I have a background as a primary school teacher in a school that follows the IB curriculum, and I think information literacy is definitely a part of our curriculum. Of course, lower primary kids don’t know the term “Informational literacy”, but even at that age, they know what information is, where we get information from and how we receive different kinds of information. As students are set in the international environment, they acquire authentic knowledge about other cultures and languages which helps them become open-minded. 

Upper primary teachers have a bigger focus on information literacy.  Grade 4 and Grade 5 students are required to bring their own devices and at this stage, teachers start teaching digital and information literacy. Students are taught about digital citizenship. They learn about internet safety when searching for information on the internet. They start using their critical thinking skills to compare and analyse resources. 

  In Grade 5 students learn about academic integrity. They start paraphrasing information they want to add to their project presentations. They also learn to reference sources of information. As students start doing projects, they think about where they can find the information they need, so they often come to the library to ask the TL for help. The TLs provide students with resources they might find useful and explain why they are good resources to use. 

     I think that the TLs could enhance how information literacy is taught by collaborating with homeroom teachers and understanding their needs. They could build on what is taught in the classroom and run activities in the library that would support students’ learning. The TLs should be part of unit planning to know in advance what kind of support the students will need. On top of that, being a part of the Literacy Committee would help the TLs better integrate information literacy teaching into the curriculum and spread it across the school. 

     As part of the IB programme, we aspire to develop our students as lifelong learners. Everybody in our school understands that the information landscape is changing very rapidly bringing a massive flow of information we encounter on a daily basis, so it is essential for our students to be informationally literate.