In the Media

Elizabeth Rata On The Importance of Academic Knowledge

Watch as Professor Rata describes the importance of academic knowledge in this wide-ranging discussion with Peter Boghossian.

In this address, Professor Rata defends liberal democracy at the ACT Party Annual Conference in Wellington and Auckland, July 2022.
The views expressed are Professor Rata’s own.

In August 2025, the Ministry of Education announced that At the Marae would not be reprinted. In this interview with Michael Laws on The Platform, I defend the decision on the basis of sound linguistic principles.
I explain that children require consistent practice in grapheme-phoneme correspondences taught in structured literacy sessions, as mixing Maori and English vowel sounds risks confusion.

The interview discusses the retention of two major Treaty of Waitangi clauses in the Education and Workforce Amendment Bill (no.2) 2025. The clauses are section 9 and section 127.

In a far-reaching interview with Leah Panapa on The Platform in January 2025, Elizabeth Rata discusses Treaty revisionist ideology. The discussion includes an account of the centrality of the individual as the political category, that is, the holder of political and legal rights. She explains why group rights are not compatible with liberal democracy, noting that the range of beliefs and cultures in New Zealand’s diverse population can be accommodated in civil society.

In this podcast, Professor Rata discusses knowledge-based education, curriculum, and the role of knowledge in shaping New Zealand’s education system.

This wide-ranging discussion with Michael Laws on The Platform covers the problems with the education sector and explains how to fix them.

In this interview in April 2025 with Michael laws on the Platform, Professor Rata discusses the incident at the University of Auckland which led her to challenge the university’s position on binary sex. She describes the Biologists’ Statement written by a group of eminent biologists at the university. You can read the statement here.

In this submission, Professor Rata highlights the importance of the Treaty Principles Bill in upholding individual freedom, equality, and parliamentary democracy.

The New Zealand Nursing Council requires nurses to be taught about the Treaty of Waitangi in their courses. Professor Rata's interview with Maree Buscke discusses why government institutions, including regulatory agencies such as the Nursing Council, should be neutral or secular. This means that beliefs about the Treaty belong in civil society, not in the state and should not be included in nursing courses.

Knowledge Types and Curriculum Design – differentiating between socio-cultural knowledge and academic subjects.