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Volume 29, Number 3, February 2002

Teacher-Librarianship and Change: Why Institutionalization has Failed

Rhona Oldford

In his editorial in the September, 2000 edition of Teacher Librarian, Ken Haycock (2000) expresses concern over what he perceives to be backsliding in the field of teacher-librarianship. Dr. Haycock is in a position to make such observations. As a leader in the field of teacher-librarianship for at least three decades, he has been instrumental in the creation of the modern role of the teacher-librarian (Haycock, 1999). Specifically he is concerned that the use of a school-based continuum of information skills and strategies as a reference point for collaboration is no longer the normal experience of teachers. Haycock points out that he observed this to be the case even in schools with strong support for teacher-librarian programs and in schools where this practice had been well established in the past. The purpose of this article is to explore some of the reasons why such backsliding may be occurring.

A review of the professional literature revealed a glaring lack of discussion surrounding this problem. There is, however, much dialogue concerning the role of the teacher-librarian, the need for advocacy and the importance of a process approach to teaching information literacy across the curriculum. There is a significant body of knowledge about what teacher-librarians should be doing and literature to support that this has been done, and done well, in the past. It appears that the initiation and implementation stages of bringing resource-based learning and information literacy into schools, along with the corresponding development of the role of the teacher-librarian, was successful, at least initially. How then can the failure of the third stage of the change process, institutionalization, be explained?

The backsliding identified by Haycock (2000) cannot be explained by a linear cause and effect chain of circumstances. To understand how this point has been reached it is necessary to examine the processes of change and consider the interrelationships between the different aspects of the educational organization that have ultimately resulted in the current situation.

Shared Vision: The Foundation for Initiation and Implementation

The movement towards resource-based learning and information literacy as cornerstones of the educational process in Canada was founded in a deep-shared belief in their importance. This shared belief is reflected in all provincial policy documents relating to school libraries. Doiron (1998) found that provincial policies "when taken together, painted an active, vigorous, and dynamic vision for school library resource centers that appeared to be shared across Canada" (p. 3). However, the existence of relevant policy does not ensure implementation. The level of implementation of these policies and their evolution into the dynamic programs that were evident in the early 1990s, and to which Haycock (2000) refers, required more than just compliance to policy; it required commitment.

Commitment occurs at the individual level. It cannot be mandated, bribed or forced. Hargraves and Evans (1997) point out that teaching is a profession built on caring. It is a profession grounded in moral purpose (Fullan, 1993). This underlying moral purpose fosters a common caring about what is taught and how it is taught. And it is this caring that translates shared beliefs into a shared vision of what teaching and learning should and can be. Senge (1990) posits that such an intrinsic shared vision infuses tremendous energy and commitment into striving for the vision. It is just such an energy that sparked the dynamic changes to library programs not only in Canada but throughout North America. What has happened to that vision and energy?

As Senge (1990) points out, vision is long-term, and purpose is often abstract (p. 225). People live in their daily realities. How have these realities affected their vision and aspirations? Senge uses the concept of creative tension to explain the relationship between vision and reality:

The juxtaposition of vision (what we want) and a clear picture of current reality (where we are relative to what we want) generates what we call creative tension: a force to bring them together caused by the natural tendency of tension to seek resolution. (1990, p. 142)

Ideally this tension generates the creative energy that drives reality closer to vision. However, when the difference between reality and vision is too great, the tension can be destructive. Senge (1990) suggests that there are two ways to cope with this tension: reality can be pulled towards the vision or the vision can be adjusted to more closely match reality.

Chipping Away the Foundation: Why Institutionalization is Failing

The realities of the implementation process greatly contribute to the successful continuation of any program (Fullan, 1991). During the initial implementation of resource-based learning and information literacy programs there was significant support from agencies external to the school. Money for resources and personnel was provided, qualified teacher-librarians were assured through excellent university programs, district co-ordinators for school libraries provided leadership and support, local policies were developed and time was provided for continua of skills and strategies to be developed collaboratively and shared. These supports ensured that the vision was continually examined, articulated, clarified and revised. At this stage, reality was being drawn towards that vision.

Institutionalization, however, requires establishing conditions that will sustain the change. Fullan (1991) suggests that the greater the external resource support at the implementation stage, the less likely it is that institutionalization will occur when funding is terminated. Although funding has not been terminated per se, downsizing, cutbacks in money for resources, loss of substitute time for professional development and collaboration, the rise of mega boards covering large geographic areas, and the addition of other areas of responsibility for district co-ordinators previously dedicated solely to this field, are all examples of withdrawal of support. Fullan goes on to say that,

Continuation or institutionalization of innovations depends on whether or not the change gets embedded or built into the structure (through policy, budget, timetable, etc.), has (by the time of the institutionalization phase) generated a critical mass of administrators and teachers who are skilled in and committed to the change, and has established procedures for continuing assistance (such as a trained cadre of assisters), especially relative to supporting new teachers and administrators (1991, p. 89).

