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SLG helps new school librarians with their professional development through the provision of training days, conferences, webinars and publications...
HE entry paths of those embarking on a career in school librarianship are varied. Whereas some come to the
profession with dedicated library qualifi cations, others may have studied for undergraduate or postgraduate degrees in diff erent disciplines whilst some may have few or no qualifi cations at all. The absence of a defi ned route into the role means that school leaders frequently assume that anyone can do the job. This often results in the appointment of librarians who have previously held completely diff erent roles within the school. Consequently, many new school librarians fi nd themselves in their posts with very little awareness about what the job actually entails. This is where the School Libraries Group (SLG) plays a key role.
SLG helps new school librarians with their professional development through the provision of training days, conferences, webinars and publications including books such as the recent Creating a School Library with Impact: A Beginner’s Guide (Facet, 2022).
SLG is now pleased to be able to
off er an online Badged Open Course (BOC) An Introduction to School Librarianship, which has been developed in collaboration with the Open University. The BOC, which is hosted on the OpenLearn platform is free to all, pitched at an Introductory level, and specially designed to help all those who are new to the role. The BOC is organised into eight Sessions, each of which explores a diff erent aspect of school librarianship. For example, in the fi rst section of Session 1, learners consider how referring to school policies and plans such as those on Literacy, School Improvement, or Equality, Diversity
January-February 2023
and Inclusion, can ensure their Library Development Plan best serves their stakeholders and presents their goals in a context which line-managers can appreciate. Adopting such an approach may be second nature to those who have been in post a long time, but for those who are new to the role this may not be readily apparent The eight sessions, which total twenty-four hours of learning, are delivered through a combination of text and videos, and are accompanied by activities and quizzes. The activities require learners to
refl ect upon what has been conveyed, asking them to consider their current approach, what works best, and how any new knowledge they have gained can be applied to their professional practice in the future. The activities also encourage them to refl ect on their career in the context of their school and profession as a whole. This refl ective component complements CILIP’s Professional Knowledge and Skills Base (PKSB).
Crucially, the activities do not have right or wrong answers. Instead, they encourage learners to consider what is best suited to their individual circumstances. At the end of each of the eight Sessions, learners take a quiz to assess their understanding. They can re-sit each of these quizzes up to three times but must pass all of them in order to earn the Open University’s digital badge.
The process of creating an online course presented many challenges. The word count was determined by the length of time a typical learner would take to read and complete the course, a factor that heavily infl uenced which topics were considered essential for inclusion and which should be omitted. In addition, the questions for the quizzes required careful crafting as they formed the basis of the assessment.
Rosalind Buckland, MCLIP, BA Hons (Information & Library Management). Former Co-Vice Chair SLG Committee, and Librarian, Ripley St Thomas CE Academy.
Other challenges included ensuring the course was relevant to all sectors of the school library profession – whether primary or secondary, state or private, British or international, and, although exceptions were sometimes unavoidable, it was also necessary to exclude references that might cause the course to date.
The popularity of the BOC combined with feedback from learners will shape the evaluation. Therefore, any help to promote this resource would be greatly appreciated. If the Open University deem this work to be a success, SLG would welcome the opportunity to create an Intermediary and even an Advanced BOC on this same subject. It is important to stress that work of this nature would not have been possible without the support of many parties, not least Jane Roberts, Selena Killick, Catherine Helliwell, Luke Yorke and Alyssa Lim at the Open University, and of course all those at SLG, especially my fellow contributors, Sarah Pavey, Barbara Band and Nick Cavender. IP
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