Transcript What is an Information Literate School Community? The Role

What is an Information Literate
School Community?
The Role of Principals and
Teacher Librarians…
Lyn Hay
School of Information Studies
Charles Sturt University
Principals and teacher librarians
are together
responsible
for establishing
environments for
effective teaching
and learning
to take place.
What might that
environment
look like?
An Information Literate
School Community...
 whole school information policies and ICT plan
 benchmarked information competencies and
student portfolios
 funds for information services provision
 members understand TL role as teacher as well
as information expert
 teacher in charge of info services is qualified TL
 teachers as learners
 information skills across curriculum/
in context
 process of learning from information –
resource based, problem-solving learning
 learning contexts varied/wide range of resources
 teaching teams encouraged
 student drafts included in assessment
 information tasks negotiated with stakeholders
 social justice issues considered re use of
information process in homework
 student feedback encouraged
 student records of self-assessment
 principal expects TL to meet ‘corporate’
information needs
What does an
information literate person
look like?
Information Power
 Build partnerships for learning
through collaboration, technology
& leadership
 American Association School
Librarians (AASL) & Association
for Educational Communications
and Technology (AECT)
 9 information literacy standards with 31 indicators
 Links content-area standards to IL standards
Information Literacy Standards for
Student Learning
I. Information Literacy
The student who is information literate…
 accesses information efficiently and
effectively
 evaluates information critically and
competently
 uses information accurately and creatively
Refer to IL Standards handout
Information Literacy Standards for
Student Learning
II. Independent Learning
The student who is an independent
learner is information literate and…
 pursues information related to personal
interests
 appreciates literature and other creative
expressions of information
 strives for excellence in information
seeking and knowledge generation
Information Literacy Standards for
Student Learning
III. Social Responsibility
The student who contributes positively to
the learning community and to society…
 recognises the importance of information to
a democratic society
 practices ethical behaviour in regard to
information and information technology
 participates effectively in groups to pursue
and generate information
Creation of
an information literate
school community
Inhibitors & enablers
 analyse school for primary inhibitors and basic
enablers
 inhibitors – lack of time, confusion of roles,
poorly designed assignments
 basic enablers
 team approach to teaching
 understanding of constructivist learning
 commitment to lifelong learning
 competence developing learning strategies
(Kuhlthau, 1993)
Information literacy traits
 invention
 fluency
 support
 navigation
 searching
 selection
 questioning
 planning
 interpretation
 deep thinking
 commitment
(McKenzie, 1998)
A review of the literature…
 role of the Principal in developing
school library and information
services
 Teacher librarian’s role in
developing the school library program
 involvement of principal in implementation
processes essential
Fullan (1982; 1993)
 the most powerful and pivotal force behind
educational change
 roles of visionary, enabler, role model and
motivator to achieve successful change
Wilkes (1992)
 plays crucial role in school improvement
Rosenholtz (1985; 1989)
If principals and TLs are responsible
for establishing environments for
effective teaching and learning...
what factors are critical to a successful
and professional partnership?
Research findings
Phase 1.....
Principals....
 understanding of information literacy and
encouraged teachers to embrace it
 preferred verbal communication
 support TLs as a quasi-senior member
of staff as long as the TL is credible
 identified TLs as ‘natural’ ICT leaders
Principals....
 rely on TL’s professional judgement
 not exposed to TL issues at Principals’
conferences and meetings
 provide TLs with major freedom to
‘do their own thing’
 allow release to plan/teach collaboratively,
and undertake professional development
Principals....
 support information literacy via major ICT
funding and ongoing support of collection
development
 are uncertain how to evaluate the success
of information literacy programs
 place high value on TL qualifications and
merit selection for the school’s TL position
Principals have high expectations....
They have high expectations of....
 TLs being ICT literate and having a vision
of the future development of information
services in the school
 what the TL should achieve in and
beyond the library
 the TL as information advisor to the
Principal
Teacher Librarians....
 indicated while principal
support was essential, it was
not sufficient for success –
staff support had to be won
 sought support of a senior
mentor as a ‘sounding board’
and potential advocate
Principal/TL relationship....
TRUST
 principals gave TLs ‘what they wanted‘
because they believed the TL would only
make ‘legitimate’ demands
 TLs tended to be ‘conservative’ in their
requests - did not abuse the principal’s
trust
SHARED VISION
Development of an ILSC could only be achieved
through an integrated school library program:
 close alignment between the TL’s and
principal’s vision was essential
 TL had to be credible and act as a change
agent
 TL needed broad based support and not seen
as part of factional politics
Research findings
Phase 2.....
Themes of principal support
 understanding and believing in a collaborative
school library program
 recognising the importance of the TL
 ensuring collaborative planning time and other
program resources
 providing appropriate staff development
 monitoring implementation of a collaborative
school library program
Level of principal support
 measuring perceptions
 identifying the level of attention given at present
and in future
 measuring beliefs
 indicate strength of alignment between P & TL
 open-ended questions
 identify barriers & support, P & TL roles and
contributions
Findings
 Ps and TLs demonstrated close affinity across
perceptions and beliefs
 Ps viewed themselves as spending less time on
critical matters than their TLs thought they did
 Ps perceived current allocation of time on
information literacy support as all they could give
 Ps needed to increase support in 5 areas
 TLs disagreed with some belief statements
Findings
 Ps and TLs differed in 3 beliefs about TL absence,
credibility and professional competence
 Ps & TLs viewed TL critical contributions to
quality teaching and learning as:
professional development of teaching staff
 collegiality
 collection management
 process orientation
 ICT expertise

