Reading through various discussion forums and blog posts, I’ve come to realise that my journey to becoming a Teacher Librarian has been somewhat different than the journey embarked upon by others.

I finished my Bachelors of Secondary Education in 2017, and — at the time — was unsure of whether my future career would involve teaching. I knew I loved reading and books, which is why I had majored in English, but I didn’t know if I wanted to teach English. So instead, I enrolled full-time in a Graduate Diploma of Information and Library Studies at Curtin University. My thought at the time — and had been for over half of my undergraduate — was that I would work in public libraries, or perhaps even an academic, higher-education library. I even completed a placement at Fisher Library at USYD to this end. Halfway through the diploma though, I realised I missed interacting with teenagers, so becoming a TL became my career dream. Given that being a TL had not been my initial goal when enrolling in the diploma, I never bothered to check that it was recognised by the NSW Department of Education. I was a qualified teacher, and by the end of my studies, I would also be a qualified librarian; surely that translated to being a Teacher Librarian. It did not.

I struggled to find TL work — probably because I didn’t have any experience, the right qualifications, or any connections. I knew I had to enroll in my Masters to be formally recognised as a TL, but when no one was willing to employ me in this position, I decided not to rush it. I had been a full-time university student for 6 years by this point — I wanted to take a break from studying. So instead, I taught English. For approximately 8-weeks.

In my first term of official teaching, a school nearby posted an Expression of Interest for a Teacher Librarian. I applied, interviewed and got it. All in the span of 3-days. It was fate.

I’ve only been in the TL role for a term-and-a-half now, but I know how lucky I am to have gotten this position. So, so incredibly lucky. The TL in the role before me wore a lot of different hats, but never really the teacher or librarian one. The role has been whatever I’ve wanted it to be, which has been amazing for me as a beginner teacher AND a new teacher librarian.

“TLS have twin qualifications, as teachers and as librarians” (Fitzgerald, 2019). I personally struggle with this statement, probably because of my lack of experience as both a teacher and a librarian. As a beginning teacher though, I’ve been working toward my accreditation and have been using the Australian professional standards for teachers (AITSL, 2017) extensively. As I was only a regular classroom teacher for 8-weeks — and that a majority of my teaching career has been with me in a non-regular teaching TL role — I’ve also been using AITSL’s Standards for teacher librarian practice (2014) as an additional means of support. This document has been particularly beneficial in guiding me as it provides examples of what type of evidence can be collected to satisfy the required standards. It’s often hard to devise ways in which you would typically meet all the standards, particularly when you’re not timetabled to specific classes and you’re in the TL role. Luckily, I was always mindful that I should get my accreditation done as soon as possible, simply because I was on a smaller contract and couldn’t guarantee I would be getting regular casual work, let alone being put on a scheduled class where I was responsible for programming, lesson sequences, etc.

Bibliography

Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership(AITSL) (2017). Professional Standards for Teachers. Retrieved from https://www.aitsl.edu.au/teach/standards.

Australian Library and Information Association (ALIA) Schools Section (2014). AITLS Standards for teacher librarian practice. Retrieved from https://www.alia.org.au/sites/default/files/AITSL%20Standards%20for%20teacher%20librarian%20practice%202014.pdf

Fitzgerald, L. (2019). ETL401: Introduction to Teacher Librarianship – Module 3.2 The role of the Teacher Librarian [lecture notes]. Retrieved from https://interact2.csu.edu.au/webapps/blackboard/content/listContent.jsp?course_id=_42381_1&content_id=_2899459_1