The Victorian Certificate of Applied Education is a hands-on option for Years 11 and 12 students. The VCAL gives students practical work-related experience as well as literacy and numeracy skills and the opportunity to build personal skills that are important to life and work. Like the VCE, it is a recognised Senior qualification. Students who undertake VCAL are likely to be interested in going on to training at TAFE, doing an apprenticeship/traineeship, or entering the workforce after completing school

VCAL Intermediate is offered at Year 11 level. Students will undertake six units per semester. There is in-built flexibility in some aspects of the VCAL Intermediate course, as students undertake VET programs and/or VET Programs offered externally to Footscray City College.

For students undertaking the Intermediate VCAL wholly at school, the following will apply:

• VCE Foundation English
• VCE Foundation Maths
• VCAL Work Related skills Units 1 and 2
• VCAL Personal Development Skills Units 1 and 2
• A VET program offered by the college. Arrangements may be possible whereby a student undertakes an alternative VET program at another institution such as a TAFE Institute
• One further VCE study at Units 1 and 2
• A compulsory a day a week Work Placement in term 1, 2 and 3

The structure of the program will allow students to proceed into Senior VCAL the following year, and any VCE units completed will count towards the successful completion of the VCE.

If an employer is located and agrees, some aspects of the VCAL course can be done as a mixture of formal schooling and a School Based Traineeship. Applications for a School Based Traineeship must be made with the college’s VCAL and Pathways Coordinators.

All students who elect to undertake VCAL will be personally interviewed by the college VCAL Coordinator.