[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.
[7][8] 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.
[20] The work signalled the shift in focus from her earlier research about ethnic politics to include knowledge in education.
[21] 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.
[22] 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,[23] which said indigenous knowledge (or mātauranga Māori) "falls far short of what can be defined as science itself".