Teacher Training Students and the School Library

Teacher Training Students and the School Library In August 2007, the University of Bergen (UoB) began a three-year pilot project which implemented a new partnership model for its teacher training programme. Partnerships between teacher training programmes and practice schools has been the subject of research in USA (Teitel, 2001, 2003) and UK (Christie, Conlon, Gemmell, & Long, 2004). The UoB has drawn inspiration from the British model of collaboration wherein a basis of openness and mutual respect is intended to increase the professional development of all participants (UoB Partner School Committee, 2006). According to § 12.1 in the Instructions of the Norwegian Education Law (2006), all students are to have access to school libraries which are to be used actively in teaching. Use of the school library as a learning arena has become a topic for research recently, for example in studies by Rafste (2001), Limberg (2003), Todd & Kuhlthau (2005a; 2005b). The large study conducted in Ohio, USA in 2002-2003, which included 13.124 students at 879 schools, documented that school libraries may be a valuable pedagogical resource for student learning (Todd & Kuhlthau, 2005a, 2005b). However, certain conditions are necessary for the school library to be an arena of learning, for example adequate spaces, collections (both paper and electronic), and library staff. The Norwegian school library survey (Barstad, Audunson, Hjortsæter, & Østlie, 2007) suggested considerable variation between various primary and secondary schools as to whether or not students have access to a functional school library. One assumes that this variability is also reflected in the practice schools connected to UoB, and that both schools within and outside the new partnership model are affected. Another variable concerns the question of whether or not teacher-training students are taught to make use of the school library as a pedagogical resource in their own teaching. The UoB Library is represented in the group of researchers who will monitor and evaluate the implementation of the new partnership model in the UoB teacher training programme. This paper will present preliminary findings on the topic of uses of the school library, and discuss these findings in the light of the Biggs’ aligned teaching model (Biggs, 2001, 2003), and the various school library studies already cited. References: