A study examined the quest for social equity by one adult education institution in New Zealand. It placed social equity in the wider context of recent developments in New Zealand society and explored models for conceptualizing social change. These models included the adaptive framework, helping/coping strategies, and allocation policies. A social change model advanced by Law and Sissons (1985), also explored, includes four essential systematically interrelated elements: collective empowerment, access for the oppressed, control by participants, and a holistic curriculum. A program devised with and for Maori (indigenous) people is then "tested" against these models. The study concludes that although the framework in which the program is offered appears limited in terms of potentiality for social change, the program may still have transformative properties. (43 references) (Author/KC)