  • Visual Communication Design

VCE prescribed lists

Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist updated

The 2023 VCE Drama and Theatre Studies Playlist is now available on the relevant study pages.

To allow for a variety of styles and forms to be accessed by students in case of further interruptions to theatres, the lists have again been formulated in a more flexible manner for 2023. Details are provided on the first page of the 2023 playlist.

Go to Drama

Go to Theatre Studies


Contact
Meg Upton
Performing Arts Curriculum Manager
tel.: (03) 7022 0074
email: Meg.Upton@education.vic.gov.au

VCE English and English as an Additional Language, and VCE Literature text lists

The 2024 VCE English and English as an Additional Language (EAL) and VCE Literature text lists are now available on the relevant study pages. The lists are to be used with these accredited study designs:

  • VCE English and EAL – Units 1 and 2: 2023–2027; Units 3 and 4: 2024–2027
  • VCE Literature – for accreditation period 2023–2027

Teachers should consider the lists in conjunction with the relevant text selection advice published on page 21 of the VCE English and EAL Study Design and page 17 of the VCE Literature Study Design.

Go to VCE English and English as an Additional Language (EAL)

Go to VCE Literature


Contact
Annelise Balsamo
English Curriculum Manager
tel.: (03) 9059 5141
email: Annelise.Balsamo@education.vic.gov.au

VCE Music Repertoire Performance

The 2023–2027 Prescribed List of Instruments and Works is now available for VCE Music Repertoire Performance. Students must perform 1 work from this list in their examination. The examination specifications are to be read in conjunction with the list.

For the majority of works, the cited editions are only recommended, and equivalent editions may be used without seeking VCAA approval. Where a work is a specific arrangement or a transcription, it will have been generally published only in the cited edition. It is the school’s responsibility to make sure students include a listed work in their program for Units 3 and 4.

Students may present for this study on any instrument for which there is an established repertoire of notated works. Where there is no list published for an instrument, students may apply to the VCAA to have the instrument approved, along with one specific work to be treated as ‘the prescribed work’ for the examination.

Applications close 1 March.

Go to VCE Music Repertoire Performance

See also Notice to schools 13/2023

Music Contemporary Performance

An authentication document for Music Contemporary Performance is required to be kept by the school as students prepare their reimagined version of an existing work. Follow the link to access the document.

Go to VCE Music Contemporary Performance examinations


Contact
Margaret Arnold
Performing Arts Curriculum Manager
tel.: (03) 9059 5140
email: Margaret.Arnold@education.vic.gov.au

Higher Education Studies in the VCE program

Information about the Higher Education Studies (HES) in the VCE Program for 2023, including a complete list of participating universities and studies offered, is now available.

Schools must finalise VCE enrolments for students interested in applying for a HES in the VCE by 2 May. A finalised school enrolment is required for universities to confirm a student’s eligibility for their HES course.

Schools are also responsible for making sure that students have met the pre- and co-requisite requirements for their selected HES.

Go to HES

VCE school-assessed tasks professional learning program

You are invited to join our school-assessed tasks (SATs) professional learning program for these VCE studies:

  • Algorithmics (HESS)
  • Applied Computing: Data Analytics
  • Applied Computing: Software Development
  • Art Creative Practice
  • Art Making and Exhibiting
  • Media
  • Product Design and Technology
  • Systems Engineering
  • Visual Communication Design

The program will provide teachers with a clear understanding of SAT delivery, including authentication, administration and how to apply assessment criteria and descriptors.

The structure of the program will be a series of on-demand videos and additional live webinars in Terms 1 and 2. The on-demand videos will be available on the relevant study page from 15 February.

