The Māori Achievement Collaborative (MAC), a principals-led education professional-learning network, holds its four-day annual gathering (Hui ā Tau) in Taranaki from 18–21 October 2026, based at the Plymouth International Hotel in New Plymouth.
The Māori Achievement Collaborative brings its annual Hui ā Tau to Taranaki from 18 to 21 October 2026, using the Plymouth International Hotel in New Plymouth as the base for a four-day wānanga that ranges well beyond the conference room. According to the organiser's registration page on Te Arahou o Aotearoa, proceedings open at 4:30pm on Sunday 18 October and close at 1:15pm on Wednesday 21 October, built around the kaupapa "He Piharau Manawanui."
The event is run by the Māori Achievement Collaborative (MAC), which describes itself on mac.ac.nz as a non-profit professional-learning and development movement built "by principals for principals" under the ethos "Leaders helping leaders to become better leaders." MAC's stated purpose is achieving Māori educational success as Māori, working with school leaders, whānau, hapū and iwi across Aotearoa through regional wānanga and this national annual hui.
The organiser invites tumuaki (school principals), senior leadership, kaiako and Board of Trustees members, encouraging them to bring staff, BoT and wider school whānau. It is a single four-day registration rather than day passes, and the programme lists a keynote by Dr Ruakere Hond, a guided hīkoi at Taranaki Maunga, a visit to Parihaka Pā, waka ama, and a closing reflection led by Leanne Otene.
The hui is based at the Plymouth International Hotel at 220 Courtenay Street, New Plymouth, which the organiser lists as the conference hub, the departure point for the experiential activities, and the setting for the Kai Hākari conference dinner on the evening of Tuesday 20 October. Its central New Plymouth location places delegates within reach of the city and the Taranaki Maunga and Parihaka sites that anchor the off-site programme, with the hotel providing the accommodation and dining base for the multi-day gathering.
Hui ā Tau is a recurring national association gathering that rotates around the motu, and its 2026 edition directs a multi-day, out-of-region delegation into New Plymouth outside peak season. As a kaupapa-Māori education event weaving marae, maunga and community sites into a hotel-based conference, it illustrates the growing demand for culturally grounded, experience-led business events in New Zealand's regional centres.
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