Literature in decline? Differences in pre-service and in-service primary school teachers' reading experiences
Submitted by:
Håvard Skaar
Abstract:
How do teachers relate to literature? This article explores the situation at primary school level in Norway. The total material consists of 249 narratives in which pre-service and in-service teachers describe themselves at literature readers. In Skaar, Elvebakk & Nilssen (2016) we determined the characteristics of the pre-service teacher narratives in a qualitative investigation informed by phenomenological hermeneutics. In the present study, typical tendencies in the pre-service teachers’ narratives are compared with the in-service teachers’ narratives. The study shows how Norwegian primary school teachers´ experiences of literature have developed from one generation to the next. Generally, the in-service teachers have read more than the pre-service teachers, not only in their adult life, but also in childhood and adolescence. The pre-service teachers’ literature reading is more dependent on time, place and social relations and the books they read are restricted to a few popular genres. The comparison indicates a development in which genuine readers, defined as teachers who “unconditionally appreciate” literature, are about to disappear. Instead, literature reading is experienced as something which is practically hard to cope with, and therefore ever more often opted out or not prioritized. In the final section, we discuss how to uphold the status and function of literature in school if the weakening of teachers’ literary interests continues. In our view, this requires an educational policy in defence of literature, stated in the curriculum at all educational levels. Teacher education must also be revised in a situation where many teachers no longer are readers of literature themselves.
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