MAITLAND HIGH SCHOOL - Millennium

Vocational Education and Training (VET) Courses
Vocational Education and Training (VET) courses are offered as part of the Higher School
Certificate. They enable students to study courses, which are relevant to industry needs and
have clear links to post-school destinations. These courses allow students to gain both Higher
School Certificate qualifications and accreditation with industry and the workplace as part of the
Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF). These courses each have a specific workplace
component and a minimum number of hours students spend in the workplace or a simulated
workplace. Students receive special documentation showing the competencies gained.
As these courses are dual-accredited, formal assessment has the dual purposes of reporting
achievement in the Higher School Certificate, and of providing evidence of AQF qualifications
and related Statements of Attainment.
The courses are assessed on a competency basis. The student’s performance is judged against
a prescribed standard. A participant is judged as competent or not yet competent, on the
basis of a variety of forms of evidence, linked to the requirements of the workplace.
A Higher School Certificate examination in the VET curriculum courses is available. Students
who wish to have their courses as counting towards university admission are required to
nominate during the HSC year to undertake the optional HSC examination. The exam will be
independent of the competency-based assessment during the course and have no impact on
student eligibility for AQF qualifications. However, it is essential that all students have the
experience in their preliminary courses of formal exams and assessment tasks, so that they can
make an informed decision about the optional HSC exam they can undertake in 2012. Similarly,
schools provide assessment marks to the Board of Studies partly to ensure that the appropriate
provision can be make for students who miss their HSC exams because of accident, illness or
misadventure.
An assessment outline for each of the following courses:
Construction
Hospitality
Metal and Engineering
Retail Services
Sports Coaching
will be issued by the relevant faculties.
All students must satisfy the log of skills identified in the course. These skills are documented in
the Student Log Book. Failure to be ‘marked off’ on skills may result in unsatisfactory completion
of the Preliminary Course and the withholding of the relevant AQF qualification / certification.
Individual course assessment schedules will be handed out to students and
signed off on in each specific course.
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Maitland High School 2011 Preliminary Assessment Booklet