Shame, entitlement, and the systemic racism of mathematics “ability” grouping in Aotearoa New Zealand

Abstract

Abstract Decades of research has documented the consequences of allocating school students into a hierarchy of classes with narrow ranges of mathematics attainment, a process known as streaming, tracking, setting, or “ability” grouping. The purported benefits of streaming are inconsistent and disputed, but the harms are clear, in particular, (1) the limiting curriculum often available in low streams and (2) the loss of self-confidence that results from being positioned in a low stream. Building on this foundation, we discuss streaming in mathematics as tied to systemic racism in Aotearoa New Zealand, where the harmful effects of streaming fall most heavily on Māori and Pasifika students. Previous analyses of race and streaming have focused primarily on the racial composition of streamed classes, bias in stream allocation, and racialised teacher expectations in streamed settings. In contrast, we focus on the emotional consequences of streaming, arguing that streaming produces racialised emotions of shame and entitlement as unintended but predictable consequences. We illustrate the racialised production of entitlement and shame through collaborative storying, interweaving our own biographies with a re-analysis of student interviews from two prior studies.