Further the curriculum redesign needed to accommodate students' Year 10 and Year 12 entry levels - Year 10 because it was a level consistent with the College's open entry policy and Year 12 because of the guidelines relating to the entry levels suggested by the new nomenclature. Entry level based on secondary school certificates were seen, however, to give little indication of a student's capacity to cope with the course. A survey of users of basic skills courses at Bruce TAFE College indicated that seventy percent of users were Year 12 school leavers. Each level was related to vocational outcomes rather than a sequence of study or a set duration of a course such as is often used to compare courses in our institution with courses in another. In an internal memorandum the Curriculum Department at Bruce described the levels in the following way.
Subject material is largely analytical in nature.
This level includes subjects which provide standard application of vocational knowledge and skills. This level includes introductory vocational subjects. This level includes 'basic skills' required for entry into a selected program, and which advance the student to a minimum academic level consistent with program achievement expectations. Achievements in Level 1 subjects will qualify the student for subsequent levels but need not have specific vocational outcomes. The Curriculum Department at Bruce argued that the levels approach provided flexible entry levels and multiple exit points aligned with the needs and demands of industry.