Here is what I know so far about Teacher Librarians (TLs) as leaders:
- It would be such a shame to do all of this work for a Masters of Education and not be viewed as a leader (if only in name only and not recognised in a formal employment title and matching AP salary). I have written about this aspect of the degree and profession in my blog. (See the posts with ‘Leadership’ and ‘Roles and Responsibilities’ tags.)
- The library is the heart of the school (Roche, 2018) and this places the TL as in a prime centre position to demonstrate leadership…but what sort of leadership style would I have?
- Librarians, stereo-typically, are lovers of books and as such, can sometimes find social situations challenging. Leading, as opposed to autonomy or autocratic behaviour, does not always come naturally. Speaking for myself, I have always found the biggest challenge in adulthood to be working with other adults.
- Is it cruel to say that a teacher librarian could become a leader in a DET primary school when the trend has become to have an untrained teacher as a school librarian (or a temporary staff member) and as such, the opportunity to be a leader is nearly impossible and as valuable as it would be, it is in fact an unrealistic expectation?
I am looking forward to revisiting this post at the end of the ETL504 subject to compare what I’ve learnt to these observations.
References
Roche, C. (2018). Making the library the true heart of the school. SCIS. Issue 105. Retrieved from: https://www.scisdata.com/connections/issue-105/making-the-library-the-true-heart-of-the-school/