Statement on resource based learning and the curriculum

Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) and Australian School Library Association (ASLA)

Purpose
To adopt the resource based learning approach ensures resources enhance the teaching and learning outcomes of the learners.

ALIA objects addressed

• To promote the free flow of information and ideas in the interest of all Australians and a thriving culture, economy and democracy.
• To promote and improve the services provided by all kinds of library and information agencies.

ASLA objectives addressed

• Establish, review and maintain national standards and guidelines for school library resource services.
• Promote an understanding of the aims, needs and educational significance of school library resource services and teacher librarianship.
• Promote research in the field of school library services and teacher librarianship nationwide.
• Develop, write and publish materials which will promote the development of school library resource services and teacher librarianship.

Principle
Resource based learning is a methodology that allows learners to learn from their own investigation of information resources.

Statement
Active learning provides a means by which teachers are able to tailor information resources, learning activities, the location of those activities and expected learning outcomes to the needs and abilities of each child.

Through resource based programs learners develop the skills necessary for gaining intellectual access to information, acquire knowledge and understandings and use resources for personal growth and fulfilment. In particular, these programs provide learners with opportunities to:

• develop the capacity to recognise a need for information, to know how and where to find it from a range of sources, and how to select, organise and communicate it to others;
• acquire the skills required to analyse, interpret, synsthesise and organise information as well as the language and communication skills of reading, writing, viewing, speaking and listening;
• develop as critical thinkers and creative problem solvers while building on a dynamic view of themselves as confident and discerning information users;
• extend their cultural understandings and their information competencies in increasingly complex contexts, using a range of information sources, formats and technologies as an integral part of their learning;
• use resources including literature, to further their personal growth.

The knowledge, understandings and the necessary skills for learning are introduced developmentally and incrementally. In developing these abilities, teachers and teacher librarians work collaboratively to combine knowledge of the curriculum, knowledge of individual learners' needs and competencies and knowledge of information sources, resources and technologies.

Related documents
Australian School Library Association and Australian Library and Information Association 2001, Learning for the future: developing information services in schools, 2nd ed., Curriculum Corporation, Carlton South.

Kuhlthau, Carol C. 2007, Guided inquiry: learning in the 21st century, Libraries Unlimited, Westport CT.

Standards of professional excellence for teacher librarians

Statement on teacher librarians in Australia

Adoped: November 1994 - Amended: February 2009