Chilean preservice teachers and reading: a first look of a complex relationship

Two pillars of the curricula for primary education and early childhood education in Chile are, respectively, the formal teaching of reading and the promotion of the pleasure of reading. These two objectives depend, in part, on the relationship that teachers themselves establish with reading. Previous studies have been critical, suggesting that teachers seem to act as “false readers,” endangering the formation of new readers. Under this premise, this research investigated the reading life of future teachers who are trained, among other things, to mediate subsequent learning, as well as the acquisition and development of committed readers. The study focused on the importance of reading, preservice teachers’ motivation to read different types of texts, reading habits, and actual reading done during 1 year. The research participants were 365 prospective Chilean early childhood (n = 164) and primary education (n = 201) teachers, who responded to Likert-type and open-ended questions. In line with previous studies, we observed teachers’ high reading valuation but low effective reading praxis. Regarding the importance of reading, we observe reading utility as a first dimension while “enjoyment” or “connecting with my history” are the least valuable dimensions. The implications of these findings for initial teacher training—and especially the role of children’s literature in this framework—are discussed.