How does the content of Colvin’s article relate to the school library?
- Colvin (Colvin, n.d.) outlines Frederick Taylor’s ‘scientific management’ theory (also called the classical management theory) that emphasises efficiency and rewards workers for increased productivity
- One of the premises is that workers only need to know what is required to do their part of the job
- The approach treats workers like robots
- Colvin discusses our new understanding that we are increasingly becoming knowledge workers
- He espouses the value of working in teams and the importance of project work
- Colvin refers to the importance of our ability to use information and technology appropriately
- He makes the point about armies and religion being the only big organisations until the 20th century as the only model available
- As the world becomes more information based, businesses increasingly require workers who have these skill but more importantly, can be creative, use judgement and imagination as well as be able to build relationships to achieve goals.
Sir Ken Robinson (Robinson, 2014) outlines the need for change in our approach to education as he describes how the current system is still rooted in the values and methods of the industrial revolution. Added to this, is the outdated mindset of governments towards education that has failed to embrace more flexible and creative platforms. Criticism of Taylor’s theory, which is now considered outmoded, could be compared to Sir Ken’s analysis of current educational thinking – students treated as non-humans, inflexibility of systems and the lack of ability to individualise learning and instead creating ‘batch’ teaching.
Given this context and the overwhelming need for change leads me think about how school libraries can lead the charge and the change to provide knowledge and information to our workers of tomorrow. The school library can enhance the opportunities for students to develop information skills and information literacy, (NSW Department of Education, 2015). In this way, school libraries will become (if not already) the main player in facilitating the development of students’ skills as well as providing the environment where students can use these skills competently and with confidence. Teacher Librarians should have a very important role to play in ensuring and advocating for information services to be provided while providing a platform for the school community to develop these skills.
Calvin acknowledges the importance of building skills of collaboration and the skills needed for knowledge workers of the future. He also mentions the importance of being a competent user of technology. These are all areas that a TL can be involved in as part of the responsibility of delivering an information service and in the future, this role will potentially become even more important as a key contributor to achieving these competencies.
References
Caramela, S. (2019). Management Theory of Frederick Taylor. business.com. Retrieved from https://www.business.com/articles/management-theory-of-frederick-taylor/
Colvin, G. (2000). Managing in the info era. Fortune, 141(5). Retrieved from https://archive.fortune.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2000/03/06/275231/index.htm
New South Wales Department of Education. (2015). Information skills in the school: engaging learners in constructing knowledge. Retrieved from https://education.nsw.gov.au/teaching-and-learning/curriculum/learning-across-the-curriculum/school-libraries/media/documents/infoskills.pdf
Robinson, K. (2010, October 14). Changing education paradigms. [Video file].Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U