Chiao-Min Lin
Professor, Graduate Institute of Library, Information and Archival Studies, National Cheng-Chi University, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
E-mail: cmlin@nccu.edu.tw
Chia-Yun Lo
Teacher, Qing-Tan Elementary School, Xindian District, New Taipei City, Taiwan (R.O.C.)
E-mail: carolina0708@gmail.com
Keywords: Collaborative Teaching; Teacher Librarian; Teaching Partner
【Abstract】
This study aims to explore the teaching model of teacher librarian collaborating with subject teacher in the elementary school. The questionnaire and semi‐structured interview were taken to analyze teacher librarian’s perception, the current status of implementation and the difficulties of collaboration. Whether there are cognitive differences in the background of teacher's gender and seniorityalso were analyzed.
This study found the diversification of teacher librarians collaborated with subject teachers. The teacher librarians highly agreed with library education integrated in subject teachings as well as providing collections to subject teachers. The lowest mean score on joint design of teaching and preparation of teaching materials. The major difficulty of collaboration is without enough time to discuss and prepare for lesson. There is no significant correlation on the background of teacher librarians with collaboration cognitive.Finally, the suggestions of strengthening the training programs for teacher librarians and developing collaborative curriculums from administrators were proposed. Through administrative integration and promotion, teacher librarians and subject teachers can be the best teaching partners.
【Long Abstract】
Introduction
In 2009, the Ministry of Education of Taiwan established the position of “teacher librarian” in public
DOI: 10.6245/JLIS.201804_44(1).0004
elementary schools nationwide. It means that every public elementary school designates one of its teachers to be a teacher librarian, allocating 10 hours of their weekly workload to take charge of the school’s library, the promotion of reading, and developing collaborative planning and teaching with subject teachers. At present, teacher librarians have shown significant effectiveness in enhancement of students’ information literacy and reading competence. Nevertheless, teacher librarians’ participation in classroom-related collaborative planning and teaching is still below that in library operations, library use instruction, reading promotion, etc.
By questionnaire survey and semi-structured interview, this study examines teacher librarians’
perceptions of collaborative planning and teaching and the execution and obstacles in the practice of such collaboration. It also attempts to examine the influence of teacher librarians’ gender and length of service on their perception and execution of collaboration with subject teachers.
Research Methods
The questionnaire included four categories: teacher librarians’ personal background, perception and attitude toward collaborative planning and teaching, execution of collaborative planning and teaching, and obstacles in the practice of collaborative planning and teaching. From March to April 2016, the researchers distributed the questionnaire online to all 300 approved elementary school teacher librarians in Taiwan and received a total of 93 returned surveys. In addition to the descriptive statistics, the study tested the influence of teacher librarians’ genders and lengths of service on their perceptions of collaborative planning and teaching and the practice of such collaboration. Furthermore, the researchers conducted semi-structured interviews with 14 teachers, 11 of whom were teacher librarians and 3 were subject teachers, to learn more in-depth about their views as well as their practice of collaborative planning and teaching. With the participants’ agreement, each interview was sound recorded and transcribed.
Research Results and Discussion 1. Background analysis of teacher librarians
Among the 93 responding teacher librarians, 82.8% were female and 17.2% male. As to the length of service, the highest percentage of the respondents (27.9%) answered “16-20 years” and the majority of the respondents (over 88%) had worked for more than 10 years, showing that, as a group, they were highly experienced in teaching. However, as to their role as teacher librarian, most of them (22.6%) answered one year and the second highest percentage of response (19.3%) was 3 years. It seemed to suggest that rotation of teachers in taking on the role of teacher librarian was common in Taiwan.
2. Analysis of teacher librarians’ cognition and attitude toward collaborative planning and teaching
Among the given categories associated with teacher librarians’ perceptions of and attitudes toward collaborative planning and teaching, agreement with the statement “the teacher librarian is to integrate library instruction into subject instructions” was the highest. The rest are as follows, in descending order:
“the teacher librarian is to provide library resources to subject teachers”, “the teacher librarian is to provide individualized consultation and services for subject teachers and students”, “the teacher librarian and subject teachers collaborate on teaching plans”, and “the teacher librarian and subject teachers collaborate on preparation of teaching materials.” This shows that teacher librarians’ perceptions of collaboration with subject teachers were predominantly in the areas of library use instruction, library resource delivery, and individualized consultation services. They were less likely to consider joint instructional design and joint preparation of instructional materials as part of their responsibilities.
