Aotearoa/New Zealand is experiencing major changes in its demographic profile, indicating that the proportion of Māori (the indigenous people) will progressively increase (Statistics New Zealand, 2004). Projected changes are likely to impact particularly on the school-aged population and this has implications for the nation’s educational leadership, including the need for greater Māori representation (Durie, 2005). This raises questions around what Māori educational leadership may need to look like in order to impact positively on Māori achievement in English and Māori-medium schooling. A Best Evidence Synthesis Iteration (BES) has identified dimensions of educational leadership that are linked to raising student achievement. In this article we examine the extent to which the dimensions resonate with traditional and contemporary conceptualisations of Māori leadership.