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“The reality is that influence comes when you solve someone else’s problem or help them achieve their goals, not yours. Therefore, in order for the SLP to be in a position of strength
and importance, the principal, as the key decision maker, must
perceive the SLP as critical to the mission of the school and
capable of helping to achieve the principal’s goals.” (Debra Kachel. 2017)
This is a striking quote to consider by Kachel. She goes on to encourage TL to develop a plan for increased influence for school administrators to ensure your role is assured. These are factors that I usually associate with the cooperate world, not the world of education where we are all working towards the same broad goals of improving student outcomes. TL need to position themselves as enablers of the Principal’s shared vision of the school and align themselves with key staffing and funding administrators in the school.
Mandy Upton (2016) in her research found that Principal’s valued the contributions of TL in a myriad of ways including awareness of resourcing the curriculum and developing the curriculum, collaborative planning and teaching and more recently ICT resourcing and training. Personal qualities such as collaboration, team work and a sense of leading from the middle was valued. TL has a broad perspective of what is happening around the school in curriculum and pedagogy and Upton describes the TL as ‘the canary in the mine’ of a school. I found this a very pertinent point and as a TL in a primary school in my second year it somewhat rings true in my experience.
References
Kachel, D. (2017). The Principal and the Librarian: Positioning the School Library Program. Teacher Librarian, 45(1), 50–52. Retrieved from http://ezproxy.csu.edu.au/login?url=http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=lih&AN=126080411&site=ehost-live
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