The vocational fate of government secondary schools

In the mid-1980s the Victorian Government abolished the technical school system in order to erase class divisions between government high schools and technical schools. High schools then became de facto comprehensives, in principle dedicated to equality of opportunity for all. In fact, subsequent policies and growing competition from independent schools have forced government secondary schools to specialise. For most, the only feasible path has been to offer more technical and vocational subjects, for example the new Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL). Consequently, academically-inclined students at many government schools are now less favourably placed to compete for declining numbers of university places than before. A two-tier secondary school system has evolved in Victoria, though this time with less student choice than in the one that it replaced.