Senior Secondary Certificates

In Australia, a senior secondary certificate of education (SSCE) provides a student with a solid foundation for transition to a range of post-secondary schooling pathways, including work, further study and participation in civic life. SSCEs are developed and administered by the states and territories as part of a cohesive Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF), and draw on the shared principles of the Australasian Curriculum, Assessment and Certification Authorities (ACACA) to offer quality curriculum, assessment and certification to the diverse learners that they serve. This combination of reliability and responsiveness means that Australian SSCEs are recognised as rigorous, fair, flexible and contemporary qualifications.

The AQF, which incorporates school, vocational education and training (VET) and higher education sectors, guarantees the integrity of the SSCEs by setting out the specifications which must be met for recognition. As a fundamental qualification within the AQF, SSCEs certify a quality and quantity of learning that is rigorously quality assured, and provide an equitable and transparent measure of what a student knows and can do. Student achievements are recognised through the application of fair, accurate, valid and reliable assessment of learning and clear, comprehensive and useful reporting. As such, the qualification is trusted as comparable across jurisdictions.

To ensure the design of each jurisdiction’s SSCE reflects the high standards expected by communities and to meet the unique learning and development needs of all their students, ACACA agencies facilitate broad stakeholder engagement, balance competing views and respond to contemporary values and expectations. In so doing, communities can be confident that the SSCEs provide and support a flexible range of levels and pathways for students to choose from when developing their individual programs of study. This includes pathways to work, apprenticeships, traineeships, vocational study, tertiary study or a combination of these, and takes into account students’ individual abilities, aspirations, achievements, interests and challenges. This high degree of flexibility is a common characteristic applied in different ways at the jurisdiction level to ensure appropriate and inclusive programs for whole cohorts of students.

In exercising the responsibilities of their jurisdiction within a national framework, ACACA agencies also share and consider innovative solutions to national and local challenges in regular reviews of the SSCEs. As a result, jurisdictions are able to offer dynamic and clearly defined SSCE options informed by the changes facing communities, industries and professions. This equally cooperative and targeted approach is informed by local contexts and nationally common themes that take into account social, cultural, economic, technological and environmental factors. Importantly, it also embraces the unique perspectives and interests of First Nations peoples that are critical in shaping our shared futures and outcomes.

ACACA recognises that the community’s continued high confidence in SSCEs relies on the additional delivery of key recommendations made in the Review of Senior Secondary Schooling: Looking to the Future (2020), which includes developing a common understanding, scope and application of digital literacy across senior curriculum and an agreed set of capabilities to equip students with essential life attributes, such as literacy, numeracy, employability skills, creative and entrepreneurial capabilities, financial literacy, interpersonal skills and civic understanding.

Australian SSCEs are well placed to respond to the emerging needs specific to senior education while continuing to provide high-quality options to meet the broad needs of a diverse nation of students. ACACA agencies are committed to providing a trusted qualification that values students’ experiences and perspectives while setting standards that they and the community can trust will ensure learning, growth and achievement to prepare all students for their next phase of life.

VET in the Senior Secondary Certificates of Education (SSCE)

The Curriculum, Assessment and Certification Authority in each state or territory recognises Vocational Education and Training (VET) in the context of its own Senior Secondary Certificate of Education. Students can undertake VET as part of a Senior Secondary Certificate and its completion by the student provides credit towards both a recognised VET qualification and a senior secondary school certificate within the Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF).

The national Framework for vocational learning and VET delivered to secondary students is outlined in the Australian Government’s Preparing Secondary Students for Work Framework. See the Preparing Secondary Students for Work website for further details and associated resources.

The recognition arrangements for VET in each Australian SSCE are detailed in the ACACA VET Reports.

For key ACACA papers on VET in Senior Secondary Certificates see VET in SSCEs – VET Discussion and Position Papers.