Returning to Teacher Librarianship after a long absence

One of the great reasons I am here, the sunsets. 

Moving to Darwin from Melbourne presented many challenges to my perception of the world. I was fortunate to have found a teaching position in Visual Arts, which has been my specialist teaching area from the start. Darwin is a beautiful place full of natural wonders, culture, and the most inspiring sunsets. I had enrolled in the Masters of Teacher Librarianship and completed the Introduction to Teacher Librarianship subject. Sadly, I had started to lose enthusiasm and belief in what I was doing since the move.

The reason for my choice in studying Teacher Librarianship was the guidance, leadership, and expertise I had received and observed from Teacher-Librarians in the schools I had worked in. I had a strong belief in the difference that they make to teachers and students alike in a school.

I had a teacher colleague, an honest and well-meaning friend at my new school enquire, ‘why are you wasting your time studying to be a Teacher-Librarian! We don’t have them in Darwin schools. You would be much better off doing something else if you are serious about being a teacher up here.’ I was a bit shocked and had some thinking to do. Firstly, I went straight to the school library, which was run by a fantastic teacher’s aid. The library was pretty and engaging and well suited for the younger primary students. The middle school students didn’t use it, except for occasionally occupying one of the 4 computers. The senior students were located at the university and had access to the CDU library. Though, they didn’t have any structured lessons around how the library could benefit them or guidance in their research.

I deferred for a year and sat on my concerns. I found through my research, there were only a small portion of schools with TLs and these were only 3 of the senior secondary schools. The junior and middle school libraries were mostly run by administrative staff and sometimes teachers who were timetabled on if under allotted. There was also a central library that provided books and resources to metropolitan Darwin schools. School libraries and TLs were not seen as a priority here.

I returned to study, but this time undertaking a Master of Educational Research, focusing on Arts education. Temporarily I had abandoned all hope of a return to my Teacher Librarianship studies. Around this time I had started a new position as a Teaching a Learning Officer for the Arts in the Northern Territory Education Department. Here, I was able to access school data and some older records and information kept on hand. Once it seemed, the NT did have school librarians. Libraries are important up here as I learned that the community of Darwin fought to save the NT library from closure and moved it to its current location in Parliament house. How do we know what the community perception of the Teacher Librarian in a school would be?

The questions I had and still have, is there a place still for the Teacher Librarian in the NT schools? Would it look different? Could a TL be someone else here, a STEM specialist, an inquiry-based learning facilitator, perhaps a research educator? These are questions I am still looking for and what propelled me to change back to studying my Masters of Teacher Librarianship. Educational trends change and so do perceptions. I have not given up in my belief in the benefits that a good TL brings to a school.

Image- by Author- Sunset at Mindil beach, Darwin.