In addition, this study analyzed effects of teacher librarians’ gender and length of service on their conceptions of and attitudes toward collaboration with subject teachers. The results showed that females’
agreement with “the teacher librarian is to integrate library instruction into subject instructions” and “the teacher librarian and subject teachers collaborate on teaching plans” is significantly higher than that of males. As to length of service, the findings did not reveal a statistically significant difference in the perceptions of and attitudes toward collaboration resulted from teacher librarians’ lengths of service either in teaching generally or in their role as a teacher librarian.
3. Analysis of practice of teacher librarians’ participation in collaborative planning and teaching Out of the 93 returned surveys, 57 stated that the respondent had in fact collaborated with subject teachers at school. In the 57 surveys, the most agreed-upon statement was “the teacher librarian decides on the instructional content with subject teachers”, and the second was “the teacher librarian and subject teachers review and discuss with each other after a joint instructional session.” However, their agreement with the statement “the teacher librarian joins subject teachers in instruction and student guidance” was the lowest. This shows that in the practice of collaboration, teacher librarians had reviewed and discussed course content with subject teachers; however, they revealed varied perceptions of joint instruction with subject teachers.
This study conducted statistical tests (i.e., t tests and ANOVA) to see whether teacher librarians’ gender and length of service affect their collaborative practice in various aspects. According to the results, teacher librarians of different genders, lengths of service in teaching, and lengths of service as teacher librarians did not display statistically significant differences in their practice of collaborative planning and teaching.
4. Analysis of teacher librarians’ obstacles in collaborative planning and teaching
As to the perceived obstacles encountered in collaborative planning and teaching, “insufficient time for collective planning” was the most agreed-upon statement and “lack of experience in collaborative planning and teaching” the second. The rest were, in descending order: “difficulty in scheduling course time”, “lack of standard materials for collaborative planning and teaching”, “lack of integrated curricular planning”, “difficulty in complementing subject teachers’ specialties” and “insufficient resources.”
Statistical tests (i.e., t tests and ANOVA) were conducted to examine the effect of teacher librarians’
gender and length of service on their perceptions of the obstacles in collaborative planning and teaching.
It was found that gender and length of service in teaching did not reveal statistically significant differences in their perceptions of the obstacles. Teacher librarians’ lengths of service in their role as the teacher librarian was significantly related to the lack of time in collective planning and the lack of standard materials for collaborative planning and teaching.
5. According to qualitative analysis of interview, this study obtains the following findings As found in the interviews, one motivation of teacher librarians’ participation in collaborative planning and teaching was their own sense of duty, and another was the demand for cooperation from teachers made by some principals in an attempt to improve the performance of the school. In implementing plans for reading curricula, some schools launched such collaboration.
According to those interviewed, teacher librarians’ participation in collaborative planning and teaching mainly took the forms of demonstrating reading strategy instruction, recommending subject information, and providing book lists for thematic reading activities.
Teacher librarians often encountered difficulty when seeking partners for collaborative planning and teaching. In their experience, the two effective ways to find partners were to join teacher advancement communities and send out invitation by personally contacting other teachers. They first invited friends to participate in the trial of collaborative planning and teaching, and the success of the initial trial then incentivized other teachers. In most cases, teacher librarians maintained interaction with subject teachers by discussing collective course preparation, participation in study groups, and formation of reading promotion groups.
Conclusions and Recommendations
Teacher librarians stated that development of collaborative planning and teaching should be based on teaching consultation and paradigm learning. Although teacher librarians had ideas for collaboration, they lacked confidence in the process of execution. They seemed to mostly carry out the classroom
instruction independently, rarely integrating with subject teachers’ lesson plans. To support interdisciplinary instruction, teacher librarians turned to experienced teachers and consulted learning models to acquire the necessary competence for collaboration.
This study suggests that in future education of teacher librarians, practical training should be reinforced. In addition, there can be guidance and demonstration for collaborative planning and teaching in different areas to allow teacher librarians to continuously make progress.
【Romanization of references is offered in the paper.】