People seriously need to stop bashing the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning. Just because you're all a bunch of smartarses that can't comprehend that some people actually want to work towards a trade-based career path. That does not make them stupid people, or any less of a person than you are. In fact, you are the lesser person by taking your given talent for granted.
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VCAL is offered at my school and roughly a quarter of the year level (approximately 50 out of a year level of 200) decide to pursue this path. It offers Literacy, Numeracy and other VET subjects and it offers a more job-orientated experience, which is more suitable than VCE for some career paths. In years 11 and 12, a VCAL student attends two days of school, two days of TAFE and one day at a work placement. It is a fabulous way to gain genuine work skills and still receive a certificate of education.
A lot of employers now expect a certain level of education from their apprentices and very few Year 10 dropouts tend to gain apprenticeships. Most teenagers that receive an apprenticeship are either VCAL students or full-time TAFE students, these days.