Foundations for "transformative inter-generational outcomes" for Indigenous education around the world will be laid as knowledge and aspirations are shared amongst thousands at the World Indigenous Peoples' Conference on Education.

WIPCE returns to Aotearoa for the first time in two decades this weekend, with close to 4,000 leaders and educators due to attend in Tāmaki Makaurau (Auckland).

30 per cent of delegates headed to the gathering are travelling from Australia, with representatives Canada, Yukon, Greenland, Guam, Botswana, Hawaii and the host nation, among others, also joining.

Following celebratory greetings and cultural expression on Sunday, three days of presentation and discussion will canvas education systems and practices, health and wellbeing, the environment and climate, politics, self-determination, decolonisation, science and technology and youth - all driven by global First Peoples' knowledge.

Māori traditional practice will also be central to programming.

Te Wānanga Aronui o Tāmaki Makaurau - Auckland University of Technology (AUT) hosts WIPCE in 2025, set to be the largest academic conference ever held in Aotearoa.

Tarntanya (Adelaide) hosted the conference in 2022.

Conference co-chair Professor Meihana Durie said the conference is principally about the future and how Indigenous people around the world navigate it.

"Although it is clear that Indigenous rights remain under immense threat, this gathering unites Indigenous educators, scholars and champions from across the world," Professor Durie said.

"Amplifying Indigenous voices and aspirations to transcend barriers that limit our collective potential, and more importantly, to achieve transformative inter-generational outcomes for Indigenous education worldwide."

Keynote speakers include distinguished Māori voices in education, creative fields, politics and decolonisation, and language, as well as international expertise in health and the environment.

WIPCE was founded 37 years ago in Canada, or Turtle Island (the name used by some North American Indigenous peoples for the entire continent) by respected scholar and champion of Indigenous education and culture Verna Kirkess, of the Fisher River Cree Nation.

Ms Kirkess will celebrate her 90th birthday at the conference.

WIPCE 2025 co-chairs Dr Noe Noe Wong-Wilson, Dr Bentham Ohia, Professor Damon Salesa and Professor Durie welcomed manuhiri (guests) to Tāmaki Makaurau for the conference - the city home to the largest number of Pacific people in the world.

"As we head into final preparations for WIPCE 2025, we acknowledge the hard work and collective effort that has brought us to this point. WIPCE is about celebrating and affirming a shared sense of Indigenous determination and unity," the co-chairs said.

"WIPCE is also a time to draw inspiration from the power of Indigenous ceremony, language, culture and scholarship and to reimagine the future of Indigenous education through sharing our deepest experiences, our distinctive histories and bold visions for the future."

The conference runs November 16-20.