New data has revealed that religion, science and mathematics are the subjects Victorian students are most likely to abandon as they transition from year 11 to year 12, with nearly 47,000 subject drop instances recorded across the state. However, there are emerging signs that fewer students are trading harder maths for an easier alternative — a shift educators are cautiously welcoming.
Figures from the Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority (VCAA) show that students who completed a unit 2 subject — typically studied in year 11 — did not go on to complete unit 4 on 47,040 occasions between 2025 and 2026. While it is standard practice for students to carry six subjects in year 11 and trim to five in year 12, the pattern of which subjects are cut offers a revealing window into student priorities, career ambitions and perceived difficulty.
Which VCE Subjects Are Students Dropping Most?
Religion and society tops the list by a significant margin. Enrolments fell by 9,216 students — an 87 per cent decline — between unit 2 and unit 4. A spokesperson for Melbourne Archdiocese Catholic Schools noted that many religious schools require students to study the subject in year 11, but that in year 12 students often fulfil this requirement through school-based programs that sit outside the formal Victorian Certificate of Education framework.
"This reflects the choices students commonly make across a range of VCE studies as they focus their academic efforts on subjects more directly aligned to their future career or educational pathway," the spokesperson said.
Behind religion and society, the drop-off in STEM subjects is attracting the most concern among educators and industry groups. Biology saw 2,888 fewer students continue to unit 4, chemistry recorded a drop of 2,784, and mathematical methods — a subject involving more abstract problem-solving — shed 2,762 enrolments between year 11 and year 12.
A Slow but Encouraging Shift in Maths Enrolments
Despite the overall drop numbers, there is a measurable improvement in how many students are sticking with higher-level mathematics. In 2021, 18 per cent of students enrolled in maths methods switched to the more accessible general mathematics stream by year 12. By last year, that figure had fallen to 13.9 per cent — a decline that has been consistent every year for the past five years, according to the VCAA.
"Victorian students are increasingly choosing to stick with higher-level maths, with the proportion moving from mathematical methods to general mathematics falling every year for the past five years," a VCAA spokesperson said.
Sion Binoy, a 17-year-old student at Viewbank College in Melbourne's north-east, was among those who made the switch to general maths this year. He said maths methods had consumed so much of his time that it was affecting his performance in other subjects.
"Most people do pretty well as long as they do the work in class," he said of general maths. "It's not quite as big of a time commitment as some of the other math subjects."
Binoy said he still valued maths for its objectivity. "If you didn't get the mark, it's not because of the teacher's preference or anything like that, it's just because you got it wrong. And there's a simple path to getting better — it's just doing more questions."
Industry Warns of Broader STEM Pipeline Problem
Beyond Victoria, engineers and industry advocates are sounding alarms about a national trend of students opting out of maths entirely. Bernadette Foley, group executive for professional standards at Engineers Australia, said the scale of the problem was significant.
"Around one in three students now complete senior secondary school without studying any maths. That closes doors before many students have had the chance to discover where those pathways could lead," Foley said.
She cautioned that simply increasing university prerequisite requirements was not the most effective solution. Instead, she argued, the focus should shift to changing the perception that STEM subjects are inherently difficult — and highlighting the real-world impact careers in healthcare, environmental science and technology can have.
"Many students are far more capable than they realise," Foley said, adding that reframing STEM around opportunity rather than difficulty could help reverse the trend. Debates around student engagement and classroom culture have similarly highlighted the challenge of keeping young Australians motivated throughout their senior schooling years.
