The Victorian School of Languages is a government school committed to the provision of language programs for students in Years 1 to 12 who do not have access to the study of those languages in their mainstream schools. The school’s languages program is delivered through both face-to-face teaching in centres across the state and through distance education mode.

The VSL operates within government policies and priorities and is committed to assisting the Victorian school system meet the languages participation targets set by the government.

Students are drawn from the 3 school sectors. The VSL also caters for International Students and a small number of Adults. The school is the largest single VCE language provider with over 3,500 VCE students. For many languages of low candidature, the VSL is the only provider through to VCE level.

The VSL has a School Council which meets monthly and provides broadly based guidance and leadership to the school. It includes representatives form the Ethnic Communities Council, Independent and Catholic Schools as well as the Tertiary Sector.

Overall staffing arrangements and curriculum and administrative services are co-ordinated from the VSL Head Office where the Principal and Assistant Principals are situated. The senior administration comprises Principal Class and Area Managers (Leading Teachers). The Distance Education section is staffed by full time teachers and some casual staff and is housed at Head Office.

Generally the VSL provides classes for school age students at the same level as they are in at their regular school. However due to pressure of numbers some multi-level classes need to be organised, particularly in the smaller languages. The VSL has developed curriculum materials to suit such teaching needs and offers professional development to the teachers.

The majority of languages can be studied from primary level through to VCE.