Like any other stereotype, such as damsels in distress, mad scientists, and ditzy blondes, we must challenge the stereotype of the teacher-librarian. Ditch the idea of a woman in a knitted cardigan, fill her day with reading picture books, shelving books, and sending out overdue fines. This stereotype is dated and negative, and if you find it creeping into your mind, then the chances are you’re not using the expertise of your teacher-librarian to the fullest potential.
Here are a few ideas to use the teacher-librarian’s unique skills and expertise:
- Co-teaching with classroom teachers. This could be for literacy development or information literacy. This will reduce the workload of classroom teachers, reducing pressure and freeing up time for one-on-one support with students.
- Explicit teaching of information literacy and inquiry learning. The teacher-librarian is specially trained to teach critical research and inquiry skills.
- Improving General Capabilities across all year levels. The teacher-librarian has the perfect bird’s eye view of the school, coupled with their expertise in the curriculum, to develop the general capabilities across the school. This can be implemented as a school-wide approach in collaboration with teachers and leadership.
- Cross-curricular priorities. Like the General Capabilities, the teacher-librarian has the unique position to focus on cross-curricular priorities, by working with teachers and resourcing the curriculum with these in mind. They can work with teachers to ensure the priorities, are present in units, ensuring a rich scope and sequence of experiences and knowledge across the year levels.
- Digital pedagogy, digital citizenship, social literacy. The teacher-librarian has special knowledge of digital pedagogy and can develop digital citizenship and social literacy through targeted groups, explicit teaching, or lunchtime clubs.
- In a time when digital literacy is needed most, teacher-librarians can support teachers to utilise digital advances and trends, such as AI, to their advantage. They can explicitly teach students to determine and navigate AI, deep fakes, AI, dubious websites, bots, etc.
- Support leadership to deliver multi-tiered, scaffolded support systems for students performing below national literacy levels.
The sky’s the limit, and schools have an opportunity to use this specialised teacher to have an immense impact on their students. But first, school staff and leadership must break the stereotype, and better understand the limitless potential of this role in their school. Revolutionise the role, and use it to boost student outcomes and collective teacher efficacy.
