Teachers views about reading hours held in primary school: A case study, Sincan county sample

The purpose of the study is to find out the opinions of teachers regarding the reading hours implemented in schools as a part of ?Türkiye Okuyor? (Turkey is Reading) project. Qualitative research methods were employed and the data were collected from 50 teachers in Sincan district of the Province of Ankara. Interviews were carried out with the teachers and recorded. The recordings were transcribed. Teachers were also asked to fill out a questionnaire consisting of 20 open ended questions. The data obtained were analyzed by using appropriate qualitative research analysis techniques.The results of the study revealed that teachers have a positive attitude towards reading hours at schools and view it as an opportunity to help students gain reading habits. All teachers participating in the study stated that reading hours were useful; however, they also pointed out the fact that several problems were faced in the implementation process. The teachers also acknowledged that since they had an overloaded curriculum, reading hours, which they think are really essential, had to be ignored or taken for granted. All the teachers in the sampled group except one wanted the implementation of reading hours to continue and stated that reading hours affected the attitude of students towards reading positively and that students read more books compared to the past as a result of the reading hours practice. Teachers listed the problems faced in implementation as follows: student without books, students with lack of attention disorder, overloaded curricula, and disinterested school managements. The solutions suggested by the teachers are as follows: increasing the number of books, encouraging students to read, interested and involved school managements, improving teacher quality and integrating reading hours into the curricula.Keywords: Reading, reading habits, reading hours.Keywords: Reading, reading habits, reading hours.