Page 277 - Week 01 - Wednesday, 15 February 2012
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However, in future years I am concerned that our children and grandchildren will not have that same benefit. Librarians are becoming an optional extra in Canberra schools. I have raised the shortage of librarians often with the former Minister for Education. His answer is invariably that it is a school principal’s choice as to whether the school has a librarian or not.
Just this afternoon I received an email from a constituent. I have not had a chance to confirm whether she would like her name mentioned; so I would just like to quote a couple of paragraphs from the correspondence that was sent to me to try and raise this very issue: “If they, the government, really cared about quality teaching and NAPLAN literacy results they would take heed of the research linking qualified teacher-librarians with improved literacy and academic achievement. Yes, quality teachers make a difference especially when they have the support of knowledgeable and skilled quality teacher-librarians, along with performance development opportunities which can only be actualised with adequate staffing which must be funded. If NPAs and flexible staffing work, it is only because the funding is there for extra staff. Please ask the government what they are doing to ensure that the funds staffing points are there to support specialist staff and that the tertiary training programs for teacher-librarians are reinstated and scholarship incentives provided to the principals and qualified teacher-librarians will be able to get them.”
That is an extract from the email received this afternoon. If this government really cared about quality teaching and NAPLAN literacy results, they would accept that research that links qualified teacher-librarians with improved literacy and academic achievement. In the last two years we have had many schools enhanced by new libraries but without the money for books and without the appropriate staffing, they will not realise their potential and neither will schools.
The latest Softlink school library survey published their results in August last year. The survey showed that one in three ACT primary schools do not have a librarian. Out of 10 high schools, one has a 140 per cent teacher-librarian FTE, seven have 100 per cent and one has 60 per cent of an FTE. The remainder have a range of technical assistants, library technicians or unqualified staff.
The issue is one raised frequently by parent groups and others concerned with quality outcomes in education. Recently I received a letter from a teacher who has invested a significant amount of personal finances in training to become a qualified teacher-librarian only to find he could not gain full-time employment. Yet he is aware of public schools in which there is no qualified librarian.
The government’s standard response when being tackled on such issues to say that they are committed to ensuring students had access to 21st century library information and learning services. But 80 per cent of schools surveyed in the Softlink survey said school library budgets were reduced or remained the same in the past 12 months, despite significant expenses to keep connected to the latest technology.
Let us celebrate the national year of reading. Let us by all means appoint reading ambassadors that will get out and promote the value and enjoyment of books and of
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