The Teaching of Information Literacy in Irish Secondary Schools

1. The Teaching of Information Literacy in Irish Secondary Schools The Transition From Second To Third Level June 2014 Katharine Ryan BA DipLIS MSc

2. Disclaimer The information and opinions expressed in this presentation are not necessarily those of St. Andrew’s College or the School Library Association of the Republic of Ireland (SLARI)

3. SLARI is the School Library Association of the Republic of Ireland • It’s a voluntary organisation and is part of the SLA (UK) • SLARI campaigns for better school library facilities in all primary and second level schools in Ireland • It offers support and information to all those involved in primary and post-primary school libraries

4. SLARI Policy Statement SLARI believes there is an urgent need for the establishment of a comprehensive system of school libraries throughout the country, in recognition of the following: • the necessity for all students and teachers to have access to a wide range of information sourcesin an increasingly resource-based system of education

5. SLARI Policy Statement Cont’d • the need to equip students for full participation in the rapidly changing “knowledge society” • the importance of developing students’ information literacy or information handling skills • the vital role of the school library in encouraging young people to develop good reading habits

6. Education and Information Education will be more about how to process and use information* and less about imparting it. This is a consequence of both the proliferation of knowledge – and how much of it any student can truly absorb – and changes in technology Lawrence Summers – Former president of Harvard University New York Times Education Life 20 January 2012 * Presenter’s emphasis

7. What is Information Literacy? " ... the ability to know when there is a need for information, to be able to identify, locate, evaluate, and effectively use* that information for the issue or problem at hand.“ Source: American Library Association * Presenter’s emphasis

8. Information Literacy (IL) in Irish Secondary Schools The Dept. Education does not fund school libraries or their resources with the exception of JCSP/DEIS libraries The Dept. Education does not employ school librarians with the exception of JCSP/DEIS school librarians JCSP = Junior Certificate School Programme DEIS = Delivering Equality of Opportunity in Schools

9. IL In Irish Secondary Schools There is no Dept. Education/NCCA Information Literacy syllabus New JC Key Skill – aspects of IL covered There are no standards or guidelines for implementing information literacy programmes/short courses in Irish secondary schools

10. IL In Irish Secondary Schools School libraries can, if they wish, follow SLA/SLARI best practice guidelines There is no requirement to link IL to every subject in the curriculum There is no requirement to be competent in any aspect of IL when leaving school and/or entering third level

11. Evaluating IL In Irish Secondary Schools https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/DWHMHC5

12. IL Survey Results Sent to over 700 second level schools on Dept Education website Only 29 replies received 15 from professionally qualified librarians 14 from teachers given responsibility for the school library

13. Poor Response Rate Due to… Addresses on Dept Education website ‘bounced’ Email addresses from schools’ websites ‘bounced’ Emails were not forwarded to librarian/person responsible for library despite request to do so Emails were not forwarded to librarian/person responsible as the school doesn’t have a library Wrong time of the year - exams and holiday time

14. The results of the survey cannot be read as a clear picture, or indeed, as any kind of a picture of what is happening regarding IL teaching in Irish secondary schools

15. Are There School Libraries? 27 of the 29 respondent schools had a school library NOT a classroom library However, SLARI belief is that there are few school libraries

16. Respondents Definition of IL 28 responses 19 responses - being able to search for, evaluate, store and manage information 4 responses – as above with concept of ethical use of information 4 other responses-

17. Definition of IL Other “definitions” Children learning through reading Vital for the future of our students both in education and society. digital literacy the ability to read, and comprehend text the ability to use strategies consciously to understand texts. I'm not sure what you mean about information literacy...I only realised what you meant when I read the latter questions- I think it would be helpful if you were to define information literacy first. Currently this is not being taught in schoolsI am not the librarian ….. While the concept of literacy is a complex and contested one, our understanding of information literacy is that it promotes a student's ability to use and produce new forms of IT related communication using spoken language, print and multimedia.

