I work in the Faculty of Education and am a Senior Lecturer. Originally trained as a social worker in the 1970s, I worked in Australia, UK and Spain, returning to Australia in the late 1980s. I began my academic career in the 1990s, first undertaking a Diploma of Education specialising in Indigenous Education and went on to Honours in Sociology and Education. Achieving a University Medal, in 1993 I won an Australian government Research in Asia award to undertake my PhD studies in Thailand. In 1997, I was the Smuts Visiting Fellow in Commonwealth Studies at the University of Cambridge, UK.
My intellectual project theorizes the relationship between culture, professional practice, and organisational transformation. My teaching, supervision, and research spans Indigenous leadership development, strategic planning, organisational development, professional skills development in mainstream service provision to Indigenous and traditionally oriented peoples, and theorising knowledge exchanges within the complex global economy. This work has included schools across Australia and internationally, clients such as Telstra, DIMIA, Visy, ADFA, and Victoria Police, a number of universities, and collaborative research partnerships with communities in Australia, Sweden, Slovak Republic, Canada, Japan, Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand, and Indonesia. Woven through this work has been an enduring interest in wisdom, and the role of education and adult professional development in its cultivation. In 2000, I co-edited and contributed to Local Knowledge and Wisdom in Higher Education laying the foundation for my theoretical work on the transfer of knowledge across a diversity of cultures under globalisation. Since 2003, together with Professor Henry Atkinson, I have been developing the Education of Indigenous and Other Traditionally Oriented Peoples cognate area within the faculty. This period culminated in my winning a successful ARC Discovery Grant 2008-2010 with Professors Lynette Russell and Marcia Langton where I have examined Indigenous-Settler relations through a socio-historical lens of food knowledge exchanges. Together with Peter J. Anderson and Bernadette Atkinson, I recently undertook research invesitgating National Professiona Standards for Teachers Standards 1.4 and 2.4: Improving Teaching in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (AITSL).
Education
Sociology of Education, Aboriginal Education, Indigenous Education, Higher Education, Adult Education, Buddhist Education
Organisational Development
Strategic Planning, Change Management, Diversity Leadership and Management, Indigenous Leadership Development, Emergent Organisational Transformation
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Education, Buddhist Education, Comparative Education, Educational Reform, Food and Indigenous-Settler Relations, History, Philosophy, and Sociology of Education, Teacher Professional Development and Learning, Wisdom and Higher Education
Ma Rhea, Z., Atkinson, H.L., 2012, Growing understanding. Issues in mainstream education in Indigenous and traditional communities, in Reconciliation and Pedagogy, eds Pal Ahluwalia, Stephen Atkinson, Peter Bishop, Pam Christie, Robert Hattam and Julie Matthews, Routledge, UK, pp. 155-172.
Langton, M.L., Ma Rhea, Z., 2009, Indigenous education and the ladder to prosperity, in Perspectives, eds Helen Sykes, Future Leaders, Sydney, Australia, pp. 95-119.
Ma Rhea, Z., Atkinson, B., 2008, I'm Black ... Apart from that I Enjoy School: Aboriginal Children in Australia, in Voices from the Margins: School Experiences of Indigenous, Refugee and Migrant Children, eds Eva Alerby and Jill Brown, Sense Publishers, The Netherlands, pp. 89-108.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2007, Where the global meets the local. Workforce diversity education, in World Yearbook of Education 2007. Educating the Global Workforce. Knowledge, Knowledge Work and Knowledge Workers, eds Lesley Farrell and Tara Fenwick, Routledge, London, pp. 127-140.
Ma Rhea, Z., Seddon, T.L., 2005, Negotiating nation: globalization and knowing, in Globalization and Nationalism in Education, eds David Coulby and Evie Zambeta, RoutledgeFalmer, Abingdon UK, pp. 252-271.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2002, 'The economy of ideas: Colonial gift and postcolonial product', in Relocating Poscolonialism, eds David Theo Goldberg and Ato Quayson, Blackwell Publishing, London UK, pp. 205-216.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2000, Contemporary knowledge production and reproduction in Thai universities: Processes of adaptive balancing, in Local Knowledge and Wisdom in Higher Education, eds G.R. Teasdale and Z. Ma Rhea, Pergamon Elsevier, UK USA, pp. 209-235.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2013, Alien tutelage: On generalizability and contextualization in leadership development, Human Resource Development International [P], vol E, issue E, Routledge, Abingdon Oxon United Kingdom, p. E.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2012, Mindful teaching: Laying the Dharma foundations for Buddhist education in Australia, International Education Journal [P], vol 11, issue 1, Flinders University Institute of International Education, Australia, pp. 35-51.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2012, Mindful teaching: Laying the Dharma foundations for Buddhist education in Australia, International Education Journal [P], vol 11, issue 1, Flinders University Institute of International Education, Bedford Park South Australia Australia, pp. 35-51.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2012, Partnership for improving outcomes in Indigenous education: relationship or business?, Journal of Education Policy [E], vol 27, issue 1, Routledge, United Kingdom, pp. 45-66.
