Educational underachievement is well documented for minority students living in Australia. Our work with Mãori and Pacific Island (MPI) students highlights several factors that impede their participation in education. Drawing on four case studies of MPI university students, we report on the educultural factors that functioned to constrain or positively impact their academic participation. Template analysis was used to analyse in-depth interviews with the students and highlighted some cultural and relational tensions as possible barriers to successful participation. However, a number of mitigating factors including student-teacher relationships, teacher characteristics and pedagogies supported their pursuit of, and engagement in higher education. The data suggests that MPI students benefit from strong relational connections with teachers throughout their educational experience. This conclusion has implications for an educultural pedagogy to be considered in teacher education courses and for in-service professional learning for teachers working across education sectors.