Ending Streaming at MBIS

At Murrays Bay Intermediate, we are proud of our ongoing commitment to educational excellence and strive to respond to our learners’ needs in this ever-changing world. We take pride in the programmes and opportunities we offer our students and work collectively to create a vibrant, future-focused, and strengths-based learning environment.

Part of the core responsibility of any educational institution is to meet the needs of its learners. We want to ensure a fair and equitable education for all our students and build a culture that not only sees the value of diversity but embraces it as a cornerstone of success. To ensure equality for all learners, we must avoid the potential of creating any learning barriers based on ability, gender, ethnicity, and/or culture.

On 12 March 2021, NZEI released a media statement in support of ending streaming in NZ. A position that many countries around the world have already adopted. The media statement came at the time of the publication, “Ending Streaming in Aotearoa” (March 2021) produced by Tokona Te Raki - Māori Futures. Our Education and Training Act (2020), section 127 (1)d states, “One of the Board’s primary objectives in governing a school is to ensure that a school gives effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi by achieving equitable outcomes for Māori students.” It has become increasingly clear the practice of streaming is not helping our students, Māori or otherwise, in achieving equitable outcomes. As cited in the media release by NZEI Te Riu Roa National President, Liam Rutherford, “We know streaming is an outdated practice. Decades of evidence have shown that for our tamariki, and for Māori and Pasifika children especially, streaming has long had negative impacts on their educational achievement and their participation at school.”

After a review of international research and discussions with our MBI Board, we have decided to phase out our Extension classes which are streamed on ability. Our current Year 7 Extension cohort will be grandfathered through to Year 8 Extension, but no new Year 7 Extension class will be offered in 2022. By the end of 2022 there will no longer be any ability streamed Extension classes at MBI.

Our collective belief is that education should be equitable and hold the highest aspirations for all our students; we want our adolescents to see a world of possibilities, not limitations. We feel confident in our teachers and the programmes they tirelessly develop to meet the diverse needs of the students in their class.

We will continue to foster high expectations for all students and ensure teachers are supported in any necessary ways to meet the needs of our learners.

Please refer to this document for further information: Ending Streaming in Aotearoa