Converting

into agents of information literacy:

the case of school librarian training in

South Africa

Sandy Zinn, University of the Western Cape

szinn@uwc.ac.za

IFLA Satellite Tampere, Finland 9 August 2012

T T e e a a C C h h e e R R S S

2

World Map

Individual countries

Outline

Aim, methods, theoretical framework of the study

Background to S.A. education & challenges

Research questions

Profile of teachers & the course intervention

Findings + interpretation

Concluding remarks

Aim of study; methods; theory

Slice of a larger mainly qualitative study: investigates the competency of teachers in education in the Western Cape Province

Presentation focus : education as a means to changing teachers’ beliefs about learning & teaching en route to becoming school librarians

Data gathering methods: triangulated data from a questionnaire; interviews; journals; and portfolio artefacts

Theoretical framework: constructivism + inquiry-based learning + Kulhthau’s ISP approach

4

Background to education

Education

1997: 1st curriculum for all South Africans

Curriculum taxing; challenges manifold

Radical departure from transmission education

Curriculum implies schools have access to a

range of info resources, but 80% do not have

school libraries in the Western Cape Province

Predicaments in education

1. Poor, rural children have a low chance of

succeeding at school;

2. Quality of education is unequal resulting in

disadvantage based on social class and race;

3. Language: children not learning to read even in

home language;

4. Poor teacher attendance, chronic lateness &

unpreparedness to teach in class influence learner

outcomes negatively;

Predicaments education cont’d

5. Weak school leadership affects curriculum, time

management, and more

6. Teacher knowledge of subject inadequate;

7. Teachers display a negative attitude to the

profession. They are passive & tend to suffer from

a victim mentality or “dependency culture”

8. Type one school: the “failing” schools

9. Teachers have limited understanding of benefits of

& reading: utilitarian emphasis on reading skills

Research questions

To what extent can a course

intervention shift teachers’ beliefs

about learning and teaching?

What were teachers attitudes towards

information sourcing and using information

from different sources?

What were teachers’ initial views about research

projects & how did their views change after the

intervention?

School Librarianship Programme

Starting

&

administering

Classification

& indexing

Cataloguing

Information sources

Information

literacy

education

School

library management

ICT

applications

in school libraries

Children’s

& youth

literature

School Librarianship Programme

Starting

&

administering

Classification

& indexing

Cataloguing

Information sources

Information

literacy

education

School

library management

ICT

applications

in school libraries

Children’s

& youth

literature

13

Profile of teachers & schools

Volunteering teachers:

Ave age 45 years

27 2

Primary schools 22

High schools 6

School Library Advisor 1

Home language: Afrikaans 17

Home language: Xhosa 6

Home language: English 6

Profile of teachers & schools

School 4 partially functioning

Public ≤ 3km 12 of 28 (43%)

: 20-25 work

stations

25 schools

Bet 3 & 25 computers

Teachers’ access to ICTs at

home

19 8

20 of 29 (71%): quintiles 1 & 2

(poorest schools)

Mix of rural & urban

Education Course

Concepts: constructivism, MI, Bloom’s taxonomy,

cognition, scaffolding, process learning, asking good

questions

Related terms to practical ways of making

explicit in the classroom.

Motivational techniques as strategies in learning

through projects (after Small & Arnone)

Plagiarism stoppers: how to turn research projects into

more engaging assignments (after Loetscher).

Bloom’s taxonomy in terms of the skills & attitudes

required by research projects.

16

Education Course

Major assignment = Emphasis on implementing

through a guided research project in the classroom

Schools w/o libraries: develop working relationship

with public libraries

models to plan a research project.

Locate, adapt and translate templates & tools such as

note-taking, mind mapping, and time management

17

Assumptions

Basic computer literacy taken for granted.

Internet literacy assumed.

All teachers members of EDULIS.

As teachers implementing a curriculum

inferring , they were themselves information

literate.

18

Findings + Interpretation

Never make assumptions!

