"If we fail to understand and appreciate the New Zealand tradition and at the same time the changing New Zealand reality, we run the risk of alienating our children and grandchildren from their due birthright. The central challenge will be to anticipate future trends, grasp the best of international theory and practice and at the same time develop an approach that is germane to New Zealand."Mason Durie to College of Education at the University of Canterbury

"By aggregating the implications arising from a system that places students at the centre, a system that values inspirational teachers, relates easily to the wider social environment, connects with communities, and embraces technologies wisely, it will be possible to gain a sense of how schooling might play a more positive role for all students, their families, communities, and the nation as a whole." Mason Durie to Secondary Futures Symposium

"Anticipating longer term needs in education, and in other endeavours, is frequently made more difficult by a degree of cynicism about exploring the future."Mason Durie to PPTA

"Instead of being a consequence of years of service or institutional loyalty, could leadership be a deliberate professional choice made soon after graduation?" Mason Durie Management Magazine

"Leadership should reflect the makeup of communities as well as the reality of New Zealand within the South Pacific, greater representation of Māori, Asian, and Pacific Peoples will require specific strategies to recruit a culturally diverse workforce and then to retain them in the face of an increasing range of career opportunities. At present all three ethnic groups are under-represented among teachers especially at leadership levels." Mason Durie Leadership 2025: Transforming Capability

"People have different learning styles. Maybe in the future what we will be really good at is being able to marry up a particular child with a particular learning opportunity and if we have done nothing more than that we will have done well."Mason Durie Education Gazette.

"We seldom have the opportunity to think long term about the future, because we are all locked into the urgency of the day. For many of us, the most we can think about is tomorrow."Address to the 2004 NZ School Trustees Association Conference.

"The year 2024 may seem a long time away but if there is to be a further transformative experience for Māori education so that access to quality education can be extended to the majority of Māori learners, and excellence can be seen as an outcome that is attainable by most if not all Māori learners, then there is an obvious need to actively engage with the future. As learners have emphasised, education should be relevant and useful, not only to today but also to the realities of tomorrow."Mason Durie to Hui Taumata Mātauranga IV.

"The New Zealand reality is that an increasingly large number of people have an indigenous or ethnic orientation that underlies both personal and collective identity, provides pathways to participation in society, and largely influences the ways in which societal institutions and systems respond to their needs."Address to the 2004 Social Policy, Research and Evaluation Conference.

"The reason why Secondary Futures has been established is simply that we want the best for our children and grandchildren, we want the best for our country and we want more and more individuals to be successful and fulfil their potential."Mason speaks to the 2004 PPTA Conference.