The training of teacher librarians and the development of school libraries in KwaZulu-Natal.
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Date
2021
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Abstract
Libraries are the important resources that knowledge production institutions such as schools
must have in order to effectively realise their objectives. It is important to note that libraries
are hubs of the learning environment; hence they need to be managed by skilled people who
are well aware of their functions, purpose and role in terms of meeting the school’s vision,
mission and goals. It was for this reason that institutions of higher learning such as the
University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) offered the Advanced Certificate in Education in
School Library Development and Management (ACESLD) as a specialist qualification for
educators to enable them to acquire the necessary skills to develop and manage libraries in
their respective schools.
The KwaZulu-Natal Department of Education (KZNDoE) provided funding to support the
training of qualified teacher librarians. However, there has been no comprehensive report on
the success and failures of this initiative since its inception in 2004. Hence, the purpose of
this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of the ACESLD Programme through tracing the
educators that have graduated from the Programme and determining the impact it has had on
their work as teacher librarians as well as on the development and management of their
school libraries. The objective of the study was to determine the influence that the ACESLD
Programme has had on the development and management of school libraries in the KwaZulu-
Natal (KZN) Province.
The study adopted the postpositivist paradigm. Both qualitative and quantitative methods
were used to investigate the problem, although the overall approach was more qualitative in
nature. The postpositivist paradigm allows both methods to be used to collect data. Data was
collected from teacher librarians, the Education Library Information Technology Services
(ELITS) Director and the UKZN ACESLD Programme Coordinator. The study found that the
ACESLD Programme had a major influence on the teacher librarians’ contribution to the
development and maintenance of school libraries in the Province. Most of the teacher
librarians contributed to the development of their school libraries and used the knowledge
and skills gained from the ACESLD Programme. It was also found that ELITS had a much
broader role to play given that their focus is not only the provision of access to functional
school libraries but also necessitates that they provide library-related professional development and support for targeted schools within the Province. The study recommends that the Directorate must compile a report on the progress ELITS has made regarding the school library development in the Province. It was further recommended that ELITS conduct
extensive monitoring and evaluation to determine if the teacher librarians are maintaining the
school libraries, given that they were provided with the initial resources to develop school
libraries.
Description
Doctoral Degree. University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg.