students completed the Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) with offshore providers. Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) The Victorian Certificate of Applied Learning (VCAL) is a 'hands-on' option for students in Years 11 and 12 and is a credential awarded to secondary school students who successfully complete year 11 and 12 in Victoria, it is delivered under the VCAA. Students may work in a trade or part-time job on some days of the week and supplement this by doing a set course at school. In 2020, it was announced that the VCAL will be merged with VCE by 2023, before being wholly suspended in 2025. Education Minister James Merlino stated that a 'single VCE certificate would make it easier for students to get a range of skills, both academic and vocational.', with the suspension of VCAL also in response to the stigma that it is solely for non-academic students. National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) The VCAA also administers the National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) which provides an indication of the literacy and numeracy skills of students. Students in Victoria undertake the testing in Years 3, 5, 7 and 9. Extra-curricular Programs Plain English Speaking Award The VCAA administers the Plain English Speaking Award (PESA) annually. PESA is a public-speaking competition for students aged 15–18 years. It is designed to provide opportunities for students to build self-confidence and extend their skills in oral communication, speech writing and research. Controversies 2011 English exam In the 2011 English exam, students were required to analyse a column about tattoos, attributed to "part-time journalist and blogger Helen Day", who wrote for the fictional "Street Beat" blog. The Age newspaper accused VCAA of plagiarism as the column resembled an opinion piece featured in the newspaper's 23 September 2010 edition, written by Melbourne writer Helen Razer. Razer described VCAA's use of her piece as "misattributed" and stated that examiners had inserted poorly written "blog-speak" words she would never have used into the article. The VCAA apologised to Razer and declared a review of policies and processes on the use of recently published material in examinations. 2012 History:Revolutions exam In 2012, the History:Revolutions exam intended to include a picture of Nikolai Kochergin's artwork Storming the Winter Palace on 25th October 1917, as part of an image analysis question for the section on Russia. Instead, a doctored picture was used, in which a