18. Who gets taught IL?

19. What’s Taught?

20. Who’s taught about the RQ? How to formulate a well-focused, debatable research question 19 respondents

21. Formulating A Good RQ Move from the GENERAL (Broad) to the (SPECIFIC) focused Source: IBO

22. Who’s Taught About Multiple Sources? books, magazines, internet, newspapers, databases etc. 27 respondents

23. Who’s taught to search the catalogue? 17 respondents

24. Who’s taught Dewey? 16 respondents

25. Who’s taught to search a database? 2 respondents

26. Who’s taught adv. internet search techniques? 8 respondents Surprised 1st and 2nd years taught advanced internet search techniques

27. Who’s taught about Boolean logic? 6 respondents

28. Who’s taught to evaluate information? Print and internet sources of information 20 respondents

29. Who’s taught to read for argument? Taught how to pick out an author's argument from a text 17 respondents

30. Who’s taught how to draw conclusions? How to draw conclusions from their research 20 respondents

31. Who’s taught about plagiarism? 22 respondents

32. Who’s taught to prepare a bibliography? 18 respondents If taught other IL skills why aren’t 1st-3rd years taught this?

33. How should IL be taught ? As a module (6 responses) Integrated with a lesson eg history (23 responses)

34. Integrate JC Key Skill‘Managing Information and Thinking’ Into The Curriculum? 3 respondents School specifically discussed/planned for how the Junior Cycle key skill 'Managing Information and Thinking' will be integrated into your school curriculum? 29 resp.

35. Junior Cycle Key Skill – Managing Information and Thinking Will commence Sept 2014 with its integration Into the English curriculum It is NOT an Information Literacy course. It contains some IL skills www.juniorcycle.ie/NCCA_JuniorCycle/media/NCCA/Documents/test/Managing-information-and-thinking-Toolkit_Feb-2013.pdf

36. Help LC Students With Research? Help Leaving Certificate students research their pre-submitted essays and/or fieldwork (history, geography, religion) 29 respondents

37. Do Irish Secondary Students Have The IL Skills To Transition To Third Level?

38. Some Points To Consider School librarians are not seen as teachers Teachers are overwhelmed trying to get through the curriculum Irish curriculum does not encourage the use of a library or the learning of IL skills

39. Some Points To Consider Contrast this with the Int. Baccalaureate IB EE 4,000 word academic essay Students don’t appreciate the need to learn how to research until they reach 5th/6th year pre-submitted course work However, it’s difficult to teach IL to 6th years due to pressure of finishing syllabi/exams

40. Some Points To Consider Opinion - IL skills, if offered, are on a ‘bell curve’ ie ‘poorest’ and ‘richest’ schools have school libraries. There’s an uneven ‘playing field’ The teaching of IL skills varies from school to school – there is no consistency in what is taught (syllabus) or how it is taught (standard) Students knowledge of IL is fragmented

41. Some Points To Consider The fact that IL is taught at all in a school depends on the school librarian being proactive Difficult to get timetabled – you’re in competition with the syllabus Timetable changes annually You may get to teach a few forms from a year

42. Some Points To Consider Opportunity to teach IL depends on the subject – LC essays & practical course work eg Home Economics, History, Religion, Geography Access to students depends on the teacher’s interest/ability to bring a class to the library

43. Points To Consider Teachers are expected to teach IL as part of their coursework They are not trained to teach IL skills Are there courses being developed in the teaching of IL that will be recognised by the Teaching Council for CPD? When will Dept Education/NCCA develop an IL curriculum and recognise school librarians as teachers?

44. What will it take? SLARI, LAI, third level institutions recognise the need for IL instruction SLARI has found it difficult to meet with the Department of Education Easy for Department Education to ignore recommendations made by library org.s So, how do we move forward?

45. What Will It Take? To get school libraries, professionally qualified school librarians and IL programmes into Irish secondary schools employers particularly those involved in the ‘critical thinking’ sectors should be encouraged to lobby the government. Who in industry and government will be our champion?

46. What Can SLARI Do? Change the mind set of educational leaders. School management and school management representative bodies could be approached with SLARI developed JC module ‘How To Do Research’ containing teaching material and lesson plans.

47. What Can SLARI Do? We do this already – let’s be proactive and share our expertise This will inform school management and teachers that SLARI is ready and willing to promote IL in Irish Secondary schools