ASLA National Journal - Access - President's message Rob Moore

Executive Reports - Leading edge

A busy and bright future

ACCESS, Vol. 23, issue 4, 2009, p.3.

By ASLA President, Mr Rob Moore

The developments in Australian education in 2009 have had some interesting implications for our profession. Most notable perhaps is the federal government’s Building the Education Revolution (BER), which has resulted in the building or commissioning of new school libraries for many primary schools. Equally significant has been the Rudd agenda to push for a one-to-one computer environment from Years 9 to 12, which is changing the physical and, ultimately, pedagogical landscape of high schools.

Meanwhile the National Curriculum Board morphed into the Australian Curriculum, Assessment and Reporting Authority (ACARA) and recently the role of Teaching Australia was endorsed by the federal government, though a name change is just around the corner for them too. We can expect the influence of ACARA to increase dramatically during 2010, with plans to implement the national English, Maths, Science and History curricula in 2011. The second phase of national curriculum development is targeting languages, geography and the arts. These documents are underpinned by the development of continua for literacy, numeracy and ICT skills.

What does this mean for teacher librarians? Opportunity. I believe there is a convergence going on in the Australian education landscape that has the potential to empower teacher librarians.

To illustrate this, consider my school as a case in point. I teach in a state high school in regional Queensland, with a student population that fluctuates from around 630 to 650 students. I wear the hats of full-time teacher librarian and ICT Coordinator (with a senior English class thrown in for good measure). Under the current federal government push for computers in my school, we will have a one-to-two computer ratio in Years 9 to 12 by early next year, while, like everyone else in Australia, we’re being asked to prepare for that to be increased to one-to-one by the end of 2011. For us, this will mean an approximate increase of 150%, or to put it another way, an ultimate total of around 520 computers on our school network.

Wearing my ICT Coordinator’s hat, I have to be honest and say this is freaking me out. Exactly how we’re going to install and manage the architecture and infrastructure to pull this off makes my head buzz. However, I get a much better buzz when I think about how my role as teacher librarian in my school may potentially be enhanced through these developments. How?

Quite simply, there must be a pedagogical shift, because at the end of the day we’re not just talking about boxes and wires here, we’re talking about the applied use of this in the classroom. This applied use is going to require serious developments in information literacy skills and THAT’S where we come in. The students and staff in our schools are going to need more help than ever to develop these skills, which offers us the opportunity to be right at the heart of this digital revolution in education.

In terms of the convergence I mentioned earlier, consider ACARA’s emphasis on developing literacy, numeracy and ICT continua across the curriculum. Who is better placed in our schools than the teacher librarian to play a leading role in mapping this? The benefits of playing such a role in your school are clear: in a practical sense, while you’re closely working with Heads of Department and teachers on these specific mapping requirements, the door is open to establish deeper working relationships with staff and a clearer picture of how the wider range of resources available through your library may be linked to what’s being taught in the school.

Furthermore, the advocacy potential of this role is enormous. The tendrils of your influence could reach into even the darkest corners of your school’s curriculum and this kind of leadership will mean a lot to your school principal and decision makers. Such visible and demonstrative leadership can only help when it comes time for budget talks and discussions about staffing the library.

And while you’re putting in these hard yards at the coalface (and of course, there’s the rub — some of these yards will be hard indeed), you can be assured that ASLA is continuing to maintain and develop the influence of teacher librarians with ACARA and Teaching Australia. Having recently spoken at ASLA’s annual National Council face-to-face meeting in Sydney, ACARA General Manager, Rob Randall, has been in touch with us regarding ASLA’s role in the ongoing development of the national curricula.

2010 promises a very busy and bright future.

Last updated 20 November 2009