Half of early childhood education teachers do not regularly read books to students.

BarcelonaHalf of preschool teachers in Spain do not read books to their students regularly. This is one of the conclusions of the latest TALIS Starting Strong report by the OECD, which analyzes the situation in schools regarding early childhood education. This year, for the first time, Spain participated. The study shows that only 55% of preschool teachers—that is, those with students between the ages of 3 and 6—read books to their students regularly. This percentage rises to 85% in the case of Ireland, which is by far the country with the highest rate of this type of classroom activity among the territories analyzed by the OECD. Turkey (69%), Sweden (68%), Chile (67%), and Japan (64%) complete the top of the ranking. Conversely, Morocco and Denmark (42%), Germany (46%), and Finland (48%) are at the bottom. Therefore, regarding the proportion of teachers who read books to their students, Spain is in the middle of the twenty or so countries on which the study focused. "There is a lot of international, but also national, evidence of the benefits of not only reading stories but also working on orality and discourse in early childhood, and even before the age of three," argues Pilar Prieto, ICREA researcher in the Department of Translation and Language Sciences at Pompeu Fabra University (UPF). Hence, Prieto insists on the need for the link between orality and literacy to be systematically addressed in all schools across the country.

The ICREA researcher clarifies that it's important not only "to read stories, but to tell them and work with them using different techniques"; that is, to work "with multimodality, using gestures and exaggerated prosody to enhance language." And this also includes asking questions about what is being narrated, a practice that, according to the TALIS report, is carried out by most teachers who read books to their students. Furthermore, Spain is one of the countries where the most early childhood education teachers sing songs with their students. 80% of teachers in the country do so, second only to Chile (90%) and Ireland (80%). Prieto argues that this practice is also "essential" for learning. "It has been shown how the repeated melodies used in songs greatly help to enhance language and positive emotions in the school environment," explains the UPF researcher.

A satisfied teaching sector

The study also focuses on assessing the job satisfaction of teachers with students between the ages of 3 and 6, and almost all respondents (97%) in Spain are satisfied with their work. In fact, 96% say they enjoy teaching at their current school, compared to 17% who say they would like to change schools. Furthermore, 99% of teachers at this educational level feel valued by the children, and 96% also feel valued by their students' families. However, only 45% perceive recognition from society. Regarding the possibility of leaving the profession, 34% of preschool teachers in Spain are considering leaving within the next five years to become primary school teachers, but the figure of 23% who are considering leaving the profession in the near future to address physical health issues is also noteworthy.