School Library Education in Canada: Leading for the Future
by Dianne Oberg
School libraries constitute the largest portion (approximately 75%) of the library sector in Canada and around the world. Despite their critical role in creating lifelong learners and the library users of the future, many school libraries in Canada are poorly resourced and staffed. The opportunities for school library education in Canada have been severely diminished. The challenges include: few providers and few faculty offering school library education; few students interested in the pathways leading to academic work; limited financial and human resources for school library education; and limited resources for research about school libraries.
Dianne,
ReplyDeleteThank you for sharing this important paper. As you are probably aware, I was particularly taken with your personal story related to entering teacher-librarianship. What a completely different world it was, that there could be no acclamations in board elections in the past! What would the future had been if that unlikely election win didn't occur for you?
Why have the Prairies and Atlantic Canada not had similar school library education opportunities, either in the past or present? Is it due to numbers? Funding? The lack of champions in those regions? How might places like British Columbia, Alberta, and Ontario support those areas while still respecting the unique educational and cultural landscape there?
I share your concern about "limited access to graduate level education and extremely limited access to instructors and researchers" (page 4 of your paper). The University of Alberta has been fortunate to have you (and Dr. Branch and others) around to shepherd and promote the MEd TL-DL program. My other TMC8 paper asks similar questions about what we (and by we, I mean school library professionals in Canada) can do to find shepherds and help grow the flock. I hope that, while at TMC8, there will be ample time to discuss this pressing concern. The GCES sounds like a good solution to offer into the mix. What else can be done? (Reading your paper also made me realize I forgot to include references to OSLIP in mine - oops!)
Diana
No problem! I use the "good enough" rule, since perfection is the enemy of progress.(Winston Churchill, based on a French proverb). Limited (or loss of) school library education has many causes -- poor K-12 and university funding, lack of graduate programs, loss of library associations, small isolated programs -- lots for us to consider when we get together!
DeleteTo me the TL-DL program was the best learning experience I have had in my university career (through 3 universities, 2 bachelors, a graduate diploma and a masters). The connections I made along the way are still strong and we meet up at the yearly BCTLA conference to say hi to each other, despite never meeting in person during out time in the program. I am glad that something is being done with the GCES. Dr Branch-Mueller, Dr Rodgers, Dr de Vos and Dr. de Groot were excellent mentors who helped me understand how to be a better scholar and researcher.
ReplyDeleteThrough CSL's liaison work I have gotten to hear from people across Canada and the decline in enrollment in the TL-DL program matches up with the decline in positions. Particularly as conservative governments are elected those positions are cut, but equally problematic is that they are not being restored by incoming governments that are Liberal or NDP (e.g. Manitoba).
Out of interest, is there a PhD program you'd recommend? I've been looking at the San Jose joint program with the University of Manchester, but have yet to commit to anything.
Hi Joseph! Have you considered Charles Sturt University in Australia? They do HDR (Higher Degrees by Research) masters and doctorates. I know several people who have done this program. Here is the profile of Krystal, a current HDR student--I met her at the IASL conference in Rome--she is working on her program now, under the supervision of Dr. Kasey Garrison:
Deletehttps://arts-ed.csu.edu.au/research/higher-degrees-by-research/current-candidate-profiles/krystal-gagen-spriggs
HI again, Joseph. Please contact Kasey Garrison at Charles Sturt University (kgarrison@csu.edu.au). I know Kasey well. She will be happy to talk with you. CSU definitely has distance options for HDR students (and the whole program). CSU has fee waivers for the PhD. That may not apply to overseas students but there are other scholarship options, such as SSHRC (Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada). I got PhD scholarships from the teachers association and from the provincial government, for example. If you decided on this route, I could help you and Kasey navigate the Canadian scholarly environment. Dr. Branch would be a good mentor as well. Talk soon.
DeleteHi Diane - thank you for writing this paper and brining this important conversation to the table at TMC8. I have a vested interest in there being school library programmes at post-secondary institutions in Canada, ideally in Ontario. Mostly because I believe strongly that the research that needs to be done and data that needs to be shared is imperative to the continued survival of school librarian professionals in our libraries. The continued cuts to staffing and programming in our schools will not be quelled without data to help stakeholders see the inherent value in our roles, in the impact we have on student learning and achievement, and the vital role we play in cultivating life-long readers and reading joy.
ReplyDeleteYes, I agree that it is the important to have Canadian research and that means Canadian researchers. Where do we find them and/or grow them without access to research-based school library education, i.e., master's and doctoral level programs that prepare researchers? is there a way to build upon the AQ program in Ontario? Let's explore some options!
DeleteHi Dianne, the laddering model looks interesting. Where I am, you only need a single course to be qualified for a library position -- Teacher-Librarianship Part 1. Sometimes having part 3 (a specialist) is required for some positions, but generally, most teacher-librarians can obtain and remain in their position with only the one course. There is also a benefit to teachers who don't yet have a permanent teaching position to take part 1 of many subjects to increase their likelihood of getting a temporary position in one of them. I think that this is why you see so many registrants in part 1 and relatively fewer in the Part 2 and Part 3 courses. I took part 2 and 3 and then went seeking a Master's Degree because that would open up some school leadership position options for me (or public library). I considered MLiS and MEd programs. In this new laddering plan, will there be a pathway/entry point for teachers like me who are in library, have taken 2 or 3 AQs (Ontario or BC) and want to do a Master's Degree that is both relevant to their current teaching position, but also prepares them for future opportunities?
DeleteThe anonymous post above at 3:46 is mine.
DeleteThanks Jeanne!
DeleteGreat question, Jeanne. I will follow up with Dr. Branch. As a retiree, I was not involved in the details of the "laddering in." I did help with making scholarships available for Graduate Certificate students. Normally, UofA graduate scholarships are only for full-time students. TL students are always part time. That is why we made the Oberg and Pritchard Prizes available to part time grad students.
DeleteSharing my own experience, also being of a "certain age", I was in the Bachelor of Education program at the University of Toronto in 1983-84. It was the last year that they offered teacher-librarianship as a pre-service subject specialization. (My other teachable was instrumental music.) Two of my four practice teaching blocks were in high school libraries. You will note the timing - Partners in Action had just been released, and there were all sorts of exciting things happening in the schools I was assigned to, especially the one that had two full-time teacher-librarians. The future looked bright...
ReplyDeleteThank you, Dianne, for sharing this important piece. We noticed in BC that after we restored the collective agreement language and teacher-librarians were back to the 2002 ratios, there has been an increase of teachers getting their TL diplomas and certificates. This is so important because what we do and how we impact our school communities depends on the tools we have when we become TLs. I hope we continue to have teachers wanting to continue their education to become teacher-librarians.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, the new challenges you wrote about speaks volumes because we are seeing the cutbacks and the deteoriation of our roles. Teacher-Librarians are valuable in the work they do to help with student success and this is more than just checking books in and out. We are a different kind of force and requires a different set of skills.
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DeleteThe paper by Maliszewski and Proske addresses this issue from the need for Canadian school library research, and Diana is going to join me for the spotlight session on Saturday morning. As faculty members and instructors at UofA, we did a lot of policy-relevant research which we were able to publish.
Delete"Policy relevant research" is research done to address practical questions such as " what are students' responses to a new technology or curriculum" or "what issues are emerging that TL employers want TLs to be prepared to address"?
Delete