In this article, four taiohi Māori of Te Tai Tokerau provide critical insights into their experiences of racism and their perspectives of school, teaching and education systems in Aotearoa New Zealand. Participants in this project all positively identified as Māori but have very different ways of conceptualising that identity. Western schooling in Aotearoa has, since its introduction, been a site of cultural contestation. Schools are also highly visible locations where Indigenous and Western epistemological differences play out with real-life impacts and consequences.

Traditional knowledges are not homogeneous or tidy; they often contain hidden meanings and tensions. In some cases, they are contradictory and therefore understanding them requires careful analytical and critical thought. The marginalisation and exclusion of Indigenous knowledges in contemporary contexts has perhaps been (falsely) justified because they do not easily translate into non-Indigenous ways of knowing. The purpose of this article is to critically examine traditional Māori knowledge and epistemology in relation to modern challenges and meaning-making. Indigenous conceptual frameworks allow for Indigenous interpretation of our experiences on our own terms.

Mana and kaitiakitanga capture the relationships essential to Māori perceptions of wellbeing. These relationships reflect the interconnectedness and interdependence of humans with the people, places and things in their worlds, and the responsibilities associated with these relationships. Mana is critical for mokopuna, as is the requirement to action it, through kaitiakitanga (Marsden, 2003; Paul-Burke & Rameka, 2015). Kaitiakitanga recognises the place of humans, including mokopuna, to assume guardianship roles and responsibilities.

Role models serve multiple functions as they influence Māori students’ goals and school aspirations. While Māori students are faced with various educational barriers, scholars contend that having a positive role model can influence their educational persistence and overall engagement at school. Therefore, it is important to consider who Māori students choose as role models and how they influence their goals and aspirations.

In New Zealand, speech-language therapists work through both the health and the education systems. In common with many Indigenous peoples, Māori have faced inequities in both health and education for decades. Kaupapa Māori education systems have been developed to support educational success and the survival of kaupapa Māori knowledge and te reo Māori. However, disparities between Māori and non-Māori still exist in the delivery of speech-language therapy services. The study reported in this article explored Māori experiences of speech-language therapy in kaupapa Māori education using Kaupapa Māori methodology, an Indigenous research approach that privileges Māori culture and knowledge.

Lifecourse research examines people’s trajectories through life and factors that influence those trajectories. It has the potential to build an evidence base around programmes that are effective for Māori. This paper describes the development and initial stages of Te Kura Mai i Tawhiti (TKMT), an innovative long-term research programme run as a collaboration between Taranaki Māori community organisation Te Pou Tiringa and the University of Otago’s National Centre for Lifecourse Research. The research aim is to examine the transformative power that quality Kaupapa Mäori early life and whänau programmes have on whānau health, wellbeing and educational outcomes.

This article explores and expands the discourse around the whare tapa whā which has been depicted in New Zealand curricula and in educational literature as a contemporary Māori model of health, as a Māori perspective of health, as a Māori philosophy of hauora and as a four-sided meeting house.