Month: March 2023

ETL504 2.3: Promoting the Teacher-Librarian’s Visibility and Value

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How can we take the perception of the TL’s role from the keeper and stamper of books in the quiet place to something different?

I think it’s fair to say that as a profession teacher-librarians have an image problem. Way back at the start of this degree I wrote about Bonanno’s keynote speech in which she described teacher-librarians as an ‘invisible profession’ (Lysaught, August 29 2021a) and the misconception that the library is purely about books (Lysaught, August 29 2021b). A 2021 study revealed that in the US, teacher-librarian numbers declined 20% in the past decade (Ingram, July 19, 2021), and this trend of shrinking school libraries is being replicated in Australia (Tidball, February 10, 2023) alongside stagnating or declining budgets, staffing levels, and staff engagement or support (Softlink, 2022, p.6-7).

Maybe, like a good dancer, we make our work look effortless. Maybe too much of what we do is in the background of busy teachers’ days. One thing that’s for sure is that we need to work on improving our visibility and perceived value to our school community if we are to ensure the future of our profession (Weisburg, 2020).

Moir, Hattie and Jansen (2014, p.37) identified a number of key attributes that teachers perceived as important for leaders:

They also state that “Trust is often best developed in team environments, as then there is opportunity for collaboration and shared decision-making, especially when there is a common focus on improving teaching and learning” (p.39). Bush and Glover (2014, p.554) also discuss the idea of leadership as influence rather than stemming from formal authority, which suits teacher-librarians since we often lack official leadership positions in school hierarchies. Both discussions relate beautifully to the work of the teacher-librarian as literacy expert and information specialist, and they highlight a key way that teacher-librarians can both improve their visibility and their perceived value to their school community through collaborative programming, teaching, and assessment which supports the work of time-poor classroom teachers.

The work of Crippen and Willows (2019, p.174) highlights the 10 characteristics of servant-leaders, and teacher-librarians are uniquely placed to assist healing for colleagues overburdened by heavy workloads, administrivia, and poor student behaviour: “Through their actions as servant leaders they are facilitating a healing process and followers often look to them for support when times are difficult or something traumatic has occurred (Barbuto and Wheeler, 2007).” Teacher-librarians can also exhibit the persuasion trait of servant-leaders: “Supovitz (2018) also describes how teacher leaders use strategies such as leading by example, earning their colleagues trust and encouraging and collaborating with their peers.” 

Another area where teacher-librarians can shift the perception of the school community is in the space surrounding emerging or rapidly changing technologies. A 2016 article notes that “By virtue of their training, relationships, systems knowledge, and instructional roles … teacher librarians are ideally suited to lead, teach, and support students and teachers in 21st century schools” (Digital Promise, 2016). Digital literature has the potential to move students from passive consumers to active creators of content while engaging them with the process and ethics of digital content creation (Lysaught, October 4 2022), and Artificial Intelligence is another emerging space where teacher-librarians can position themselves as experts to increase their visibility and perceived value (Lysaught, March 5 2023). It is imperative that we stay current with new and developing technologies to best position ourselves as experts in this field. Our expertise in copyright and the ethics of digital tools alongside our ability to connect the General Capabilities to specific learning programs is invaluable – however, we need to ensure that we’re promoting our abilities in this area and marketing collaborative teaching and planning as a benefit to time-poor teachers rather than just another thing to add to their plates. 

Weisburg (2020) argues that while there are numerous barriers to showcasing our value, as a profession we have no other option. We must make it a priority to develop our visibility and promote our value to our school community or we run the risk of becoming obsolete. Weisburg suggests that teacher-librarians should start by looking for ways to showcase what we’re already doing; social media posts, visible displays, and staff emails can promote this work among the school community, while annual library reports can increase the perception of our professionalism and showcase for senior leaders much of the behind the scenes work that goes into running a library (Lysaught, March 5 2023). Weisburg’s suggestion about speaking at P&C meetings is another interesting one which links well to our aforementioned technology expertise. The most crucial aspect of Weisburg’s article for me was the concept of “chopportunities” – “challenges that can be turned into an opportunity.” So much of what affects the library is decided without our input and while it can be tempting to fall into the “why bother?” disheartened state of mind, for our own protection (and sanity!) reframing these issues as “chopportunities” can be a way to reclaim some sense of agency and showcase the benefits we provide to our school communities. 

