Discussion Prompt: The Australian Curriculum is providing teachers and teacher librarians with many new challenges, including the need to continually improve personal knowledge and understanding of digital tools and digital environments. A personal learning strategy is possibly more important now than at any other time. Teacher librarians have an opportunity on the one hand, and a challenge on the other. How will you manage your own professional learning strategy? How will you influence and/or guide the professional learning needs of others?
Teacher Librarians, like all educators, must remain agile and informed. This involves staying up-to-date curriculum knowledge (in Victoria this is either the Australian Curriculum, Victorian Curriculum or International Baccalaureate program) as well as pedagogical best practice, and keeping up with technology change. It’s a lot to cover!
My professional learning strategy focuses on collaboration and learning growth, I never want to be stagnant or ‘rinse and repeat’ because it’s easier to do what has been done before. Our priority must always be the needs of our students, and supporting these as best we can, which involves ongoing development.
I plan to keep engaging with professional learning networks (such as SLAV, ASLA, ALIA and more), attend webinars and conferences (such as the National Education Summit and association conferences), and subscribe to relevant journals and podcasts. I have found social media and Substack newsletters to also be helpful for learning new ideas to apply in my library classroom. Professional learning is not just formal events, it encompasses both “the formal and informal learning experiences undertaken by teachers and school leaders that improve their individual professional practice” (Cole, 2012, p. 5).
Equally important is supporting the professional learning of others. Through our school library, I aim to create collaborative spaces where staff can learn and explore our wonderful collection of physical and digital library resources. I want to intentionally keep seeking out these opportunities for support and collaboration. As educators, we are all lifelong learners, and need to keep helping each other to grow.
Reference List
Cole, P. (2012). Linking effective professional learning with effective teaching practice. Association of Independent Schools of the ACT. https://ais.act.edu.au/wp-content/uploads/Professional-Learning-linking_effective_professional_learning_with_effective_teaching_practice_-_cole.pdf
Image Source: Photo by Markus Winkler on Unsplash