Victorian Aspiring Principal Assessment (VAPA) Application Guide
Submitting a sample of practice
The Victorian Aspiring Principal Assessment (VAPA) asks applicants to submit a sample of practice.
This task provides a meaningful professional development experience for anyone aspiring to school leadership, regardless of their career stage. The sample of practice is used to evidence your readiness to proceed to the VAPA or to identify if you need to undertake further learning and development.
The sample of practice has two elements:
- a biography (300 words maximum)
- written narratives against five selected performance indicators of the VAPA professional practice areas (PPA) framework.
The sample of practice is submitted via the My Academy platform.
Biography
Your biography should detail your current role and include a brief outline of your career. It should be no more than 300 words.
Your biography will help the VAPA team understand who you are, what you are currently doing, and the context in which you work. Your biography, example in figure, should include the key positions (including dates) you have held throughout your career. For those with a long career in education, your most recent school and leadership experience should be the focus.
Figure 1: Example of a biography
I am currently the Assistant Principal of a medium-sized suburban secondary school. I have been in this role for three years after gaining experience in the same role at a small inner suburban secondary school. My main role is to oversee curriculum and pedagogy, and to work with team leaders to measure the impact of instruction. I have recently undertaken a role in the University of Melbourne Network of Schools program to devise methods for tracking measurement growth for every student in a school. Additionally, I liaise with student teams to review the school’s teaching and learning programs using methods that include student voice in the school improvement process.
- 2026: University of Melbourne Network of Schools Success Coordinator – implemented a network-focused approach to schoolwide improvement
- 2026: Assistant Principal (ongoing) – medium-sized suburban school with two assistant principals
- 2025: Completed Master of Instructional Leadership, University of Melbourne
- 2024–25: Assistant Principal – small inner suburban school with 250 students
- 2022–23: Leading Teacher – supervised 15 faculty members with a focus on implementing a school-wide collaborative team approach to school improvement initiatives (structural change to system)
- 2020–21: Head of Department – supervised eight faculty members of the math department to implement a peer observation program
- 2012–14: Year Level Coordinator (Year 8) – liaised with six pastoral care leaders and the administration team to manage the communication of schoolwide goals for students’ pastoral care
- 2005–2011: Math teacher – taught Years 7–10 mathematics
Narratives
You are asked to provide written narratives against five performance indicators from the VAPA PPA framework. These narratives should be concise, self-reflective examples that follow the Situation-Action-Result (SAR) method to show evidence of your current competence. Each narrative should be no more than 300 words per performance indicator.
You should annotate each of the five performance indicators below:
- 1.1 Creates a positive learning culture of challenge and support dedicated to improving student learning outcomes
- 1.2 Acts on evidence/data related to teaching and learning
- 3.1 Thinks strategically when leading improvement
- 4.4 Optimises resources (e.g., physical, financial, and human)
- 5.4 Connects with community.
Table 1 outlines the SAR method, the word count for each section and some prompts and questions you should be asking yourself to help you write your narratives. You may be familiar with SAR from applying for teaching and leadership positions. The SAR method provides a succinct framework for your narratives and aligns with Principal Selection Panels interview techniques.
Table 2 provides an example of the SAR method applied to the VAPA Framework Performance Indicator 1.5.
We recommend you write in prose (rather than dot points) to support writing a compelling narrative of your first-hand experience revealing the core issues you faced and the steps you took to resolve them. Please review your narratives for consistency and flow.
| SAR | Description | Key prompts and questions |
|---|---|---|
| Situation |
The situation you were faced with – be sure to describe where and when the situation took place. (max. 100 words) |
|
| Action |
The action(s) you took to address the situation – describe what you did and (importantly) how you did it. (max. 100 words) |
|
| Result |
The result of your actions – describe what result or impact your action had on the situation. (max. 100 words) |
|
|
Performance indicator 1.5 Please provide an example of a time when you developed a documented curriculum plan. Levels of Proficiency for 1.5: |
|---|
|
What was the situation that you were faced with? Before my appointment, the College had started a two-year curriculum design journey with an external consultant. This was also in response to the school review, that highlighted from a range of data sources that the curriculum was not meeting the needs of our teachers and students. When I commenced at the College, there was still confusion among staff and little consistently documented curriculum. Teachers had completed work on documenting the Victorian Curriculum (VC), but we needed to be ready for the Victorian Curriculum 2.0 (VC2.0), which was more significant for some learning areas than others. Words: 95 (max. 100 words) |
|
What action did you take to address the situation? To address this situation, I collaborated with Leading Teachers and undertook professional development (PD) relating to the VC2.0 to form a clear understanding of where the College needed to be for compliance and best practice. I organised VC2.0 PD sessions for key learning area teams and led discussions to collaboratively reach decisions on templates (e.g., Unit Plan). I led staff PD to show how teachers could use existing work and not have to start again. I clearly communicated expectations for consistency of the documentation and assessment, as well as storage/publication, culminating in a viable documented curriculum for the College. Words: 99 (max. 100 words) |
|
What was the result of your action? As a result, the College curriculum I developed is based on the VC2.0, with documented and published scope and sequence, unit plans, common assessment tasks and assessment rubrics using a consistent assessment scale. Our most recent staff opinion survey results show an increase in teachers’ understanding of the curriculum. PLCs have commenced using the assessment tasks and rubrics, and data collection demonstrates shifts in cohort learning outcomes on assessment tasks and VC2.0 teacher judgments. We are now focusing on the quality of the assessment rubrics and preparing for a review of our assessment scale. Words: 94 (max. 100 words) |
Rules of evidence
To assure the integrity of the VAPA, your evidence must be valid, current, sufficient and authentic.
In the VAPA Portfolio template, when submitting your sample of practice, you are asked to declare that the information you have provided is true and accurate, and that you understand that providing false or misleading information is grounds for exclusion from the VAPA.
Next steps
Within two weeks of submitting your sample of practice you will be notified of the outcome of your application.
If you are recommended to proceed you will receive a formal offer of place in the VAPA. If you accept your offer of place, you will be assigned a Lead Assessor who will contact you to onboard you.
If you are not recommended to proceed, a Principal-in-Residence will be in contact to discuss the most appropriate next steps for you at the current stage in your career.