 

References:

Bush, T. & Glover, D. (2014). School leadership models: What do we know? School Leadership and Management, 34(5), 553-571. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2014.928680

Crippen, C. & Willows, J. (2019). Connecting teacher leadership and servant leadership: A synergistic partnership. Journal of Leadership Education, 18(2), pp. 171-180. https://journalofleadershiped.org/jole_articles/connecting-teacher-leadership-and-servant-leadership-a-synergistic-partnership/

Digital Promise (2016). The new librarian: Leaders in the digital age. In SCIS Connections, (96). https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-96/the-new-librarian-leaders-in-the-digital-age/

Moir, S., Hattie, J. & Jansen, C. (2014). Teacher perspectives of ‘effective’ leadership in schools. Australian Educational Leader, 36(4), 36-40.

Softlink (2022). 2022 Australian and New Zealand school library survey report. https://www.softlinkint.com/resources/reports-and-whitepapers/

Weisburg, H. K. (2020). Leadership: There is no other option. Synergy, 18(1). https://slav.vic.edu.au/index.php/Synergy/article/view/369/364

ETL504 2.2 Leadership Theory

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This week I’ve been reading up on different leadership styles and the ways that they can impact school culture and student outcomes. As with all worthwhile things in life, I’ve tried to wrap my head around these new concepts by comparing them to The Lord of the Rings. One does not simply understand these things straight away, so here’s my attempt at analysing the different leadership styles of the LotR characters.

Autocratic leadership: Autocratic leadership is characterised by decisions made from the top with very little input by followers, negatively impacting relationships and job satisfaction. I highly doubt Sauron was consulting with his orc generals, and neither Saruman nor Denethor seem particularly happy in their middle management roles. F for fail in 21st century educational leadership theory.

Transactional leadership: This style is based heavily on following processes and policies, and rewarding or punishing followers based on their performance. Saruman lures Wormtongue with the promise of Eowyn as a reward yet belittles him constantly once he fails at his task. Saruman gets a knife in the back as a result. Don’t lead like Saruman.

Instructional leadership: Instructional leaders lead from a place of official authority and have long range plans for their organisation. However, if you’re not particularly charismatic (or you’re corrupted by the One Ring) you might not be able to inspire the required action from your followers. Poor Boromir. He tried.

Distributed leadership: One of my favourite quotes from this week’s readings was from Harris, who said “empower others to bring things to you.” Elrond absolutely embodies this since he empowers the hobbits to bring the One Ring to Rivendell, and later inspires the Fellowship to volunteer for their mission … quest … thing. Ted Lasso is another pop culture distributed leader that springs to mind.

Laissez-faire (delegative) leadership: I love Gandalf, I really do. But we can’t deny that he has a habit of disappearing at key moments (“Look to my coming on the first light of the fifth day; at dawn, look to the East” – really, dude?). Lucky for Gandalf (and the rest of Middle Earth), he’s got a cracker of a team behind him whom he trusts and empowers to do the right thing when he takes a step back.

Situational leadership: This style requires flexibility and adaptability dependent on the situation, and is often contingent on the followers’ abilities. Frodo goes through a lot and relies heavily on the people around him as he adapts to the needs of his current situation. Lucky for him his Fellowship care for him (though let’s be honest, Aragorn could have totally gone after him if he’d really wanted). However, if the situational leader’s team aren’t top-notch (I’m looking at you, Gollum!) then they might not be as effective and their goals may remain unachieved.

Transformational leadership: Transformational leaders are people who see the big picture and work towards creating a sense of unity and shared vision amongst their team. They lead by example and have to make tough decisions. Aragon, son of Arathorn, Isildur’s Heir is no mere ranger, but even when without his official title manages to instill trust amongst the hobbits, and later puts himself on the line multiple times to serve the greater good.

Servant leadership: This is my personal favourite and one which I aspire to achieve in my own personal practice. Servant leaders put the needs of others first, make ethical decisions and are loyal, people-driven all-round good guys. They genuinely care about the people in their team and as a result engender an environment of high trust and inspire others to work with them. Samwise typifies this style of leadership – he’s not a powerful king or wizard, just a gardener with a heart of gold. When Frodo stumbles he picks him up and gets the job done. His line, “I can’t carry it for you, but I can carry you!” seems so pertinent to the teacher-librarian’s role as leader within a school context. Everyone needs a Sam!

 

 

ETL504 2.1: Organisation Theory Introduction

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Informed by Robinson’s presentation, think about the influences upon a school – structural, cultural and societal and identify a key driver for change in each area that the teacher librarian could respond to through school library programs.

