This year's World Indigenous Peoples' Conference on Education (WIPCE) has arrived at what organisers describe as the "perfect time" - with thousands of delegates gathering in Tāmaki Makaurau as Indigenous rights face renewed pressure in Aotearoa and abroad.
Held in partnership with mana whenua, Ngāti Whātua Ōrākei, the week-long hui brings together delegates from across the world.
While the focus is on education, global shifts in geopolitics - including policy rollbacks, reforms, and debates over Indigenous rights - have shaped much of the kōrero.
WIPCE 2025 co-chair Professor Meihana Durie told RNZ although the kaupapa was about celebrating and recognising the place of indigeneity in the world, it could not have come at a better time.
"The thing which worries us all here at this hui is that the New Zealand government, in particular, seems hell-bent on removing any reference to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, and it sends a message to our people that they don't care about Māori education.
"We, on the other hand, are here to find the solutions."
The WIPCE Parade of Nations 2025. Photo: Tamaira Hook / WIPCE
Political climate 'cannot be ignored'
Across Aotearoa, hundreds of schools have publicly pushed back at the government's plan to remove the requirement for school boards to give effect to Te Tiriti o Waitangi, saying their commitment to the Treaty will remain unchanged.
The Treaty requirement previously in the Education Act said schools would give effect to Te Tiriti, including by ensuring plans, policies, and local curriculum reflected local tikanga Māori, mātauranga Māori, and te ao Māori; taking all reasonable steps to make instruction available in tikanga Māori and te reo Māori; and achieving equitable outcomes for Māori students.
The Education and Training Amendment Bill, which passed its third reading at the beginning of November, removed this requirement.
The world's largest indigenous education conference has kicked off in Auckland, bringing with it thousands of indigenous educators from around the world. Photo: Supplied / WIPCE 2025
Education Minister Erica Stanford said they made the change because the treaty was the Crown's responsibility, not schools'.
"School boards should have direction and we are giving very clear direction. You need to ensure equitable outcomes for Māori students, you need to be offering te reo Māori and you need to be culturally competent," she said.
"But what is not clear is a conferred and unreasonable treaty duty that they are expected to decipher."
As a response, a growing number of New Zealand schools are reaffirming their support for Te Tiriti. Te Rārangi Rangatira, an official list of the schools reaffirming their support had reached 792 as of 19 November.
WIPCE 2025 Co-Chair Professor Meihana Durie says WIPCE 2025 is focused on finding the solutions. Photo: Layla Bailey-McDowell / RNZ
Durie said that feeling of support was also being felt strongly by educators attending the conference.
"It's important to call that out. It's important to hold the government accountable for their continual removal of any sense of honouring and upholding Te Tiriti o Waitangi," he said.
"In the last two weeks, we've now had hundreds of schools saying to the government, 'we disagree vehemently with that directive'."
He said Aotearoa was not alone in facing political pressure. Indigenous communities in several countries are confronting governments taking approaches "whereby, in their view, indigeneity doesn't matter".
"That's why we're here. We share what we're going through with our Indigenous brothers and sisters, but we also take so much inspiration from what others are doing across various nations."
Thousands of indigenous educators from around the world are attending the conference. Photo: Tamaira Hook / WIPCE
Sharing mātauranga (knowledge)
Aotearoa has long been regarded as a global example of language and cultural revitalisation, Durie said.
Delegations from Canada, Hawai'i, Samoa, the Sámi region and across the Pacific have been seeking insights into Māori immersion education, iwi-led school models, and community-driven revitalisation initiatives.
Durie said those exchanges were grounded in reciprocity.
"He aroha ki te tangata. Anything that we've done in the past and in the present, we share our journey with other Indigenous nations," he said.
"But at the same time, there's this tauutuutu - this reciprocity, this give and take - where we have just been amazed by what others are doing in education."
A consistent theme throughout the week is that Indigenous nations cannot afford to become complacent.
"We can't be stagnant. We can't just reach a particular point and expect that things will continue to flourish."
Dr. Spero M. Manson (Little Shell Tribe) is an Indigenous health researcher with more than 200 publications on Native mental health and addiction. He is also a national leader in Indigenous health equity. Photo: Manihera Te Hei
Alongside keynote speakers and hundreds of presentations, discussions this week have centred on kotahitanga (unity), shared strategy, and the reaffirmation of Indigenous sovereignty.
Sessions have included youth leadership, health and wellbeing, the protection of ancestral knowledge, and linguistics and cultural revitalisation.
"This week has been all about affirming the status and the sovereign rights of us as indigenous nations," Durie said.
"That's the first thing. Secondly, to remind Aotearoa about the fact that we are an Indigenous nation, lest the government, and lest others, forget."
He said delegates want the voices and images from the gathering to reach far beyond Tāmaki Makaurau.
"We want the messages from this hui... to go out around the world to remind the world about their role and responsibility in ensuring that the sovereign rights of Indigenous nations are acknowledged and accepted."
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