Many VCE students woke up on Tuesday anxiously awaiting an offer for tertiary education in 2018. I felt it was timely to share with you the journey my son had to take after completing year 12 in 2016 and finally enrolling in his chosen course.

A strong maths and science student, he worked hard during his VCE to achieve good results and secure a place in a computer science degree. The end result of his labours was high scores in all subjects except one, English.

Despite achieving a pass in Unit 3 and 4 English and having the prerequisite ATAR for entrance to the degree, his English score of less than 25 excluded him from most of the universities in Melbourne. At best he would have to enrol into a course that did not require a minimum English study score and after a year of HECS debt, transfer to his chosen course.

We were disappointed that the work and effort he had put into his final VCE year left him no better off than if he had scraped through.