Elizabeth Rata

Elizabeth Mary Rata (born 1952) is a New Zealand academic who is a sociologist of education and a professor in the School of Critical Studies in Education at the University of Auckland.[1] Her views and research on Māori education and the place of indigenous knowledge in the New Zealand education system have received criticism from other academics.

Rata gained both her MSc and PhD from the University of Auckland.[2][3] Her Master's thesis,[4] '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. After a Senior Fulbright Scholar to Georgetown University, Washington, DC in 2003, she returned to Auckland, becoming a professor in 2017.[5] Rata is the Director of the Knowledge in Education Research Unit (KERU) at the University of Auckland, which she established in 2010.[6][7]

In 2003 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."[8][9] The piece was directly criticised by authors such as Steve Maharey[10][11] and Jane Gilbert.[12] Commenting on Rata's stance on Māori language immersion education, Leonie Pihama (then an academic at the University of Auckland) said: "The recent attack by Elizabeth Rata on Kaupapa Māori developments highlights a disturbing trend of racism being disguised as public debate."[13]

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.[14] 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). 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.

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 letter "In Defence of Science" in the New Zealand Listener,[15] which said indigenous knowledge (or Mātauranga Māori) "falls far short of what can be defined as science itself." The letter generated substantial debate about the value of Māori knowledge in the education curriculum as well as free speech and academic freedom, with perspectives both defending and criticising the letter-writers' position.[16][17][18][19] The Tertiary Education Union,[20] Royal Society of New Zealand[21] and New Zealand Association of Scientists[22] and Rata's own vice-chancellor[23][24] were all critical of the letter.