Transcript Blue Sky Border - Charles Sturt University

The Principal-Library
Team Dynamic…
Powerful partnerships forging
information literate school
communities
Lyn Hay
School of Information Studies
Charles Sturt University
Wagga Wagga, NSW
Principals & teacher librarians
are together
responsible
for establishing
environments for
effective teaching
and learning
to take place
An information literate school community…
 whole school information policies &
ICT plan
 benchmarked information competencies
& student portfolios
 funds for information service provision
 members understand TL role as teacher
as well as information expert
 teacher in charge of information 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
Creation of
an
information literate
school
community
Inhibitors & enablers
 analyse school for primary inhibitors & 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)
If principals and TLs are responsible
for establishing environments for
effective teaching and learning...
what factors are critical to a successful
and professional partnership?
Principals....
 understanding of information literacy &
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
 rely on TL’s professional judgement
 not exposed to TL issues at Principals’
conferences & meetings
Principals....
 provide TLs with freedom to ‘do their own thing’
 allow release to plan/teach collaboratively &
undertake professional development
 support information literacy via major ICT funding
& ongoing support of collection development
 are uncertain how to evaluate the success
of information literacy programs
 place high value on TL qualifications &
merit selection for the school’s TL position
Principals have high expectations....
They have high expectations of....
 TLs being ICT literate & having a vision
of the future development of information
services in the school
 what the TL should achieve in & beyond
the library
 the TL as information advisor to the
Principal
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 &
principal’s vision was essential
 TL had to be credible & act as a change
agent
 TL needed broad based support & not seen
as part of factional politics
Themes of principal support....
 understanding & believing in a collaborative
school library program
 recognising the importance of the TL
 ensuring collaborative planning time & 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 & in future
 measuring beliefs
 indicate strength of alignment between
P & TL
 open-ended questions
 identify barriers & support, P & TL roles
and contributions
Findings
 Ps & TLs demonstrated close affinity across
perceptions & 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 & professional
competence
 Ps & TLs viewed TL critical contributions to
quality teaching & 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
& your partner informed
3. TL must be visible
4. TL must seek alliances
5. Ensure a balance in TL duties
6. Lead by example as information users
7. Work & learn together
Develop an ILSC blueprint
emerging  developing  proficient  advanced
Indicators
 Existence of an information policy
 ICT plan in place
 Information skills taught & learned in context, across
the curriculum
 Authentic assessment enabling information skills
integration
 School-wide appreciation of TL role
 Learning contexts varied, available in variety of formats
 Mechanisms to support professional development of
teachers for information literacy
“We can’t impart something we
can’t live, we can’t teach
something we don’t know, and
we can’t expect something we
cannot model.
That’s why we need to clearly
identify our paradigms and choose
principles we want to guide us…
“And it’s also why we can’t afford
to leave anyone behind in this
process because, if we do, we’ll
inevitably do the same with our
students.”
The Principal-Library
Team Dynamic…
Powerful partnerships forging
information literate school
communities
Lyn Hay
School of Information Studies
Charles Sturt University
Wagga Wagga, NSW