Assumptions were wrong!

If you provide a facility, it does not mean it will be

used! So, despite:

labs at most schools not all teachers had

basic computer literacy;

having completed courses requiring access to the

Internet, literacy still weak.

Members of EDULIS, most did not use service.

The national curriculum assumes all

teachers are info literate! They are not.

21

Teachers’ views about research projects,

a vehicle for education

Teachers queried as a role of the school

librarian

Research projects: a curriculum mystery

Teachers’ inadequate preparation

In-service training superficial/ gloss over

projects

Lack of know-how perpetuated mediocrity

Teacher:35 years experience

In my years (as a teacher &

during pre-service teacher training)

we did not do projects. We were

always teaching and telling. We

were not trained to teach projects.

We were expected to give the

children the knowledge.

Grade 4 teacher: Info sources

We (teachers) were negligent before. We ourselves did not do research. We would give them the task, say go to the library, and then we would see it at the end again. Usually the children just copied from each other. I never thought why learners cheated and plagiarized or how I could prevent it. I realise that sometimes you (the teacher) just give a mark.

Grade 3 teacher

I just gave them (the children) a topic and

they had to do the research themselves. I

didn’t care where they got their information

from. I just expected them to be able to do it.

They did not do very well because they really

didn’t know what I wanted. Also, the questions

I gave them, those who went to the computer,

just copied and pasted everything. I would

mark it because I didn’t know it was wrong. I

didn’t know about plagiarism. Then I would

just mark ’very good’.

I like giving interesting (for me at least – is it interesting for them?)

assignments, but I have failed in the following through of it. I realise

now that I expected way too much of my Grade 7 social science

learners. Maybe that is why more than half did not hand in their

assignments. I have expected them to read many different books (that I

brought to school via block loan) & to synthesize the info without

giving them a framework. I take it for granted that they know how to

sift and collate information from different sources. I thought they

could do it because they enjoyed reading the books and researching the

information. They must have been totally overwhelmed! I feel awful

now. I did ask them if they had been taught how to take notes & they

said, no. So I gave them a brief overview of it, but I did not do enough. I

assumed because they were quiet in class and reading the books that they

were managing ok. Obviously they were not. I should have kept tabs on

them & assessed them on an ongoing basis. All that is expected of them

is to use textbooks & fill in forms. That makes it easier to mark, but

what is the point of it? – The learner has the required number of pieces of

work in their portfolios – but a lot of it is meaningless, ‘busy’ work

Change after the course intervention

Use IL model to guide learning process &

assessment 28

Overcoming their demons – using the

Web to broaden access to information.

Planning the project thoroughly

Scaffolding the learning

Using motivational techniques

Learners taking notes whilst watching a DVD

Connecting with resource providers,

overcoming complacency

Learners with a

public librarian

Teachers as agents of

No illusion that a single course can change beliefs of

all participants . Rather saw gradations of change.

Level 1 Level 6

No change Integrated

Havelock’s change continuum recognising nuanced change

Level 2 24%

Level 3 14%

Level 4 24%

Level 5 14%

Level 6 24%

Curiosity/

Interest

Evaluating/

reflecting on IL.

Trialling/ testing aspects of IL

Adopted

most

aspects

of ILE

Integrated IL into subjects

35

Selected results

The nature of change in education is complex. Need

enabling environment to promote change;

Use an IL model as an enabling tool especially for

teachers who have little prior experience doing

research;

Teachers have to be taught how to make IL explicit

in the classroom as it does not come naturally;

Reservations to sustaining IL: time constraints access

to functioning school libraries & internet; school

milieu

Conclusion

A course that requires authentic assessment may be better than only a summative exam for shifting beliefs.

Subtle shifts in beliefs are possible after an intervention – the seeds have been planted.

Conversion is possible but retention is hard under trying conditions.

Teachers have to be comfortable in the new information landscape first before they can mediate

with learners in the classroom.

References

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