In this study Year 12 teachers were surveyed to determine whether they believed the educational needs of their Year 12 students were better served by the earlier public policy of multiple Year 12 courses, or by the current policy of a common course and certificate for all Year 12 students in Victoria. The study was based on the experience of eighteen teachers in three schools which had developed strong alternative Year 12 courses in the 1980s. An attempt is not made in this thesis to construct public policy, but rather to offer a critique of policy formation which appears to have been largely separated from socially responsive policy development at the school level. The Year 12 teachers surveyed in this study believed that the final form of the Victorian Certificate of Education, settled under the influence of social functionalism, individualism and expertism, has failed to enhance motivation, commitment or competence in either themselves or their students.