Not a “single positive piece about being male” in new VCE English text list

Concerned teachers have blasted the new VCE English text list for there not being “a single positive piece about being male” as fears grow that agendas are being pushed too strongly in schools.

Former AFL goal umpire Chelsea Roffey’s book is on the VCE English list. Picture: Nicole Cleary

The new VCE English curriculum has come under fire for lacking any positive writing by white Australian male authors, the Herald Sun can reveal.

The 2024 shake-up of English, the compulsory year 12 subject sat annually by more than 40,000 students, involves 20 new texts and books for students to assess.

For the first time in years, students will also no longer have to compare two texts, but will be asked to produce their own piece of writing.

The full list of 36 texts, which includes plays, films, speeches and poems, includes only seven Australian male authors.

One English teacher has told the Herald Sun the list does not include “a single positive piece about being male”.

The teacher, who does not want to be named, said it was a “tipping point in terms of curriculum”.

“The message is that if you’re straight, you’re thinking too narrowly, and if you’re also male and white, you should bend a knee and confess your sins before you become irredeemable,” he said.

“I can’t call it brainwashing, but I can call it an increasing influence. If asked to justify it to a parent, I would have difficulty,” he said.

The list of seven male Australian texts includes four works that focus on the negative aspects of colonialism and Indigenous “dispossession”.

One is a piece of writing about the LGBTIQ community in the 1970s and one is a fictional book about a young man building a coffin for his sister.

The list also includes Tim Winton who writes about toxic masculinity and the impact of “silence” in the face of “misogynist trash talk”.

The VCAA study design state the texts “reflect current community standards and expectations”.

It says the list is designed to be suitable “for a diverse student cohort”, “display affirming perspectives” and “reflect engagement in global perspectives”.

Colleen Harkin, national manager of the Institute of Public Affairs’ Class Action program, said the list was another example of the curriculum becoming “laden with activist agendas at the expense of providing students with a well-rounded, balanced education.”

“This is a pattern of repeated behaviour where young men are denied the opportunity to see any positive in their male peers, and demeans them with destructive and unproven notions of toxic masculinity,” she said.

Dr Helen Adam, associate professor in Education in Edith Cowan University, said she was a little surprised by the some of the criticism.

“What about the positive role model of men speaking up for justice and equity and truth telling? I would think the men in here that are writing and speaking on justice issues are fantastic representations of men and manhood,” she said.

“I don’t see this as politicisation of the curriculum I see this as ensuring relevance of the curriculum to the lives, communities and times of today’s young people/tomorrow’s leaders,” Dr Adam said.

Ross Huggard, a 43-year veteran English teacher and member of the Victorian Association for the Teaching of English, said the criticism of the texts “was not entirely accurate” in his view.

“I hear what the teacher is saying but many of these texts are about how males could or should behave, including Tim Winton who is trying to address this very issue,” he said.

“There are some very fine pieces of writing, including Robbie Arnott’s Flames which looks at males and relationships,” Mr Huggard said.

A VCAA spokesperson said: “Texts are selected through a rigorous process to ensure they have literary merit, and aid the study of this key subject in the context of modern Victoria. There are canonical texts for study including Jane Austen, William Shakespeare, Sophocles, and William Wordsworth. “There are also contemporary Australian writers like Tim Winton, Robbie Arnott, Amy Duong and Maya Hodge who offer diverse insights into Australian society.”