Rate My Professor Ruth Boyask

Ruth Boyask is an Associate Professor in the School of Education at Auckland University of Technology, where she conducts research, supervises postgraduate students, and teaches courses such as EDLD995 Master of Educational Leadership Project on postgraduate programmes in education. She holds a PhD from the University of Canterbury, MEd, BFA, and DipTchg(Secondary). Her academic career encompasses a research fellowship at the School of Education, University of Canterbury, prior to her appointment at AUT. As Director of the LitPlus research and professional learning community, she leads efforts in literacy research and professional development for educators.

Boyask's research specializations include systemic reform of education for children and young people, public education, educational policy, pedagogy, teaching and learning, and particularly children's reading for pleasure in Aotearoa New Zealand. Recent studies show Kiwi children who read for pleasure achieve better academic outcomes and are better prepared for future challenges. Key projects and outputs feature the report 'Relationships between reading for pleasure and other outcomes for children in Aotearoa New Zealand' (2024, with John Milne, Jayne Jackson, Robyn May, and Sabine Blokker), 'Experiences of New Zealand children actively reading for pleasure' (2022, with Robyn May, John Milne, Jayne Jackson, Celeste Harrington), and ''We read together': Collaboration, community and stories supporting children’s reading for pleasure' (2022). Her book 'Pluralist publics in market driven education: Towards more democracy in educational reform' was published by Bloomsbury Academic in 2020. Additional publications encompass 'Foregrounding Affect and Sociality in Children's Reading for Pleasure' (2023), 'From critical research to policy' (2018), and 'Developing a methodology for public engagement with critical research'. Boyask has penned AUT opinion pieces including 'Kiwi kids who read for pleasure do well' (2021) and 'Kiwi kids once led the world in reading' (2025). She reviews proposals for the Royal Society Te Apārangi Catalyst Fund.