The dates and times for the live webinars are:

  • 20 February, 3:45–5 pm – Product Design and Technology
  • 27 February, 3:45–5 pm – Systems Engineering
  • 28 February, 4–5:30 pm – Algorithmics (HESS)
  • 1 March, 4–5:30 pm – Applied Computing: Data Analytics
  • 2 March, 4–5:30 pm – Applied Computing - Software Development pm
  • 6 March, 4–6 pm – Art Creative Practice
  • 8 March, 4–6 pm – Art Making and Exhibiting
  • 9 March, 4–6 pm – Media
  • 15 March, 4–6 pm – Visual Communication Design

Register for live webinars

VCE briefings

We are offering an online professional development program for members of VCE leadership teams.

The program will give VCE school leaders, both new and experienced, an overview of current VCE matters and the opportunity to increase knowledge and skills that can be shared with their teaching teams. It will be delivered through a series of on-demand videos and live webinars.

The on-demand videos will cover information, skills and resources for leading and implementing the VCE in schools. The live webinars will provide additional support for VCE school leaders and answer your follow-up questions to the on-demand videos.

Details of the on-demand videos will be provided later in the term.

The dates and times for the live webinars are:

  • 21 February, 3:45–5 pm – Session 1 for experienced VCE coordinators
    Register
  • 23 February, 3:45–5 pm – Session 2 for new VCE coordinators
    Register

The content covered in both live webinars will be similar but will be targeted for the intended audience.

See also Notice to schools 12/2023


Contact
VCE Curriculum Unit
email: vcaa.vce.curriculum@education.vic.gov.au

Additional notices to schools

Amendment to VCE Algorithmics (HESS) Study Design 2023–2026

Go to Notice to schools 11/2023

VCE Art Creative Practice and VCE Art Making and Exhibiting school-based assessment 

Go to Notice to schools 10/2023

VCE Extended Investigation professional learning

Go to Notice to schools 9/2023

VCE Food Studies support materials

Got to Notice to schools 8/2023

On-demand videos for VCE Mathematics 

Go to Notice to schools 7/2023

Applying for permission to deliver the VCE in 2024

Go to Notice to schools 5/2023

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in the VCE

Go to Notice to schools 4/2023

VCE assessment

School-based assessment audit 2023

The 2023 school-based assessment audit will begin on 21 February. Schools will be notified of Unit 3 studies selected for audit through VASS on the morning of 21 February (go to School Program > VCE > School-based Assessment Audit).
Note the following dates:

  • 21 February – schools notified of studies being audited in Unit 3
  • 17 March – Unit 3 audit submissions due
  • 16 May – schools notified of Unit 3 audit submission outcomes
  • 2 June – Unit 3 further evidence due (if applicable)
  • 18 July – schools notified of Unit 3 further evidence outcomes and of studies being audited in Unit 4
  • 11 August – Unit 4 audit submissions due
  • 3 October – schools notified of Unit 4 audit submission outcomes
  • 20 October – Unit 4 further evidence due (if applicable)
  • 28 November – schools notified of Unit 4 further evidence outcomes

Contact
School-based Assessment Audit
tel.: (03) 9059 5166
email: school.assessment.vcaa@education.vic.gov.au

Analysing your school’s VCE results

You are invited to participate in our professional learning program about analysing your school’s VCE results. The program is for school staff responsible for the delivery of the VCE and who use the VCE Data Service and VCE External Assessment Results Service. You will learn about using the VCE assessment results to identify strengths and weaknesses in your school’s VCE performance.

The program is comprised of four modules. Please register for one session per module:

  • Study score and statistical moderation – 27 February, 7 March or 22 March
  • External assessments and indicative grades – 28 February, 6 March or 23 March
  • VCE Data Service and adjusted scores – 1 March, 16 March or 21 March
  • Student longitudinal progress – 2 March, 15 March or 20 March

Find out more and register


Contact
Data Analysis and Reporting Unit
email: research.vcaa@education.vic.gov.au

Additional notices to schools

On Track post-Year 12 destination data 2022

Go to Notice to schools 3/2023

Apply to be an EAL examination reviewer 

Go to Notice to schools 2/2023