Elizabeth Rata

Rata gained both her MEd and PhD from the University of Auckland.{{cite web|url=http://librarysearch.auckland.ac.nz/UOA2_A:Combined_Local:uoa_alma21160702690002091 |title=Global capitalism and the revival of ethnic traditionalism in New Zealand : the emergence of tribal-capitalism – The University of Auckland |publisher=Librarysearch.auckland.ac.nz |accessdate=29 November 2017}}{{cite web|url=http://librarysearch.auckland.ac.nz/UOA2_A:Combined_Local:uoa_alma21192887200002091 |title=Maori survival and structural separateness : the history of Te Runanga o nga Kura Kaupapa Maori o Tamaki Makaurau 1987–1989 – The University of Auckland |publisher=Librarysearch.auckland.ac.nz |accessdate=29 November 2017}} Her master's thesis,Rata, E. (1991). Maori Survival and Structural Separateness. Unpublished M.Ed. Thesis, University of Auckland. Maori survival and structural separateness: the history of Te Runanga o nga Kura Kaupapa Maori o Tamaki Makaurau 1987–1989, and her doctoral thesis, Global capitalism and the revival of ethnic traditionalism in New Zealand: the emergence of tribal-capitalism, relate to biculturalism in New Zealand.{{cite thesis |last=Rata |first=Elizabeth |year=1996 |type=Doctoral thesis |title=Global Capitalism and the Revival of Ethnic Traditionalism in New Zealand: The Emergence of Tribal-Capitalism |publisher=ResearchSpace@Auckland, University of Auckland |hdl=2292/2015 |url=https://researchspace.auckland.ac.nz/handle/2292/2015}} After a Senior Fulbright Scholarship to Georgetown University, Washington, DC in 2003, she returned to Auckland, becoming a professor in 2017.{{cite web|date=18 May 2017|title=Inaugural lecture for Professor Elizabeth Rata – The University of Auckland|url=http://www.education.auckland.ac.nz/en/about/events/events-2017/inaugural-lecture-for-professor-elizabeth-rata.html|website=Education.auckland.ac.nz|accessdate=9 January 2018}} Rata is the director of the Knowledge in Education Research Unit (KERU) at the University of Auckland, which she established in 2010.{{Cite web|title=Professor Elizabeth Rata – The University of Auckland|url=https://unidirectory.auckland.ac.nz/profile/e-rata|access-date=2021-10-28|website=unidirectory.auckland.ac.nz}}{{Cite web|title=Elizabeth Rata|url=https://www.bera.ac.uk/person/elizabeth-rata|access-date=2021-11-14|website=Bera.ac.uk|language=en-GB}}

In 2013 Rata published an opinion piece on the New Zealand school secondary curriculum decrying the lack of explicit knowledge and a "focus on skills and the process of learning."{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11120838 |title=Let's bring knowledge back into schools |work=The New Zealand Herald |accessdate=7 January 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11120936 |title=Knowledge lost from our kids' learning: expert |work=The New Zealand Herald |accessdate=7 January 2018}} The piece was directly criticised by authors such as Steve Maharey{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=11125491 |title=Steve Maharey: Education is not just about knowledge |work=The New Zealand Herald |date=13 May 2013 |accessdate=7 January 2018}}{{cite web|url=http://www.massey.ac.nz/massey/about-massey/news/article.cfm?mnarticle_uuid=A52CD5D3-D1B6-BD94-7505-96FF07CD1C50 |title=OPINION: One Dimensional Education is Not Enough – Massey University |publisher=Massey.ac.nz |date=22 October 2013 |accessdate=7 January 2018}} and Jane Gilbert.{{cite web|url=http://www.nzherald.co.nz/opinion/news/article.cfm?c_id=466&objectid=11127235 |title=Jane Gilbert: It's what students do with knowledge that really matters |work=The New Zealand Herald |accessdate=7 January 2018}}