Ma Rhea, Z., Russell, L., 2012, The invisible hand of pedagogy in Australian Indigenous studies and Indigenous education, Australian Journal of Indigenous Education [P], vol 41, issue 2012, Cambridge University Press, UK, pp. 18-25.
Ma Rhea, Z., Anderson, P., 2011, Economic justice and indigenous education: Assessing the potential of standards-based and progressive education under ILO169, Social Alternatives, vol 30, issue 4, Social Alternatives, Australia, pp. 25-31.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2010, Transmorphosis: negotiating discontinuities in academic work, Policy Futures in Education [P], vol 8, issue 6, Symposium Journals, www.wwwords.co.uk/PFIE, pp. 632-643.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2009, Indigenising international education in business, Journal of International Education in Business [P], vol 2, issue 2, University of South Australia, SA, Australia, pp. 15-27.
Langton, M.L., Ma Rhea, Z., Palmer, L., 2005, Community-oriented protected areas for indigenous peoples and local communities, Journal of Political Ecology [P], vol 12, University of Arizona, http://jpe.library.arizona.edu/jpeweb.html, pp. 23-49.
Langton, M., Ma Rhea, Z., 2005, Traditional indigenous biodiversity-related knowledge, Australian Academic & Research Libraries, vol 36, issue 2, Australian Library and Information Association, Kingston ACT Australia, pp. 47-72.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2004, The preservation and maintenance of the knowledge of Indigenous peoples and local communities: the role of education, Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues, vol 7, issue 1, Journal of Australian Indigenous Issues, Australia, pp. 3-18.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2001, Approaches to the development of critical analysis in the university: the impact of culture, Manyusa: Journal of the Humanities and Social Sciences, vol 1-2, Chulalongkorn University Press, Thailand, pp. 97-126.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2005, Accelerated learning: pedagogical issues in the design of the Yachad Accelerated Learning Project, Doing the Public Good: Positioning Education Research. Australian Association for Educational Research 2004 Conference Papers, 29/11/04 to 02/12/04, AARE, http:www.aare.edu.au/confpap.htm, pp. 1-16.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2005, The preservation and maintenance of the knowledge of Indigenous peoples and local communities: the role of education, Doing the Public Good: Positioning Education Research. Australian Association for Educational Research 2004 Conference Papers, 29 November 2004 to 02 December 2004, AARE, http:www.aare.edu.au/confpap.htm, pp. 1-15.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2006, Where are the problems and what are we doing about them? Lessons learned so far in the Yachad accelerated learning project., Keynote addres to the 8th Garma Festival of Traditional Culture.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2004, Gaining ground: accelerating education in remote and rural communities, Keynote speaker at Dialogues Across Cultures Conference, December 2004, Melbourne Vic Australia.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2004, Leading and managing diversity at Monash, Workshop presented to Monash University Equity and Diversity Network, July 2004.
Ma Rhea, Z., 2004, Leading and managing diversity in Australia's defence organisations', Keynote speaker at Defence Equity Organisation, Canberra, June 2004.
Langton, M., Ma Rhea, Z., 2003, Australia, Asia and the Middle East - Regional report on the status and trends concerning the knowledge, innovations and practices of indigenous and local communities relevant to the conservation and sustainable use of biological diversity, United Nations, http://www.biodiv.org/doc/meetings/tk/wg8j-03/information/wg8j-03-inf-04-en.pdf, pp. 1-161.
Authorised by: Director, Office of Marketing and Communications.
Maintained by: eSolutions ServiceDesk.
Last updated: 18 February 2013.
Copyright © 2013 Monash University. ABN 12 377 614 012 -
Accessibility -
Caution -
Privacy
CRICOS Provider Number: 00008C
We acknowledge and pay respects to the Elders and Traditional Owners of the land on which our six Australian campuses stand. Information for Indigenous Australians
