The IFLA school library section satellite was extremely interesting! After
talking to several local librarians and educators and after my presentations to
them, we all were able to conclude that we are experiencing similar
difficulties in the field of school libraries. That is somewhat odd because of
several reasons:
-
South Africa is still struggling with a whole range of different problems
in schools than Finland: reading skills is still a fact that has to be
promoted, lack of finances, a varied school system with a wide range of schools
(from Private to poor township schools),
technology is widely missing, in some areas girls are missing a week of school
every month in lack of sanitary towels during menstruation,
etc.
In townships the students are even being robbed on their way to
schools. The news paper recently urged the certain year class not to wear
their school jackets which indicate the certain school. This school got tablets and carrying technology with you can be very dangerous. It took
only a few days and the school had been robbed of all smartboards and
computers. Thieves get away schools tablets,
Thieves targeting schools
Higher education costs money, at least 1000€ per year, This is leading to
lot of young ones not being able to get educated, dropping out of studies
because of tuitions. Youth unemployment is a
severe problem, and not to mention criminality.
These are severe problems people in education are facing every day. I
was amazed and blown away by the school librarians I met during the
satellite meeting! In spite of all the above mentioned, they are engaged,
brave, enthusiastic, extremely dedicated and a great example of activism
in reading and literacy! After a short while I understood, that it is me who is
learning here.
There were 5 panelists on Thursday, who were all presenting the situation
of school libraries in South Africa. The issues can be collected to a clear
list:
1. Management
There are 9 provinces in South Africa. Inside every province there are
citied and inside different directorates involved in arranging local education.
Provinces are quite autonomous. Every province has a school library person in
charge, but they are retiring soon - will new ones be appointed? The management
is sporadic and there is a lack of general management. The provinces has
different situations and some provinces are a little better off. They obviously
have things a little bit better. Some provinces has encouraged teacher training
in reading, literacy and management of school libraries. School library of the
year award is given to that library which has shown most progress. There are national guidelines.
Meanwhile in Finland, there are no guidelines, no one in charge in the
government, and no legislation what so ever. Nothing to obligating to school
library functions.
2. Financing
The school libraries here are lacking in financing. Some of the reasons are
listed already above. The national guidelines suggest that 10% of the learning
material costs should be put to library materials, but that doesn't always
happen. Theresa said that the problem is that school libraries to acquire money
but the results are not seen immediately. A lot of projects are going on as
well. There are organizations, companies and NGO's that are financing for
materials, spaces and furnishing.
Meanwhile in Finland, we do have similar problems. If there is a school
library governed by a single school, it can be that a principal is giving the
person responsible of the library some money when there is some to spare. The
libraries taken care of by municipality libraries are usually better off. And
if we are good at something too, it is projects. The sad business with projects
is that it is always ending at some point. Then it is up to the organization to
take over, also financially.
3. Space
Many schools in South Africa are downright crowded. If the school has not
been built with school library in mind, it is hard to find the space. And many
schools has been forced to turn the library room to a classroom, Computer room
or similar.
Meanwhile in Finland, the problem is the same. The meaning of school
library to teaching and learning is not widely acknowledged. New buildings may
have a library room, if the management is acknowledging this issue. Usually the
same faith of library rooms falls in Finland too.
4. Personnel
There are too few school librarians in South Africa. What is noteworthy is
that researcher Albert Boekhorst summed up his research in school librarians.
He was not able to find a things as a "typical school library". There
just were too many models. BUT, one thing that he found to be the leading issue
was, ta-daa, SCHOOL LIBRARIAN. This is what is needed for a proper school
library.
Meanwhile in Finland, there are approximately some 20-30 full time
librarians in Finland! The profession is very rare. We can start by asking does
the public libraries give the attention to schools or do we need pedagogical
librarians?
There are a lot of things going on in South Africa but there is a lot of
work to be done. There people are dedicated and have a clear vision to aim for,
much thanks to the national guidelines. Biggest problems are in staffing and
lack of political will in implementing the national guidelines. There is still
a lot of happening and the activism is making things happen!
Meanwhile in Finland, I argue that the meaning and the possibilities of
school libraries to teaching and learning has not been fully acknowledged. Yes,
libraries are mentioned in the core curriculum, but the library
is still mainly considered to be a help for reading and literature. In engaging
libraries to information literacy teaching, which is already happening here, is
a big question in Finland.
I promised to keep the posts short when I started the blog. Sorry about the
lengthy writing, but there was just much to be said! :-) I will be visiting 5
different school libraries next week, more to come!
Ajatuksissa pyörii nyt, että onko jollain kirjastoalan toimijalla tarvetta uudenlaisiin ratkaisuihin, katsoa asioita laatikon ulkopuolella ja pohtia miten asioita voitaisiin tehdä uudesta perspektiivistä? Hackathoniin osallistuminen ei tarvitse olla koodaamista, vaan ratkaisumallien hakkeroimista, joista voi kehittyä käyttöön siirrettäviä konsepteja ja tuotteita, kun niitä tekemään saadaan oikeanlainen tiimi ja tuottajat, eli haasteiden asettajat. Tätä kannattaa pohtia ja kypsytellä myös kirjastoalalla, ei lainkaan pois suljettu ajatus.