Finn, KarenTurner‐Adams, HanaWebber, Melinda2026-06-032026-06-032026-05-25New Zealand Geographer, ISSN: 0028-8144 (Print); 1745-7939 (Online), Wiley, 82(2), 1-11. doi: 10.1111/nzg.700260028-81441745-7939http://hdl.handle.net/10292/21311Secondary school geography brings together tāngata (people) and whenua (land), the central concepts of te ao Māori (the Māori world). Therefore, geography is ideally placed to respond to calls for mātauranga Māori (Māori knowledge) to gain “equal status” with Western knowledge. This article reports how 47 teachers integrated Māori concepts into secondary school geography. Data were collected using an online questionnaire and analysed through content analysis and reflexive thematic analysis. The research identified a range of geography‐related Māori concepts. The findings suggest that including more conceptual mātauranga Māori, especially in physical geography, would help achieve “equal status for mātauranga Māori”.© 2026 The Author(s). New Zealand Geographer published by John Wiley & Sons Australia, Ltd on behalf of New Zealand Geographical Society. This is an open access article under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits use, distribution and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/4406 Human Geography44 Human Society0406 Physical Geography and Environmental Geoscience1302 Curriculum and Pedagogy1604 Human GeographyGeography3709 Physical geography and environmental geoscienceconceptsgeography educationindigenising curriculumMātauranga MāoriNCEAsecondary school geographyJournal ArticleOpenAccess10.1111/nzg.70026