A Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic will raise concerns about the falling national supply of teacher librarians in schools in a forum in Sydney today, Wednesday 28 April.

 

Ms Georgia Phillips, an adjunct lecturer with the School of Information Studies at CSU and also a former teacher librarian living in Wollongong, NSW, said teacher librarians, who are qualified as teachers and librarians, play a significant role in building literacy, including computer and digital literacy.

 

'You can teach kids phonics and reading techniques, but when you have someone enthusiastic about books and matching kids with the right books, you gets kids reading,' Ms Phillips said.

 

“Free, voluntary reading is a powerful tool for literacy and is the basis for all other literacies.  Children become better readers, spellers and writers by reading. They become better users of information and of computers, and more knowledgeable and better thinkers, when teacher librarians work with classroom teachers to develop these skills.”

 

The number of tertiary courses educating teacher librarians has fallen in recent decades from 15 to three. The surviving courses are offered by Charles Sturt University, WA’s Edith Cowan University and the Queensland University of Technology.

The CSU course is the largest with around 400 students learning via distance education.

 

Ms Phillips, who also represents a lobby group, ‘The Hub’, which is campaigning against the further loss of teacher librarians, said Tasmania has lost about half its qualified teacher librarians and the Northern Territory has no professional staff at all in primary school libraries.

 

She said Victoria had lost at least a third of its teacher librarians since the former Kennett government gave principals greater autonomy to hire staff and less money to do it with.

 

Ms Phillips said NSW was the only state to have adequate numbers of trained teacher librarians for its schools. However, a current trial under National Priorities Agreement funding could change this situation.

 

This is the first hearing of a national inquiry into how school libraries are staffed, with subsequent hearings to be held in Melbourne on Thursday 29 April and in Hobart on Friday 30 April.

The inquiry into school libraries and teacher librarians in Australian schools follows the Federal government's $16.2 billion investment in providing schools with new libraries and other buildings.