Reading before and after retirement: representations and practices of teachers

Abstract

This article aims to discuss the constitution of practices and representations of reading retired teachers, mapping the processes and functions of reading before and after retirement. For this purpose, a qualitative research was carried out and a questionnaire was applied to 55 teachers. As literature review, we used the studies by Batista (1998); Britto (1998); Corsino (2010); Guareschi (1995); Moscovici (1978; 2015); Zilberman (1999), among others. It was found, in the light of studies by Serge Moscovici (1978) on Theory of Social Representations, that, in the course of the lived trajectories, there were changes related to the purpose of reading practices. In childhood and adolescence, reading representations were built in the context of the absence of books and readings and in attitudes linked to encouragement and practice, aimed at family and school. Before retirement, reading had a mandatory character, seen as fundamental to teaching in the classroom. After they retired, the reading practices of the teachers gain new contours and are carried out based on their personal interests, that is, they read what they want and when they want, without having to carry out readings to meet a professional need.