June 8, 2026 by Doug McCurry from BooBook Education
Is the performance on the GAT strong or are the VCE standards low?
It was claimed that the extension of the GAT to be a literacy and numeracy assessment in 2022 would have the significant benefit of giving the new Vocational Major (VM) course a degree of assessment rigor that contrasted with the Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning that the VM superseded. But the laudable intention of adding some assessment rigor to a vocational pathway in the VCE was subverted by the decision about how to report the results of the GAT literacy and numeracy assessment for VM students.
Unlike VCE students who do both parts of the GAT and receive standardised scores for each component like other VCE studies, VM students are only judged and reported to be either not meeting the standards (about 5 or 6%), meeting the standards (80+%) or exceeding the standards (about 12%). 80+ percent of all VCE students are given no more assessment of their literacy and numeracy than that they meet the standard. No distinction is made in the reporting of this assessment between a student on the 79th percentile and a student on the 13th percentile, and these are very different levels of performance. The VM students have slim chances in the competition with VCE students to get into the 12% judged to be exceeding the standards. It is also likely that substantially more than 80+ percent of VM student are given no more assessment of their literacy and numeracy other than that they meet the standard. For this VM assessment it should be clear that meeting the standard actually means something significant.
All the GAT assessment really means for VM students is that they have to make sure they are not in the 5 or 6 percent who do not meet the standard. Such an assessment offers little incentive because it has little value.
We can’t know whether 5 or 6% not meeting the standards is because of strong performance in general or low standards, but it is clear that the addition of the literacy and numeracy assessment to VM has added very little rigour to the new course or incentive for VM students to improve their literacy and numeracy so as to get a worthwhile assessment of their skills. As a result the VM is in danger of going the way of its predecessor and to be held in low esteem because of what is called, technically, a ‘Mickey Mouse assessment’.
The relationship between Literacy and Numeracy Standards in Years 9 and 12
The most recent VCE group doing the GAT of 2025 had 93.8% for numeracy, 95.1% for reading and 98.5% for writing meeting the Victorian standards. The same students had between 5% and 8% below the National Minimum Standards in the NAPLAN Year 9 tests in 2022. On the face of it these students did very well in 2022 and in 2025.
But the situation for the students of 2026 is different.
The NAPLAN standards were changed by state and federal education ministers in 2022. When the Year 12 students of 2026 did NAPLAN Year 9 in 2023 around 33–35% were below the new proficiency benchmark (with around 23% ‘Developing’ plus about 10% ‘Needs Additional Support’).
One wonders whether the introduction of higher NAPLAN standards in Year 9 has had an impact on the VCE students of 2026, and whether they will exceed the performance the VCE students of 2025 on the Victorian Literacy and Numeracy Standards.
Is the performance of VCE students on the GAT strong or are the standards low?
While we cannot know whether the Victorian standards are high, medium or low (there are no published examples of levels or even of report on performance in the tests), but it is clear that the undiscriminating reporting of performance on the GAT tests will not be a motivating factor for VM students.
Students doing VM should be able to have their literacy and numeracy skills assessed with some degree of accuracy, as is the case with VCE students. There should be at least three levels (rather than one) above the minimum standard which would make a total of five levels.
A useful assessment for VM students?
The most desirable outcome for VM students would for them to be assessed if they choose with a standardised score out of fifty like that is given to VCE students. The standardised score for GAT literacy and numeracy would mean that there a real rigour to the VM assessment and that would give VM students a precise, meaningful and useful assessment of their skills. Such an assessment could be a significant assistance in application of higher education as well as for employment.
VM students should do the whole GAT
Given that the current inadequacies of the VM assessment, VM students can still obtain a precise, meaningful and useful assessment simply by doing one VCE study. If they do a VCE study VM students will be able to do both parts of the GAT, and they will then be given the standardised assessments given to VCE students. Doing one VCE study will not give VM students an ATAR, but it will give them a precise and meaningful score that can be used to apply for admission to higher education if they wish.
As it stands the VM assessment is of little use in transition from school to work or further education.
