Australian School Library Association > Publications > Teacher librarians and school leadership

Teacher librarians and school leadership

By Cheryl O'Connor

ACCESS, Vol. 21, Issue 1, 2007, pp. 5-7.

(The views expressed in articles are those of the author(s) concerned and do not necessarily represent the views of ASLA.)

In any faculty or team within a school, there are some staff who make a deliberate choice to remain in their mainstream teaching field with the intention of becoming the best professional they are capable of being. Their focus is to stay ahead of the game in terms of content, pedagogy and other changes that influence the way they go about their work.

With increasing professional confidence and competence, they undertake a wider range of leadership activities to enhance the objectives of the school in relation to the quality of the education provided to students, the different levels and types of support offered to colleagues and, increasingly, to parents and community members. The visible roles may be organisational, sharing observations and expertise, guiding, mentoring, coaching, supporting, or developing the effectiveness of a team – and are often given without counting or even being fully aware of their impact. These are important hallmarks in the development of a leading professional. Even though such undertakings are purely voluntary, they may be prized or taken for granted, depending on the culture of a school. While time allowances may sometimes be given to support such contributions, typically such leadership initiatives are given freely and with goodwill – in every sense.

Clearly, many teacher librarians would be among this group.

As well, there are some staff members who, at some point in their careers, decide to seek promotion positions within the hierarchy of their organisation. For many within this group, all of the above might apply with equal professional commitment and goodwill. The differences start to become evident because the aspiring promotee is obliged to assess the ways in which she or he has been working to build the evidence that will be needed for a competitive application for a particular position. At this point, there is no choice but to consider each selection criterion and place beside it exactly what has been achieved to date, what will be undertaken in the future and how these skills and aptitudes will be transferable into a different school (or other) context. This process of counting and measuring is too frequently seen as something less noble and is a deterrent, especially for many women.

Clearly, some teacher librarians would be among this group.

Despite the extrinsic rewards, a formal leadership position is not the holy grail of a profession. Yet any capable and committed staff member, including a teacher librarian, is entitled to see promotion as a viable and honourable option in the development of their career. The price that is paid by all who seek promotion is that the initial focus on a particular teaching area is gradually subsumed by a focus on the whole school and its external influencers. This loss increases with the level occupied in the school hierarchy, but there are many different gains and frustrations – intrinsic and extrinsic – at all levels. 

So what of teacher librarians in the promotions game?

As few occupy formal school leadership positions, it appears that they may face extra barriers.

Stereotype
It may be that in the eyes of some colleagues, the teacher librarian still fits, to some degree, the stereotype of a little lady with her hair in a bun, working in a SILENCE PLEASE environment, with a huge card catalogue and the agility to climb a wooden ladder to reach precious tomes brimming with restricted information unavailable to the masses. 

More realistically, it may be that school colleagues perceive the teacher librarian’s role as isolated; an unreal part of the school where students do not have to be motivated, managed and made to work. It may also be that their work and contributions are misunderstood or underestimated by many staff members because they do not have around them a group of colleagues who understand the day-to-day challenges of the position and the way in which the librarian actually performs the role as a school staff member. Influential colleagues – those who encourage and give feedback – may see the librarian as self-contained and the library as something other than mainstream. Some may see the role as being impervious to normal considerations such as ambition, leadership and school-wide influence – why would anyone give up the peace and calm of a library to enter the harum-scarum, conflict-ridden role of student discipline and staff management.

It may be that some teacher librarians really do isolate themselves in the narrow confines of an efficient and organised space within a school, giving few opportunities for other staff to observe their strengths, to see first-hand the ways they manage and work with students and colleagues, and to gain insights into the leading-edge skills of a capable librarian.

And there may be a barrier in the minds of teacher librarians themselves, based on the observations of those who have tried to win a promotion and the types of feedback they have received from selection committees.

So what skills do teacher librarians possess that might indeed make them very competitive for a promotion position? 

As far as leadership is concerned, there is a general expectation that teacher librarians will collaborate with staff in the development of curriculum and learning materials; to increase literacy and research skills; to help increase equity, access and fairness in the provision of resources and services for all students; to ensure the school is kept abreast of teaching and learning developments in their own school and within their system of schools and also nationally; and to ensure that the library is a multifunctional resource for students, staff and parents. Frequently, the library is also a major events venue, carrying all of the responsibilities associated with publicity, promotion and public relations. Each of these is a major consideration in the area of leadership. The question is: how well does the librarian perform in how many of these areas.

What follows are suggestions in relation to generalised criteria and could be extended and developed by teacher librarians to support those considering promotion and help them understand and value the complexity of their role. 
 
Working with adults
Teacher librarians join preschool, special education and early childhood teachers with staff supervision responsibilities from day one since there is usually an allocation of time from a library assistant or, in smaller settings, perhaps a parent volunteer. They also have to interact with people from external and community agencies, gaining experience in sourcing products and services, negotiating prices and contractual arrangements and maintaining mature and effective relationships. 