Rata was one of the principal figures in developing the kura kaupapa schooling project. She was the secretary of the combined kōhanga reo whānau seeking to develop continuation for Māori language learners graduating from kōhanga reoTocker, Kimai. ‘The Origins of Kura Kaupapa Māori’. New Zealand Journal of Educational Studies 50, no. 1 (April 2015): 23–38. https://doi.org/10.1007/s40841-015-0006-z. and was a member of the original Kura Kaupapa Māori Working Party.Smith, Graham. ‘Kura Kaupapa Maori: Innovation and Policy Development in Maori Education’. [https://pesaagora.com/access-archive-files/ACCESSAV08N1_024.pdf Access: Contemporary Issues in Education 8, no. 1 (1989): 24–43]. However, according to Rebecca Wirihana, herself an early Kura activist, "Elizabeth has been wiped out of the history of kura kaupapa."Ngā pūrākau o ngā wāhine rangatira Māori o Aotearoa: The stories of Māori women leaders in New Zealand https://mro.massey.ac.nz/handle/10179/4672 p.31. Her recent criticisms of the direction of Māori immersion education,‘Researching Academic Agency in the Cultural Production of Indigenous Ideology in New Zealand Universities’. Working Papers on University Reform. Aarhus, Denmark: Danish School of Education, University of Aarhus, April 2011. https://dpu.au.dk/fileadmin/www.dpu.dk/forskning/forskningsprogrammer/epoke/workingpapers/Working_Paper_17.pdf and of the insertion of mātauranga Māori into New Zealand education,Corballis, Michael, Robert Nola, and Elizabeth Rata. ‘The Defence of Science and the Status of Māori Knowledge’. HPS&St Newsletter, November 2019, 13–21. prompted some critical responses.See for example Stewart, Georgina Tuari, and Nesta Devine. ‘A Critique of Rata on the Politics of Knowledge and Māori Education’. Waikato Journal of Education 24, no. 1 (14 May 2019): 93–101.{{cite journal|url=https://doi.org/10.15663/wje.v24i1.665 |title=A Critique of Rata on the Politics of Knowledge and Māori Education.|year=2019 |doi=10.15663/wje.v24i1.665 |last1=Devine |first1=Nesta |last2=Stewart |first2=Georgina Tuari |journal=Waikato Journal of Education |volume=24 |pages=93–101 |s2cid=182397617 |hdl=10292/12736 |hdl-access=free }} and Andreotti, Vanessa. ‘Engaging Critically with “Objective” Critical Analysis: A Situated Response to Openshaw and Rata’. International Studies in Sociology of Education 19, no. 3–4 (2009): 217–27. {{cite journal|url=https://doi.org/10.1080/09620210903424535 |title=Engaging Critically with "Objective" Critical Analysis: A Situated Response to Openshaw and Rata.|year=2009 |doi=10.1080/09620210903424535 |last1=Andreotti |first1=Vanessa |journal=International Studies in Sociology of Education |volume=19 |issue=3–4 |pages=217–227 |s2cid=144346115 |url-access=subscription }}

Rata was the winner of the British Educational Research Association (BERA) Paper of the Year in 2012 for her article about knowledge in education. In that year her book The Politics of Knowledge in Education was published by Routledge.Rata, E. (2012) The Politics of Knowledge in Education. British Educational Research Journal, 38(1), 103–124. The work signalled the shift in focus from her earlier research about ethnic politics to include knowledge in education. Rata's research about knowledge in education, specifically the school curriculum is best known for her development of the Curriculum Design Coherence Model (CDC Model).{{cite web|url=http://www.auckland.ac.nz/en/news/2019/08/13/curriculum-design-model-attracts-global-interest-.html |title=Curriculum design model attracts global interest}} A 2021 research paper published in Review of Education provides a detailed account of the use of the CDC Model in the international Knowledge-Rich School Project.{{cite journal|url=https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3254|title=The Curriculum Design Coherence Model in the Knowledge-Rich School Project|year=2021 |doi=10.1002/rev3.3254 |last1=Rata |first1=Elizabeth |journal=Review of Education |volume=9 |issue=2 |pages=448–495 |s2cid=233901823 |url-access=subscription }}

