Using Hoyle's (1974) distinction between extended and restricted professionality, a case survey of the professional reading habits of 28 experienced teachers was carried out. The study was navigated by the following questions: What sorts of educational literature do teachers read? What types do they find most useful and why? What sort of attitudes towards educational research do they exhibit? And what factors inhibit their understanding and possible use of research literature in their practice? The findings indicate that teachers consult a wide variety of educational literature, however, their antipathy towards formal educational research was widespread with most believing that academic researchers failed to address their concerns in a language and a medium that was practitioner friendly. The paper ends with a discussion and a series of recommendations regarding the ways in which teachers might be helped to develop different forms of 'reflective transfer' (Schon, 1984) thereby connecting what they read with their own classroom practice