Within the school, they are involved in the same staff interchanges as others, with the same opportunities to contribute to debate, decide policies and practices and lead projects. They are covered by the same employer and school-related rules and requirements. As a school educational service provider, they have to work with every teacher – from the most conscientious to the least, the most experienced to the least, and the most easy-going to the least. They are in a position to provide advice and support to teachers, based on their observations about student reactions to work requirements and also about relevant resources and possible joint ventures.

Working with students
Again, teacher librarians work with all students – whether they arrive as a class, in small groups or as individuals. It is incumbent on them to respond appropriately since skills have to be taught, students have to be coached, problems have to be solved and relationships have to be managed. Frequently, teacher librarians are the ones to help students understand tasks that have been set, plan ways to tackle the work, help to decide the most likely sources of information and ways that work can be presented to make best use of student skills and abilities. In addition, the access to IT resources that are commonly located in libraries provides opportunities to reduce disadvantages of unequal access outside the school. This is also addressed in the times that the library is available outside normal school hours.

Knowledge of curriculum and pedagogy
If today’s schools are learning organisations, then an effective library has a fundamental role. No longer is it simply a repository for words in print for research, pleasure and reflection; to this function has been added all of the complexities associated with information and communication technologies. In most schools, the librarian is reliably at the forefront of the changes sweeping through educative practices and has an important role in planning and delivering the professional services now required for students. Again, work with students and teachers across the school gives the teacher librarian rare insights into work being developed and set for students across all curriculum areas – those that are keeping pace, those that are relevant, those that are interesting, those that are challenging and those that truly engage students in their own learning. Similarly, as the library is the main repository for assessment and evaluation materials, teacher librarians are in a relatively rare position of seeing the design and presentation of processes by which student outcomes are assessed and gauged.

Organisation and financial management
The teacher librarian carries major responsibilities in these areas, the complexity of which extends beyond what is expected of any other teacher or specialist teacher. Except for the school principal, few in promotion positions have day-to-day responsibility of such magnitude. Library budgets are substantial, and increasing because of IT investments. Also substantial is the organisation, location and management of resources as well as the tracking of student access, usefulness and value for investment. Decisions must be made in relation to budgetary allocation, school priorities, emerging areas of interest and need, IT hardware and software, student-paced learning materials and school strategies to encourage the acquisition of literacy skills; all while maintaining a pleasure in reading for its own sake and an appreciation for good writing.

To ensure the development of lifelong learning skills, the library has to be organised so that students experience as little frustration as possible. There is also a growing expectation that a library will house important school archives and will manage knowledge, including that held by individuals, in ways that are increasingly complex.

The library is also bound by a raft of administrative and legal requirements additional to those that are a normal part of modern school administration.

Policies affecting human resources
School librarians are as responsible as all other staff for ensuring a safe and equitable workplace, with clearly delineated policies and practices.

These examples are by no means definitive and ASLA would do well to review them in the knowledge that they are suggestions from one person. From this starting point, a comprehensive list could be developed and applied to the specific requirements of the different state employers, government and non-government. Some patterns are reasonably consistent across employers but some individual differences need careful consideration. The collection of a sample of position advertisements will help build a profile that is helpful to teacher librarians and this should be reviewed annually to keep abreast of changes. Some might say that this is the responsibility of the individual teacher librarian who is considering or seeking promotion within the school hierarchy, and of course it is. The problem for teacher librarians is that they do not have the same cumulative wisdom that mainstream classroom teachers have acquired over a long period. Such an undertaking by ASLA has two major benefits: the first is that all the possibilities embodied in the work of a teacher librarian will be documented and appreciated first and importantly, by teacher librarians themselves; the second is that such work helps to reduce the barriers or glass ceilings or whatever else that has blocked access by school librarians to formal school leadership positions.

Access in the future requires all school librarians to see that their current responsibilities require unusually high leadership knowledge and skills. The best practitioners are equal to the best in any faculty or teaching team. Ongoing connection with the future of the profession, new learning and different experiences are the ingredients for successful promotion and leadership.

Cheryl O'Connor is the chief executive officer of the Australian College of Educators (ACE). ACE is an independent professional association that represents all educators: early childhood, schools, TAFEs, universities (government and private) and also private providers. Operating nationally and internationally through a network of branches and Regional Groups, ACE provides many opportunities for educators to meet to learn from each other, to keep debate spirited and current, and to reflect and add personal dimensions to the complex requirements of good teaching. This article was developed after recent work with members of ASLA in the Australian Capital Territory.

Copyright of articles published in Access is jointly held by the Australian School Library Association Inc. (ASLA) and the author(s).  The author(s) retain copyright of their articles but give permission to the ASLA to reprint their works in collections or other such documents published by and on behalf of the ASLA.  Author(s) who give permission for their articles to be reprinted elsewhere should inform the editor of Access and should ensure that the following statement appears with the article: Reprinted, with permission, from Access, [volume, issue, date, pages].

Last updated March 2007