In July 2021, in the context of a review of the NCEA (New Zealand's National Curriculum), Rata, along with six other University of Auckland professors and emeritus professors published a controversial letter entitled "In Defence of Science" in the New Zealand Listener,Kendall Clements, Garth Cooper, Michael Corballis, Douglas Elliffe, Robert Nola, Elizabeth Rata, and John Werry. "In Defence of Science." New Zealand Listener, 31 July 2021. p.4 which said indigenous knowledge (or mātauranga Māori) "falls far short of what can be defined as science itself".

In April 2024, Associate Education Minister David Seymour appointed Rata to the "Charter School|Kura Hourua Establishment Board", which is tasked with facilitating the reestablishment of charter schools in New Zealand by early 2025.{{cite news |title=Charter Schools establishment board to aim for openings in 2025 |url=https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/513327/charter-schools-establishment-board-to-aim-for-openings-in-2025 |access-date=8 April 2024 |work=Radio New Zealand |date=3 April 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240403120712/https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/513327/charter-schools-establishment-board-to-aim-for-openings-in-2025 |archive-date=3 April 2024|url-status=live}}

• Rata, Elizabeth. A political economy of neotribal capitalism. Lexington Books, 2000. [https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780739100684/A-Political-Economy-of-Neotribal-Capitalism]
• Rata, Elizabeth. "Late capitalism and ethnic revivalism: A New Middle Age'?." Anthropological Theory 3, no. 1 (2003): 43–63. [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/1463499603003001751]
• Rata, Elizabeth. "Rethinking biculturalism." Anthropological Theory 5, no. 3 (2005): 267–284. [https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1463499605055960]
• Li, Tania Murray, Baviskar Amita, Rob Cramb, Kaushik Ghosh, Rusaslina Idrus, Pauline E. Peters, Nancy Postero, Elizabeth Rata, and Irina Wenk. "Indigeneity, capitalism, and the management of dispossession." Current Anthropology 51, no. 3 (2010): 385–414. [https://www.journals.uchicago.edu/doi/abs/10.1086/651942]
• Rata, Elizabeth. "The politics of knowledge in education." British Educational Research Journal 38, no. 1 (2012): 103–124. [https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/01411926.2011.615388]
• Rata, Elizabeth. Knowledge and Teaching, British Educational Research Journal. 43(5), 1003–1017. 2017
• Rata, E. Ethnic Revival. In Fathali M. Moghaddam Ed. The SAGE Encyclopedia of Political Behavior, (pp. 265–268). Thousand Oaks, California: Sage Publications. 2017. [https://sk.sagepub.com/reference/the-sage-encyclopedia-of-political-behavior/i4246.xml]
• Rata, Elizabeth. Knowledge-Rich Teaching: A Model of Curriculum Design Coherence, British Educational Research Journal. 45: (2019) 681–697. [https://doi.org/10.1002/berj.3520]
• Rata, Elizabeth. "The Curriculum Design Coherence Model in the Knowledge-Rich School Project". Review of Education 9, no. 2 (1 June 2021): 448–95. [https://doi.org/10.1002/rev3.3254]
• Rata, Elizabeth, and Tauwehe Sophie Tamati. Academic achievement in bilingual and immersion education: TransAcquisition pedagogy and curriculum design. Routledge, 2021. [https://www.routledge.com/Academic-Achievement-in-Bilingual-and-Immersion-Education-TransAcquisition/Rata-Tamati/p/book/9780367741808]
• Rata, Elizabeth. ‘What Is a Knowledge-Rich Curriculum?’ The New Zealand Annual Review of Education 26 (1 July 2021): 29–35.[https://doi.org/10.26686/nzaroe.v26.6855]

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Category:1952 births

Category:Living people

Category:New Zealand women academics

Category:Sociologists of education

Category:University of Auckland alumni

Category:Academic staff of the University of Auckland