Information literacy integration strategies into the curriculum of senior secondary schools in Botswana.

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate information literacy integration strategies into the curriculum of senior secondary schools in Botswana. The main objectives of the study were to: examine the implementation of IL in senior secondary schools in Botswana; ascertain the roles, attitudes and perceptions of librarians, teachers, and school principals in promoting IL in senior secondary schools in Botswana; and establish the content of IL taught in senior secondary schools in Botswana. The study was motivated by persistent concerns in Botswana that students enrolling in the University of Botswana to pursue undergraduate programmes did not possess adequate IL skills and competencies. The following research questions were addressed: What are the goals of IL programmes in senior secondary schools in Botswana? What are the content, resources, and teaching strategies for delivering IL to students? How is IL implemented at the policy level in senior secondary schools? What are the roles of teachers, librarians, school principals and the Director of Curriculum Development in promoting IL integration into senior secondary school curriculum? What are the attitudes and perceptions of teachers, librarians and school principals towards IL in senior secondary schools? The study was underpinned by both interpretive and positivist paradigms and applied a constructivist theoretical lens complemented by the Information Search Process (ISP) model (Kuhlthau, 2004), the Big6™ Information Problem-Solving (Eisenberg & Berkowitz, 1990); and the Association of School Librarians and Association for Educational Communications and Technology AASL/AECT (1998) frameworks. The study was based on interpretive and positivist paradigms. The methodology consisting of qualitative and quantitative research approaches was employed. The population of the study consisted of teachers and school principals, school librarians and a Director of Curriculum Development in the Ministry of Education and Skills Development (MoESD). Qualitative data were analysed thematically while quantitative data were analysed using the Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS) respectively to generate descriptive and inferential statistics. iii The findings revealed that senior secondary schools in Botswana did not have clearly stated goals of information literacy. Moreover, there is no national IL policy, guidelines or standards for Botswana secondary schools. The challenges affecting IL implementation were found to include low budgets, overcrowded curriculum, lack of adequate support from government, unreliable Internet connectivity and inadequate human and library resources. The study made recommendations to enhance IL integration into the curriculum of senior secondary schools that include harmonisation of IL content through institutional and national policies, adapting international best practices/standards and developing a common IL pedagogy (based on constructivist principles). Furthermore, it is recommended that librarians and teachers need to make information literacy more practical and relevant. Further research could consider extending the existing IL models/frameworks that are largely Eurocentric to a developing country context such as Botswana.