Women have finally achieved parity on VCE English reading lists, but there are fewer classics
- Written by Hugh Gundlach, Lecturer in Education, The University of Melbourne
What makes something worthy of study and inclusion on a school’s text list? Is it right to remove or add a literary work based on the attributes of the person who wrote it?
Historically, making changes to what is sometimes called the “pale, male, stale” literary canon can cause a backlash[1], yet diversity is vital. The texts students read are vehicles for the ideas they are exposed to, the values they subscribe to, and the attitudes they will acquire.
Along with English teacher and co-researcher Michelle Maglitto, I set out to analyse the characteristics of senior “literary” texts studied in Australian schools. Our project[2] began with an examination of over 250 texts from the almost 800 texts offered on Victorian Certificate of Education (VCE) Literature text lists, spanning 2001 to 2026.
These novels, plays, short stories and poems frequently appear on compulsory reading lists across Australia and the English-speaking world. For each text, we collated details about the content and its characters.
Shifting selections
Analysing over 25 years of VCE lists revealed some intriguing shifts in text selection over time. We detected a rising proportion of works addressing social justice, identity, postcolonial perspectives and environmental themes. Classics from authors like Euripides, Chaucer, Jane Austen and Shakespeare remain mainstays, but their dominance is gradually diminishing.
Each year’s list typically features a few pre-1800 texts, several 19th century works, a significant 20th century contingent, and an increasing number of contemporary (post-2000) texts. A decade ago, recently published titles were only 10% of the list. That share has doubled in recent years.
Writers’ experiences shape the way they write, what they write about, and the worlds they create in their stories. Our database captured author demographics, recording country of origin, gender, age, ethnicity, sexuality and socioeconomic background.
We also flagged “problematic” authors whose works or public statements include racist, antisemitic or potentially offensive views by today’s standards – though such biases aren’t necessarily overt in the studied texts themselves.
These details illuminate whose voices have been privileged historically and where opportunities exist to platform diverse writers and forms.
Female authors comprised just over a quarter of the VCE lists 25 years ago, but reached 50% this year – a steady upward trend.
Authors of colour have been relatively low historically at 3-7% from 2001 to 2016. They now make up 25-30% of selected writers. Over the past 25 years, there were six years with no Indigenous authors on the list, and ten years where only one Indigenous author was included (3% of the list).
In recent years, however, this has changed, with at least two Indigenous authors consistently appearing on the list each year.
LGBTQ+ authors, whose works may not necessarily contain queer characters or themes, now comprise around 15% of texts – a marked rise from 3% 15 years ago.
The proportion of Australian authors has fluctuated between 20-33%. North American and British writers comprising around 25% each on average – unsurprising for English-language curricula. British texts comprised 50% of the list 25 years ago.
Over the past 25 years, Asian, South American and African authors have accounted for just 1-2% of selected texts. Nearly 60% of the time, authors of these backgrounds have had no representation at all.
Protagonists and antagonists
Representations of class, ethnicity and sexuality can allow students to engage more deeply with characters reflecting intersectional aspects of their own identities.
Looking at the protagonists and antagonists of the novel and play texts, we noted a relatively even split of male and female protagonists. Just over 10% of the main characters are in the same age range as the students who will read the texts.
Almost 85% of protagonists are white, with the remainder people of colour. We found that fewer than 1% of the texts have Indigenous protagonists.
Our research also assessed whether works pass the Bechdel test[3]: does it feature two named women who discuss something other than a man? Texts can have strong female characters while failing this test, and some of the texts that fail are written by women.
Surprisingly, around a quarter of texts fail, sometimes because they lack two named female characters at all. Iconic works like Heart of Darkness, Frankenstein, Dracula, and some Shakespeare plays stumble here.
Our research does not seek to judge the literary merit of these books. We simply aim to provide this data to help schools make informed choices, so they can curate diverse, representative text selections across all year levels.
