This literature review provides background for a forthcoming empirical investigation of the pathways through education that lead to successful labour market outcomes for Maori students with different aptitudes in high school. It summarises three main areas of existing literature.

The first is the pathways students can take through the Aotearoa New Zealand education system. This includes summary statistics on the proportion of students who pursue each pathway and the differences in these by ethnicity and gender.

The second is the relationship between higher education and labour market outcomes internationally, in Aotearoa, and for Maori in Aotearoa specifically. It also highlights non-financial potential benefits that may motivate students to pursue higher education.

The third is the value in the labour market of Maori-medium education and te reo-English bilingualism.