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Purpose:

Manaiakalani Innovative Teachers (MIT) 2026 aims to:

• Create a network for support and mentoring amongst innovative teachers

• Explore ways to enrich the lives and learning of students, their whānau, and the wider community

• Investigate methods to accelerate learning outcomes using Manaiakalani pedagogy and kaupapa

• Support participants in challenging their own practice through a collaborative design thinking process

Application process:

1. Application Deadline: Monday, 20 Oct, 2026, 5pm

2. Interview Process:

   • Short-listed applicants will be interviewed via Google Meet

   • Interview Date: Thursday, Oct 30

   • Interview Panel: Matt Goodwin (MIT-26 Lead), Jenny Oxley (Manaiakalani Education Trust), Dorothy Burt (Manaiakalani Programme), Justine Todd (KPMG partner)

   • The panel will contact your principal to verify your effectiveness as a teacher

[Application Form Link]

Key Dates for 2026 

• Online Connects: Wednesdays Afterschool (18 Feb, 29 Apr, 24 Jun , 29 Jul, 16 Sep, 21 Oct)

• Kickstart 3-day Hui: Term 1 (Thursday 5 Mar - Saturday 7 Mar)

• Network Meeting Days: Mondays (16 Mar, 25 May, 17 Aug, 16 Nov)

• Principals' Wānanga: Term 4 (Thursday 29 Oct - Friday 30 Oct)

• Speaking Experience: 3-5 days TBA, Possibly Jul or Oct (School Holidays)

• Release Days: Self-organised
  
  

Conditions of Participation

• Model "Learn Create Share" in work with learners and throughout the MIT-26 year

• Make outcomes publicly available online

• Share reflections with the Manaiakalani Online community, PLD team, MET, Principals, and research team

• Set and meet targets each term in negotiation with MIT-26 leaders

• Attend and share at agreed hui and conferences (including overnight stays)

• Attend MIT-26 network sessions (1 day each term in Auckland)

• Release from class to focus on project (2 days each term)

• Willingness to grow presentation skills locally

Important Considerations

• We are particularly interested in proposals that bring innovation through the Manaiakalani pedagogy and kaupapa to published government priorities to improve achievement (eg Maths and Literacy, NCEA). We are also targeting projects this year that 

  • Support teachers/learners to CREATE within Structured Literacy

  • Embed Writing across subject domains (secondary)

  • Support kura and Māori immersion with rangaranga reo ā tā (SL)

  • Support kura and Māori immersion with implementing pāngarau 

• Proposals shortlisted will harness the affordances of technology to raise student achievement outcomes

• MET will not fund repeats of past MIT projects, however projects may build on previously successful projects and extend or enrich the innovation

  • Review previous years of Manaiakalani Innovative Teachers to avoid repeating past projects

Finally

The Manaiakalani Programme has gained national and international credibility as an innovative approach to ensuring the foundation requirements of schooling are being met whilst offering young people the opportunity to learn in an environment which recognises the special character of our children as digital citizens whose world is very different from their teachers at the same age.

Over the sixteen years of the Manaiakalani Innovative Teacher programme we have had teachers who have taken this opportunity to investigate ways to accelerate learning outcomes for our young people via the Manaiakalani pedagogy and kaupapa. The most successful MIT projects have subsequently become the foundation of classroom implementation for colleagues within the Manaiakalani Network and around New Zealand.  The Manaiakalani Education Trust is keen to support teachers who are challenging their own teaching practice through inquiring into innovative ways to meet our programme goals and provide inspiration to their colleagues. To quote Michael Fullan 2/11/16, we are looking for "purposeful, focused and disciplined innovation".