Homeschooling high school in Australia: senior years, certificates and university entry

Home education in the senior years is planned much like earlier years, though each state sets its own rules on how long registration continues, so check with your regulator. What changes is the end point. Rather than a school leaving certificate, your teen's program is often built around a goal: a TAFE course, an apprenticeship, a university pathway or work.

Queensland's home education unit says registered parents are responsible for designing their child's senior secondary pathway. That pathway can be an approved education or training program (which may include home education), paid employment, or a combination. Queensland also notes that registered home-educated students can take part in school-based apprenticeships and traineeships, TAFE at School and unpaid work experience, with conditions.

Start planning by Year 9 or 10. Work backwards from what your teen might want to do after school, and check entry requirements early.

Each state and territory has its own senior certificate: the HSC (NSW), VCE (Victoria), QCE (Queensland), WACE (Western Australia), SACE (South Australia), TCE (Tasmania), ACT Senior Secondary Certificate and NTCET (Northern Territory). These are generally earned through enrolment with a school or other registered provider, which can include a government distance education school. Home education on its own does not usually lead to them.

• NSW: NESA's rules allow some students to sit HSC exams by self-tuition, but self-tuition students are not awarded the HSC or RoSA. Eligibility criteria include NSW residency, citizenship status and academic requirements. The NSW home schooling guidelines also say it is up to an enrolling school to decide whether a child who completed Year 10 through home schooling can undertake the HSC.
• Victoria: The VRQA says students can only complete a senior secondary qualification such as the VCE if they enrol with a registered school or a registered non-school senior secondary provider, and that commercial entities are not authorised to deliver the VCE at home.
• Queensland: QCAA's QCE rules require at least one credit of learning to be accrued while enrolled at a Queensland school, and the department's home education FAQ says a home education program does not accrue credits towards the QCE.
• WA, SA, Tasmania, the ACT and the NT: check directly with the curriculum authority (SCSA, the SACE Board, TASC, the ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies or the NT Department of Education) and with your home education regulator about enrolment options, including distance education.

If your teen wants a senior certificate and an ATAR, the usual route is to enrol (often part-time or through distance education where eligible) for Years 11 and 12. Ask about eligibility well before Year 11, because enrolment can affect your home education registration.

The NSW home schooling registration guidelines include a section on recognising completion of Year 10 through home schooling. A parent can apply for a Certificate of Completion of Year 10, but it is optional and not required. Check the current guidelines for who issues the certificate and how to apply.

NSW also allows registered home-schooled students to complete the equivalent of Year 10 at TAFE NSW through a Certificate II or III course, if they are at least 15 and have completed Year 9. Written approval from a Department of Education authorised person and from TAFE is needed, and you should check course availability with TAFE first. Students aged at least 15 who have completed Year 9 can also apply to start a full-time apprenticeship or traineeship.

Most home-educated teens who go on to university or TAFE use one or more of these routes:

• TAFE and VET qualifications. Vocational certificates and diplomas lead directly to work, and some universities consider completed or partly completed qualifications for admission. Check each university's rules.
• Bridging and enabling programs. Many universities offer preparation programs for people without the usual entry qualifications. QTAC lists bridging and enabling pathways, and TISC describes pathways to university in Western Australia.
• The Skills for Tertiary Admissions Test (STAT). STAT is run by ACER for applicants without formal qualifications. Age rules are set by each admissions centre and institution: SATAC, for example, says applicants must be at least 18 by 1 February for courses starting in Semester 1 (or 1 July for mid-year), while VTAC says it is up to each institution whether STAT is required. UAC's information for the University of Newcastle names registered homeschooling as an example of non-traditional schooling for which STAT results will be considered.
• Mature-age and work and life experience entry. Older applicants can often apply on the basis of age, work and life experience. Age limits differ by institution, so check before relying on this route.
• Queensland Senior External Examination. QCAA runs a Senior External Examination for eligible people who are not enrolled at a Queensland secondary school, and UAC says it assesses Senior External Examination results. Eligibility and registration rules are set by QCAA, so check the current requirements.

Admissions centres treat home education as non-standard schooling. Each university still sets its own rules, so contact both the admissions centre and the university early.

• UAC (NSW and ACT): UAC lists homeschooling among non-standard Year 12 programs. For these, it asks for proof of completion of an accredited Year 12 program and results from the US SAT, and says proof of registration with a state authority is not proof of completion. It also suggests contacting institutions about how they will treat non-standard studies.
• QTAC (Queensland): QTAC asks current non-standard Year 12 students, including those learning through home schooling, to contact QTAC or the institution about how their education will be assessed.
• TISC (Western Australia): TISC lists homeschooling among non-standard schooling and asks these applicants to attach a statement giving full details of their upper secondary studies. Some universities have their own restrictions: TISC's information for the University of Notre Dame Australia says applicants who completed a home school curriculum are not eligible for its direct entry into undergraduate degrees.
• VTAC (Victoria) and SATAC (South Australia and the NT): check each institution's admission requirements for non-Year 12 applicants, and whether STAT or another pathway applies.

Whatever pathway your teen chooses, good records make applications easier. Admissions centres such as TISC ask non-standard applicants for a full statement of their upper secondary studies, so keep enough detail to write one.

• A list of subjects or courses studied each year, with the main texts and resources used
• Samples of written work, projects and assessments, with dates
• Certificates and results from any TAFE, VET, online or short courses
• Evidence of work experience, volunteering, sport, music or other achievements
• Copies of your registration and any regulator reports

A short summary for each year, written as you go, is far easier than reconstructing four years of study at application time.