Reading Before and After Retirement: Social Representations and Practices of Teachers

Abstract

This article discusses the constitution of the practices and social representations of reading of retired teachers, mapping the processes and functions of reading before and after retirement. For this, qualitative research was carried out with the participation of 55 teachers. In the literature review, we used the studies of Batista (1998), Britto (1998), Corsino (2010), Guareschi (1995), Moscovici (1978; 2015), and Zilberman (1999). In light of Serge Moscovici’s (1978) studies on the Theory of Social Representations, we found that during the trajectories lived, there were changes related to the purpose of the reading practices. In childhood and adolescence, the social representations of reading were built in the context of the absence of books and reading and in the attitudes linked to the encouragement and practice directed at the family and school. In adulthood, before retirement, reading had an obligatory character, seen as fundamental for teaching in the classroom. After retirement, the reading practices of female teachers take on new contours and are based on their interests, meaning they read what they want and when they want, without the imposition of reading to meet a professional need.