A lot has changed in the 13 years since Robinson’s video was first published to Youtube. When this video was published, Youtube was still a fairly new and groundbreaking platform, Facebook was still a relative baby, Instagram had only just been launched, and TikTok wasn’t even a twinkle in its creators’ eyes. Early in my studies I was introduced to the concept of the changing infosphere (Lysaught, 2021, August 30) and my understanding of these issues and their relationship to the role of the teacher librarian has continued to develop as I’ve moved through this degree.

Since 2010, a multitude of new apps, sites, and other assorted technologies have emerged. The big one causing much consternation in the education community at the moment is the rise of AI tools such as ChatGPT. While there’s a lot of fear and uncertainty about the role artificial intelligence will play in the future of education, I strongly feel that this emerging technology is one area where effective teacher librarians can position themselves as leaders and drivers of innovation in their school communities. While some concerns are not without merit (especially around potential student plagiarism and the ethics of AI), at the moment my experiences have led me to view AI tools such as ChatGPT as a sort of “Google on steroids” and a valuable time-saver for overworked, time-poor teachers. As such, for this reflection I used it to get my head around the idea of what could be meant by structural, cultural and societal influences upon schools. I was rather pleased with the results:

Let’s address some of these influences more directly.

Structural influences upon a school:

  • School funding: obviously a teacher librarian in a school setting (especially one without formal leadership credentials) will have limited impact on the way schools are funded. However, through advocating for our role, our value to our school community and our professionalism I believe that teacher librarians can in some cases successfully apply for a greater slice of the funding pie. I used our 2021 Annual Library Report as evidence to request more funding and was granted additional support for my 2022 Wide Reading Program trial.
  • Curriculum: again, teacher librarians have an extremely limited ability to determine the curriculum set by National and State educational bodies (beyond participation in focus groups and curriculum groups when these documents are reviewed). However, our role within schools has the potential to act as the “glue” which draws together different curriculum areas (Lysaught, 2021, October 5) and the general capabilities (Lysaught, 2021, November 22), and can unite otherwise isolated subject ‘silos’ to ensure cross-curricular learning.
  • School policies: through participation in school-wide teams and committees, teacher librarians can help guide and implement these policies and procedures. For instance in the past I have been a member of our school’s Gifted and Talented Education committee, and when that was dissolved I moved into the Technology in Education committee.
  • Physical facilities: often the physical layout of the school is beyond the teacher librarian’s control; however, we can absolutely make a difference in the design and layout of the library space, and can develop and manage efficient collections which meet the learning and recreational needs of our school community. As noted in my 2022 Annual Library Report (Lysaught, 2023, March 5), 49% of library purchases were patron-led acquisitions to build student and staff ownership over the collection.

Cultural influences upon a school:

  • School culture: building respectful relationships and trust is crucial with both staff and students. Bonanno (2011, via Lysaught, 2021, August 29) emphasises the importance of building relationships with the 10-30% of staff who are likely to work with us to ensure that we are maximising our potential and adding value to our school community efficiently and meaningfully. My own experience has revealed that this takes time, but once I made progress with one teacher and the word spread about how I could help time-poor staff with their work, soon I was inundated with requests. 
  • Diversity: representation matters. Decolonising collections and ensuring inclusivity and diversity in resources and their promotion is one area where teacher librarians can positively affect school culture.
  • Parental involvement: communication to parents and caregivers via channels such as social media and parent bulletins is important for promoting the library as a useful resource centre for their children.

Societal influences upon a school:

  • Community resources: effective promotion of library educational and recreational resources can build a positive school culture where students and staff feel supported, valued and can take ownership of the space. Student-created social media posts is one of my favourite ways of helping promote library resources while encouraging students to take ownership of the space.
  • Economic factors: teacher librarians can’t change the socio-economic demographics of their school community, but they can provide access to tools and resources which can ameliorate the effects of potential disadvantage (Krashen, 2011). The ISCEA value of my school has gone down in the last few years; my implementation of the Wide Reading Program aims in part to mitigate some of the disadvantages our students face by drawing on research into pleasure reading and by providing time and access to reading materials.
  • Political climate: well, ain’t this one a tough nut to crack. It seems that everywhere we look teachers are easy pickings for politicians wanting to stoke the fires of the culture wars for their own gain. However, advocacy and professionalism can go some way towards easing public and political misconceptions about the role of teachers in society. Would it be cheeky of me to add media and digital literacy teaching programs here?

Annual Library Report 2022

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One key tool I use to advocate for my school’s library is our Annual Library Report. I give this to all members of the Senior Executive at my school to remind them of the value our library provides to our school learning community. While time-consuming to create, I strongly believe that this is an important promotional tool which projects my image as a professional, a team player and a leader. The full report can be accessed here: https://bit.ly/3Jg1e7k