Findings
 Ps & TLs strongly agreed barriers hindering IL
across curriculum were:
funding
 teacher knowledge & beliefs
 teachers desire
 planning time
 credentials

 TLs saw lack of top-down support as major
impediment in ability to influence curriculum
What do we need to do?
Follow these 8
‘Guiding Principles’...
Guiding Principles...
1. Communicate regularly
2. Don’t assume anything. Keep
yourself and your partner informed
3. TL must be visible
4. TL must seek alliances
Guiding Principles...
5. Ensure a balance in TL duties
6. Lead by example as information users
7. Work and learn together
8. Develop an ILSC blueprint – work
from ‘emerging’ thru to ‘advanced’
Define your role in designing
an information literate school
community...
…with your Principal or
Teacher Librarian today.
Further Reading
The Principal's Role in Developing and Supporting an Information Literate School Community, 1995-2000
[Online] farrer.csu.edu.au/principal/survey/report.html
Hay, L., Henri, J. and Oberg, D. (1999). The role of the principal in an information literate school community:
Think global, act local. In Henri J. and Bonanno K. (eds). (1999) The information literate school community:
Best practice. Wagga Wagga: CIS, 119-144.
Henri, J., Hay, L. and Oberg, D. (2002). The role of the principal in an information literate school community:
Findings from an international research project. School Libraries Professional Session at the Libraries for Life:
Democracy, Diversity, Delivery, 68th IFLA Council and General Conference, Glasgow, Scotland, 18-24 August.
[Online] http://www.ifla.org/IV/ifla68/papers/031-097e.pdf
Henri, J., Hay, L. and Oberg, D. (2002). The School Library-Principal Relationship: Guidelines for Research and
Practice. [International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA) Professional Report]. The
Hague, Netherlands: IFLA Headquarters.
Oberg, D., Hay, L. and Henri, J. (2000). The role of the principal in an information literate school community:
Design and administration of an international research project. School Library Media Research. Vol. 3.
(Refereed journal) [Online] www.ala.org/aasl/SLMR/vol3/principal/principal.html
Oberg, D., Hay, L. and Henri, J. (2000). The role of the principal in an information literate school community:
Cross-country comparisons from an international research project. School Library Media Research. Vol. 3.
(Refereed journal) [Online] www.ala.org/aasl/SLMR/vol3/principal2/principal2.html
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