Do Preschool Children Access Quality Books? Reading Culture of Parents and Teachers and Book Selection for Children

Abstract

This correlational study aimed to evaluate the reading cultures of preschool teachers and parents of 3–6-year-old children, and their book selection criteria for preschool children. For this purpose, data were collected from 242 preschool teachers and 247 parents who voluntarily participated in the study. Participants were asked to evaluate their own reading culture and book selection criteria for their preschool children through measurement tools. They were then asked to send them to other parents and teachers they knew through snowball sampling. As a result of the analyses, it was found that there was a positive correlation between both parents' and preschool teachers' reading for individual development, basic reading skills, book choices for themselves and reading culture total scores and physical characteristics, language and character, content and total children's book selection criteria scores. In the light of the findings, suggestions were made to parents and teachers about creating a reading culture and selecting quality books.