June 20, 2023
Streaming symptom of wider education racism
A leading expert on Māori education says the Post Primary Teachers Association’s call for an end to streaming doesn’t go far enough.
University of Waikato Professor Mere Berryman – one of the developers of the Te Kotahitanga programme for improving the educational achievement of Māori students in mainstream secondary school classrooms – says the practice of streaming students into different class levels is an expression of the racism that exists throughout the education system.
“While PPTA is promoting destreaming and I really want to support them in that, we have a long way to go in Aotearoa not just because of what is happening in secondary schools but what is happenign in society and how society is perpetuating people who are privileged and people who are disadvantaged,” she says.
Professor Berryman says schools also need to be careful that the way they incorporate Maori knowledge and culture isn’t a case of manipulating it to fit the intentions of the mainstream.