Empowering Pre-Service Teachers as Enthusiastic and Knowledgeable Reading Role Models Through Engagement in Children’s Literature

This article presents early insights from a small-scale action research project designed to promote positive reading dispositions and expand reading repertoires among pre-service teachers at a regional Australian university. Building on Professor Teresa Cremin and colleagues’ seminal Teachers as Readers research in the U.K., the study highlights the critical role of teacher educators in fostering pre-service teachers’ knowledge and enthusiasm. It explores how the use of high-quality children’s literature alongside a reading-for-enjoyment (RfE) pedagogical approach can shape pre-service teachers’ identities as future reading role models. Strategies such as shared read-alouds, book talk, and enjoyment-centred reading practices were employed to strengthen connections with children’s literature. The study also modelled how children’s literature could be used as mentor texts to support curriculum-aligned instruction and develop pedagogical confidence. Wenger’s Communities of Practice theory provides a framework to demonstrate how a children’s literature-based approach and RfE pedagogical practices contribute to the formation of positive reader identities. Amid concerns about improving literacy rates and teacher preparedness for reading instruction, this study illustrates the transformative potential of integrating children’s literature and RfE pedagogy into initial teacher education to cultivate future Reading Teachers capable of inspiring a love of reading and building communities of readers in their classrooms.