change – From dust jackets to digital horizons

Life Imitating Study: Coping with Unexpected Change

Posted on May 3, 2025

Packing boxes

“There is nothing more difficult to take in hand, more perilous to conduct, or more uncertain in its success, than to take the lead in the introduction of a new order of things.” (Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, 1532)

In ETL504, we are currently learning about change management and strategic planning. As I have been reading and learning about these topics, an unexpected turn of events has meant that I have been tasked with an urgent library relocation and redevelopment at school. It’s always a little spooky life imitates art, or in this case, my study!

This library redevelopment is due to complications from some building works, which means the permanent relocation of our Early Learning library. I have had to set-up meetings with executive leadership, liaise with staff from across the school, strategise options with the wonderful library technician team, put together a proposed timeline, approve budgeting and organise logistics…. all within a six-week timeline and the prolonged absence of my Head of Library! My brain has been spinning just trying to process all that needs to happen in such a short amount of time. The key takeaway for me has been to get everyone on the same page, maintain clear communication and establish a shared vision (Holmes, 2013).

Ideally, strategic planning would happen in a more thorough and considered way, but sometimes circumstances conspire to mean that this is just not possible. I didn’t realise that as a Teacher Librarian this could fall inside my remit. This experience has, however, underscored how important it is to have an understanding of leadership in a school library context as we can be called upon at any time!

Reference List

Holmes, K., Clement, J., & Albright, J. (2012). The complex task of leading educational change in schools. School Leadership & Management, 33(3), 270-283. https://doi.org/10.1080/13632434.2013.800477

Machiavelli, N. (1532). The Prince (P. Bondanella, Trans.). Oxford University Press.

Image Source: Photo by Luke Heibert on Unsplash

Leading Change

Posted on April 22, 2025

Change

In this week’s module, we are learning about change and outcomes. Change is inevitable in education as we try to keep pace with the world that our learners exist in outside the classroom walls. Technology is a huge driver of change, particularly recent developments with generative artificial intelligence. Change can be innovative and exciting, but it can also be challenging and demanding of already time-poor education and library staff in schools (Emerson, 2025). For our blog post this week, we have been asked to consider one major change we have experienced at school, and consider how this change was facilitated by leadership, staff reactions and change outcomes.

A few years ago when I was working as a high school English teacher, we were asked by leadership to overhaul all of our curriculum documentation ahead of auditing. We were told, via our Department Heads, that we would need to update every term planner to a Understanding by Design template and store the files in clearly labelled, shared drives. Leadership used a distributed leadership approach, offering consultative ‘drop-in’ sessions with two leading teachers, and released some video content of the steps required. We were also given deadlines to work towards.

Many of the staff could see the purpose for the changes, but the amount of work it would take to update all of the documentation within a 9-week term (with the usual assessment and reporting schedules) felt immense. Many staff advocated for time release to get this project completed, particularly if they worked across multiple subject areas and teams, or were sole practitioners teaching VCE subjects.

In the end, we passed the audit and all of the curriculum documentation was updated and accounted for. It was helpful to have leadership guidance through this process, and deadlines in place to motivate our efforts. I think that staff need as much notice as possible ahead of change, and offering support throughout the process goes a long way.

Reference List

Emerson, M. S. (2025, February 24). Seven reasons why change managements strategies fail and how to avoid them. Harvard University Division of Continuing Education. https://professional.dce.harvard.edu/blog/7-reasons-why-change-management-strategies-fail-and-how-to-avoid-them

Image Source: Photo by Peggy Sue Zinn on Unsplash

Shifting Education Paradigms and Organisation Influences

Posted on March 3, 2025

Discussion Prompt: Reflect on the four key elements of organisation theory as presented by Bush (2015) and compare these to the approach in Robinson’s presentation. Think about the influences upon a school and identify key drivers for change that the teacher librarian could respond to through school library programs.

According to Bush (2015), the four elements of organisation theory are: goals, structure, culture, and context. All four these elements are questioned by Robinson, who argues that our current education system is wildly out of date as it was constructed for a different time and has not been adequately updated.

In his words: “The current education system was conceived in the culture of the enlightenment and economic circumstance of the industrial revolution… we are trying to meet current needs by doing what’s been done in the past” (Robinson, 2010).

Reflecting on his presentation, societal views and beliefs have indeed shifted significantly since the 18^th century, and so has the very purpose of schooling. Robinson calls for more collaborative group work and opportunity for divergent thinking, he wants long held conceptions about subject learning to be dismantled and he emphasises the importance of institutional culture.

Listening to Robinson’s call for a radical educational paradigm shift is inspiring, but a little daunting! And I can’t help but think – what does it mean for school libraries? Our school libraries function within a school ecosystem, part of state and national education structures. How much can we really change? Well, I think that Robinson’s are exciting, and school libraries are well-placed to enact change.

Here are some of my ideas for implementation in the school library:

The culture of the school library (while still operating within a school context) can be quite separate and distinct, valuing inclusivity and empathy
Clubs or library activities can support group work and collaboration across age groups
School libraries do not have to take part in standardised testing and they often sit apart from assessment schedules and timelines that can dominate subject learning
The school library can spark creative stimulation (through literature, art, games, displays and more) which can counteract the way that schools can become, in Robinson’s words, “anaesthetic spaces” which dull students’ senses
Guided inquiry learning fosters divergent thinking which is a key ingredient for creativity
Reading programs can be student-led and purposeful, providing access to literature from diverse perspectives and by writers from all around the globe

Reference List

Bush, T. (2015). Organisation theory in education: How does it inform school leadership? CORE. https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/162657439.pdf

Robinson, K. [RSA Animate]. (2010, October 14). Changing education paradigms [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

Image Source: Photo by Ivan Aleksic on Unsplash