Reading Habits of Secondary School Teachers: A Study of Selected Secondary Schools in Addis Ababa and Dessie

Abstract

This study is a small-scale study of an exploration of reading habit of high school teachers. Fifty four teachers from five schools who teach in different schools  in Addis Ababa and Dessie participated in this study. Data were collected through questionnaire and in-depth interview. The result of the study shows that reading is poorly developed habit of the high school teachers. The high school teachers involved in this study admitted that reading is inevitable in their professional and personal lives; yet, it is overlooked. The common trend among the research participants is that they read by different push factors such as examinations, preparation of the regular classroom sessions of the disciplines they teach, newspapers, and some websites. Academic books of their respective disciplines are exceptionally frequently read for teaching. Of the non-academic reading materials, many teachers are fond of magazines and newspapers of recreation and politically hot issues. Although teachers are responsible to lead the society by accessing and exposing culture, knowledge and values for development and change through reading, the reality would highly weaken them to play this part of their role. Hence, the researcher recommends for stakeholders to conduct this problem at a large-scale level including the causes to contribute for the improvement of these habits to help teachers survive as scholars and leaders of the country.

Keywords: reading, habit, secondary school teachers