Understanding key factors that contribute to (or negatively impact on) Māori student success can: • Promote the development of better policy that supports Māori students to achieve educational success; • Aid in targeting resources to support success; • Encourage a move away from deficit insinuation that the challenges some Māori face in education are based on ethnicity; and • Promote better understanding of contextual factors and the myriad of things that contribute to the outcomes we experience.