Same with milander, I have had experience in three types of schools.
Government:This was where I got most of my education from prep to year 9. As said above, the academic environment is quite lack luster and wasn't very great.... I struggled as I was a high achiever, so I was made fun of alot for that along with people getting frustrated at me when they didn't get a higher mark. Really weird.. I also found it harder in class because of all the noise and disruption! Many kids were rude to the teacher, very loud, doing stuff that could damage property or hurt students. So for the 70 minute periods, the only teaching that went on happened for about 15 minutes with the rest of the time waiting for the class to settle down. This was in the inner eastern suburbs.
ChristianI was only there for a semester but it was generally a great school. Not only did they accept that I'm an atheist, but they also made many accommodations for me. The teachers were great, and the facilities were really nice and up to date. The only downside was some of the kids. They could be quite rude and flat out ignore you. Not all of course, with some people being really nice and friendly, but there were just some that could be really mean. I found that there was less disruption in the classroom so it made it an easier environment to learn in. This did not mean that it was really that high achieving, but it was just a better environment for learning if you wanted it. They had more extracurricular and alot of interesting excursions that the government schools just didn't have.
DECVI have a love hate relationship with distance ed. Sometimes it was really good other times, not so much. You are really held accountable for yourself to make sure you have your work in on time, and that you actively seek out help if you want it, otherwise you are not going to get any. No matter what kind of teacher you have this is always the case. Some teachers are really helpful when you seek them out, others don't respond for weeks or barely give you any help. Same goes with feedback, it is a very mixed bag depending on the teachers. Physics, methods and food studies had barely ANY feedback what so ever, where as chemistry, biology and english had great feedback. There is also a matter of how it is taught. Sometimes the courses are awful (like physics), with unhelpful videos, confusing descriptions of theories, and formulas given with no explanation for their use. Other times the courses are really in depth and have great graphics and worded content to explain stuff. This makes it kind of unreliable.. DECV really isn't academic as well, most people in the classes are either, an athlete, model, actress/dance, have a medical problem, are too rural so they can't access a school, mental health issue, or like most people on the forms doing a subject not offered at their normal school. However, it suits me very well in terms of my circumstances, and it allows me ALOT of flexibility.
Private > DECV > Public
This year I did 1/2 specialist maths and 1/2 physics through DECV (as my school offers neither) and did not have the best experience.
I did 1/2 physics this year as well via distance, and I would have to agree that it was one of the worse experiences I have ever had....