Henderson encouraged students to start a business or a side hustle, and said they didn’t need to wait to have a degree, or five years’ experience to have a go.
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“It’s absolutely OK not to perfect the first time around with your first business … [it] may not end up being your career, but it’s a great learning experience,” he said.
“We’re encouraging students to branch out, take calculated risks, find out what legal requirements are needed for young people to start a business, and we look at entrepreneurs who have done it.”
One of the younger students in Tintern’s business management had successfully started his own tailoring business, Henderson said.
“We’re equipping students to follow their passions with the business skills they might need to turn that into reality,” he said.
But there is a downside with the popular subjects, Henderson said.
‘We’re equipping students to follow their passions with the business skills they might need to turn that into reality.’
James Henderson, business management teacher
“With such a huge amount of competition … it means it is more difficult to stand out during assessment, particularly the exam,” he said.
To counter that, students focused on what they could do to stand out, such as using the correct terminology and being creative, within the exam’s guidelines.
Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals president Colin Axup.Credit: Joe Armao
Other subjects which have become more popular with VCE students include heath and human development, which has increased nearly 10 per cent in enrolment numbers. It was the fifth-most popular subject in 2024, and sixth-most popular in 2021.
Physical education also jumped a place, as 11,454 young people studied it for VCE last year, compared to 10,260 in 2021.
However, some subjects have declined in student enrolments between 2021 and 2024, among them maths methods, biology and chemistry.
Many students look to their university prerequisites when making their decision on what subjects to study, according to the Victorian Association of State Secondary Principals.
Another factor was whether the subject was something a student was interested in, association president Colin Axup said.
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“The third factor is whether the subject would take a student down a pathway they were interested it,” he said.
Axup was surprised there was a drop in maths methods enrolments, but said it was not a concern so long as there was not a significant decrease.
Mellita Jones, an education academic with the Australian Catholic University, said teachers were well aware of the drop in students studying science subjects at senior level.
“We’re not engaging students in science learning that is relevant to them,” said Jones, a former science teacher.
Students who don’t have a positive experience of a subject when it is compulsory in earlier years were unlikely to choose it as an elective, Jones said.
There were also too many teachers who weren’t subject experts in the field, which created a “vicious spiral” where students disengaged.
“That then means we’re not attracting teachers who have science background knowledge, and then ultimately we have a shortage of teachers who can teach these subjects,” she said.
It was critical to make the curriculum relevant for younger students, Jones said, and include issues that were relevant, such as climate change.
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With 116 subjects, Victoria has one of the largest offerings in the country for its VCE students.
The state’s exam board said its broad subject choice opened pathways to university, TAFE or vocational and educational training courses as well as traineeships, apprenticeships and direct employment.
“Students are encouraged to choose VCE subjects that suit their individual interests and abilities, and the opportunities these can lead to after finishing school,” an authority spokesperson said.
There was also strong growth in the VCE vocational major, with completions doubling from 6500 in 2023 to 11,000 eligible students this year.
