'I was shocked by my 6yo's homework for the most unexpected reason'

A WA mum has slammed her daughter’s Year 1 homework as “sexist”, calling for it to be removed from the curriculum.

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August 26, 2024 - 12:02PM

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When Jenny’s daughter, Daisy, brings her Year 1 school work home, she is always excited to see what her six-year-old gets up to each day.

That is, until last month, when a seemingly innocent piece of paper in Daisy’s school bag gave the Busselton mum a very rude shock.

The reading activity Daisy had worked on in class that day and was planning to finish at home, was titled, ‘five arrive to dine for dinner’.

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Seems pretty innocent, right? The title is, yes, but the phonic dictation - which students are asked to read and illustrate - is anything but, according to this very concerned mum.

Here’s what it says: “A family invited five people over for a meal. The wife decided to spring clean the family home. First she wiped the benches and made them shine.

“While there, she lined up the forks, knives and spoons. Next she glided into the bathrooms to wipe the shower tiles, before collecting a pile of dirty clothes.

“The wife raked the garden from side to side before cutting back a vine that had been covering a pine tree.

“The clean home and garden made the wife smile. It was now a great site for a dinner party.”

The piece of homework that Jenny describes as 'sexist'. Picture: Supplied

"I was shocked at how dated it sounded"

Not surprisingly, Jenny - who is a sole parent supporting her family single-handedly - couldn’t believe what she was reading.

“I was shocked at how dated and sexist it sounded,” the 44-year-old tells Kidspot.

“It is assuming that women are all ‘wives’ and housewives and it normalises women doing everything.

“By saying she is a wife means there would be a husband, and this assumes she has done everything and no one else in the house is helping.”

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The passage is intended for students to split the ‘i_e’ digraph, hence the use of the word ‘wife’ - but Jenny insists the choice of word is lacking in judgement from both the education resource publisher and those who chose it for the class.

“There must be a lot of other options which could achieve the same educational purpose that they could have used,” the mum-of-one says.

“It should be a title of a person that is gender neutral. I wonder if they are using a really old resource? If so, it really needs to be updated for this generation.

“It just shouldn’t be used at all now, regardless of the intention of the word. It’s archaic.”

Jenny said she didn't like the message the homework question sent. Picture: Supplied

"She did say the kids should have helped her"

When Jenny asked Daisy about the passage’s meaning, she was relieved at her daughter’s response.

“Thankfully, she had to ask what the word ‘wife’ meant, so that was a positive, and she did say that the kids should have helped her,” the proud mum smiles.

“Hopefully at this age, the text might not have had much impact, but I could tell from her pictures that she definitely understood what the person was doing.”

For Jenny, however, it did not change just how inappropriate it was for her daughter’s public school education.

“The message that it sends about women’s roles is sexist,” she says.

“I didn’t want this to represent what everyday life should be about. In our house, we talk about daily life and chores as teamwork. She has her little jobs while I do all the bigger ones.”

The WA Department of Education has since removed the question from the school's curriculum. Picture: Supplied

"I hope this isn't used across all schools"

Jenny hasn’t lodged a complaint with the school, hoping it is a once-off error in judgement from her daughter’s educators.

“Her teachers are lovely and they do a really good job with the kids but I hope this type of thing isn’t being used across all schools.”

A WA Department of Education spokesman said selection of resources and material was made at a school level.

“School leaders and teaching staff are best placed to make decisions about the learning needs of their students,” Dainon Couzic, Director of Education, Southwest Region, said.

“PLD Literacy, a private company, provides downloadable and hard copy materials which may be purchased and licensed by individual teachers for their use.

“School staff are encouraged to select resources that reflect the diversity and values of their school community and in this instance, the school has withdrawn this resource as it does not reflect contemporary values.

“This feedback will be provided to the publisher.”