Senior Secondary Certificate Statistical Information 2020

Section 1: Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE)

Data source: 2020 data were extracted from the VCAA Assessment Processing System (APS) database at 4 January 2021 (Published).

If you have any concerns or comments, please contact the Data Analysis, Measurement and Reporting Unit on (03) 9032 1784.

Section 1

In Victoria there are two certificates of senior secondary education, they are the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) and the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL). This section covers the VCE, and information about VCAL is in Section 5 (Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning).

1. Victorian Certificate of Education

VCE completion is calculated on the basis of satisfactory completion of units. Refer to the VCE and VCAL Administrative Hand book for the regulations, which may be found on the VCAA website.

Table 1.1: VCE Participation and Completion, 2016 - 2020 ¹
Students	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Eligible to complete the VCE	50,840	52,058	51,999	50,292	51,162
Satisfactorily completed VCE	49,801	50,908	50,981	49,366	50,302
Percentage of VCE completions	98.0	97.8	98.0	98.2	98.3

Table 1.2: VCE Participation and Completion by Gender, 2020
Gender	Eligibles	Completions	% Completions
Female	27,355	26,986	98.7
Male	23,741	23,255	98.0
Gender X	66	61	92.4
All	51,162	50,302	98.3

The VCE (Baccalaureate) is an additional form of recognition for those students who choose to undertake the demands of studying both a higher level of mathematics and a language in their VCE program of study. Refer to the VCE and VCAL Administrative Handbook for the regulations, which may be found on the VCAA website.

Table 1.3: VCE Baccalaureate Awarded, 2016 - 2020 ²
	2016	2017	2018	2019	2020
Number of Students	3,808	3,939	4,052	3,755	3,763

2. Unit Enrolments and Completions

2.1 VCE Units

Table 2.1.1: VCE Unit Enrolments and Completions by Unit Level and Gender, 2020
(excluding credit gained through VET in Senior Secondary Schools)
	Units Enrolled				Units Satisfactorily Completed				% Satisfactorily Completed
Gender	Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4	Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4	Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4
Female	177,989	172,751	146,365	143,869	170,481	166,782	144,619	142,893	95.8	96.5	98.8	99.3
Male	160,430	155,801	125,310	122,894	151,048	148,120	123,178	121,498	94.2	95.1	98.3	98.9
Gender X	294	261	328	307	259	235	302	290	88.1	90	92.1	94.5
All	338,713	328,813	272,003	267,070	321,788	315,137	268,099	264,681	95	95.8	98.6	99.1
% Female	52.5	52.5	53.8	53.9	53	52.9	53.9	54
% Male	47.4	47.4	46.1	46	46.9	47	45.9	45.9
% Gender X	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1

Note that the participation of those students who withdrew during the year without an outcome recorded against their unit enrolments were removed from the dataset. Section 2 (Satisfactory Completion of VCE Units) provides more detailed information of unit participation and completions by study and sequence.

Table 2.1.2: VCE Units 1 - 4 Total Enrolments and Completions by Gender, 2020
(excluding credit gained through VET in Senior Secondary Schools)
Gender	Enrolments	Completions	% Completions
Female	640,974	624,775	97.5
Male	564,435	543,844	96.4
Gender X	1,190	1,086	91.3
All	1,206,599	1,169,705	96.9
% Female	53.1	53.4
% Male	46.8	46.5
% Gender X	0.1	0.1

There were a total of 1,206,599 VCE unit enrolments in 2020 of 96.9% were successfully completed. With the introduction of the Northern Hemisphere Timetable (NHT) there were 812 students from 18 home schools with total 3,419 unit enrolments at units 1-4 in 2019/2020. The vast majority of NHT students were based in China.

The female completion rate was 97.5% while the male completion rate was 96.4%. Females comprised 53.1% of the total unit enrolments while male comprised 46.8%. Females comprised 53.4% of the total unit completions while males comprised 46.5%.

2.2 VCE VET Units

Students gain credit toward VCE VET units by successfully completing a prescribed number of hours of Units of Competence.

Table 2.2: Equivalent VCE VET Unit Credits Gained Through
VET Units of Competence (UoC), 2020
Gender	Unit 1	Unit 2	Unit 3	Unit 4
Female	15,421	10,327	8,484	6,779
Male	20,350	14,013	9,978	8,263
Gender X	46	31	26	17
All	35,817	24,371	18,488	15,059
% Female	43.1	42.4	45.9	45.0
% Male	56.8	57.5	54.0	54.9
% Gender X	0.1	0.1	0.1	0.1

3. Outcomes of VCE Graded Assessment 2020

Students undertaking Units 3 and 4 sequences will in most cases participate in Graded Assessment. Section 3 (Grade Distributions for Graded Assessments VCE) provides more detailed information on the outcomes for each study where Graded Assessment is available. All VCE studies have three Graded Assessments in each Unit 3-4 sequence, while the VCE VET programs with scored assessment have two Graded Assessments.

In summary, the most awarded grade in 2020 was B comprising 15.8% of the distribution. The median grade was a B, with 56.2% of grades at a B or higher. Table 3.1 shows the number of grades awarded (N), and the percentage awarded per grade. The table includes data for both the VCE Unit 3-4 sequences and the VCE VET scored programs.

Table 3.1: Aggregate Grade Distributions All Graded Assessments, 2020
(VCE Units 3 - 4 Sequences and VCE VET Scored Programs)
Grade	UG	E	E+	D	D+	C	C+	B	B+	A	A+	All
N	2,225	5,963	18,078	37,623	64,332	91,299	113,383	120,329	116,561	106,321	84,186	760,300
%	0.3	0.8	2.4	4.9	8.5	12.0	14.9	15.8	15.3	14.0	11.1	100.0

These figures are derived from VCAA information in January and include overseas students. Students who have successfully achieved their VCE in previous years but undertook further studies in the current year are included.
The number students that were awarded VCE Baccalaureate are also included in Table 1.1: VCE Participation and Completion, 2016 - 2020 and Table 1.2: VCE Participation and Completion by Gender, 2020.

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