Abstract This short commentary article considers veterinary education as a specific type of science professional education that is impacted by lack of participation of Māori and Pacific students in senior secondary science education. The veterinary profession in Aotearoa New Zealand faces a difficult challenge to overcome the severe under-representation of practising Māori and Pacific veterinarians. At the only veterinary school in the country, the first Māori professor of veterinary education is leading the VetMAP programme, which has been established to recruit and support more Māori and Pacific veterinary students. A related question involves addressing the monocultural nature of veterinary education, so key Māori concepts of whakapapa, kaitiakitanga and manaakitanga are discussed for their potential usefulness.

Abstract This reflective commentary explores the tensions and possibilities of navigating higher education in Aotearoa as a Samoan educator grounded in Indigenous relational ethics. Written through Wayfinding and Critical Autoethnography, it draws on Samoan Indigenous Reference—Fa’aSamoa (SIR–FS)—to illuminate how globalised academic expectations intersect with the lived realities of aiga (family), vā (relational space), and tapu (sacredness). As a practitioner within a university context undergoing structural and epistemological shifts, I reflect on the ethical labour of holding space for Pasifika learners within a transnational, neoliberal, and outcomes-driven sector. Wayfinding and Critical Autoethnography enable a layered methodological approach that weaves ancestral wisdom, poetic storytelling, and personal reflection. This piece shares how I navigate the demands of institutional research and teaching while staying anchored to Indigenous principles of collective wellbeing, intergenerational continuity, and spiritual responsibility. Rather than offering a singular solution, this commentary invites readers into the vā : a sacred space between epistemologies, pedagogies, and futures. It asks how educators might honour Indigenous ethical frameworks while negotiating the border-crossing landscapes of higher education. In doing so, it contributes a grounded Pasifika voice to broader dialogues on reflexivity, inclusion, and the decolonial reimagining of education in Aotearoa.