It is here, at the institutionalization stage, that the vision has been lowered to more closely reflect reality.

Pondering Policy

Doiron (1998) examined provincial policies to determine if policy changes in the past five years have affected the shared vision of teacher-librarians in Canada and to determine if there is a need to renew that vision to accommodate new realities of education. Doiron identified two trends in new Canadian educational policies that are impacting school library programs: the move toward a common core curriculum and the development of major technology statements. For years, teacher-librarians have been touting the benefits of resource-based learning, information technology and the integration of information literacy skills across the curriculum. Doiron points out that the new core curriculum documents have incorporated these goals but into a much wider curriculum context. The knowledge, skills and attitudes that were traditionally developed under the auspices of the teacher-librarian are now laid out next to all the other learning outcomes for each key grade level.

Although this should be considered a positive trend, there is a problem: the need for a teacher-librarian to lead the development of an information skills plan at the school level is not mentioned in the technology or core curriculum documents examined in this study. That role seems to have been ignored or replaced by a broader responsibility for all educators to work to develop students' information literacy skills (p. 8-9).

Without such leadership, Doiron questions the feasibility of expecting classroom teachers to fully realize these skills or to apply them to the wide variety of resources available in the resource center and/or in the community. If the responsibilities of the teacher-librarian are redistributed to classroom teachers, it may only be a matter of time before the position is eliminated and replaced by library or technology technicians.

Have the policymakers considered whether classroom teachers alone can implement these new curricula and policies and be successful in fully incorporating the underlying philosophy of information literacy, resource-based learning and technological competency? In the large inclusive classrooms of today it is unlikely. Instructional partnerships between classroom teachers and teacher-librarians hold the greatest promise of success. Brown and Sheppard (1998) point out that teacher-librarians are mirror images of teachers plus; with all the characteristics, skills and competencies of classroom teachers plus the additional knowledge, technical skills, and personal, interpersonal and team skills that characterize leadership in teacher-librarianship. It is the "plus" that teacher-librarians bring to teaching that makes their role critical to the successful implementation of these new curricula. Teachers cannot do it alone.

Teacher-librarians need to clarify their role within the emerging new curricula both on a personal and a public level. This is consistent with what Senge (1990) describes as personal mastery, "the discipline of continually clarifying and deepening our personal vision, of focussing our energies, of developing patience, and of seeing reality objectively" (p. 7). Teacher-librarians cannot hope to clarify and commit to a shared vision until they clarify their own personal visions. The changes wrought by educational reform and restructuring have eroded the shared vision teacher-librarians once had and have blurred their understanding of their place in today's educational environment. If they define themselves by their "position" and see their responsibilities as limited to the boundaries of that position, they will find themselves in an identity crisis that can be incapacitating.

Where Are All the Teacher-librarians?

Perhaps the most important factor contributing to the lack of institutionalization is the lack of a critical mass of administrators and teachers. Declining enrolments have led to school closures, and cutbacks in staffing. Although in Newfoundland teacher allocations have not been cut in direct proportion to declining enrolment (Newfoundland Department of Education, 2000), there has been a shift in how teaching units have been used and in the skills teachers are now required to have. The recent Ministerial Report (Newfoundland Department of Education, 2000) recommends one teacher-librarian per 1000 students (p. 41). This allocation is insufficient to support the new process-driven Atlantic Provinces Educational Foundation (A.P.E.F.) curriculum documents (Newfoundland and Labrador Teachers' Association, 2000; NLTA Learning Resources Special Interest Council, 1999). In suggesting such an allocation, the government fails to live up to its responsibility to support resource-based learning as outlined in its own policy document Learning to learn (Newfoundland Department of Education, 1991).

The effects of cuts in positions will not be felt immediately. The programs developed by effective and qualified teacher-librarians may be strong enough to be carried on by classroom teachers alone for a few years, but without planned growth and support they will eventually wither and disappear. Without rigorous attention and the application of appropriate selection criteria, the collection of resources will not grow in a systematic manner that is supportive of changing curriculum needs and that is effective in meeting the changing recreational interests of shifting student populations. The administration of the resources and programs will also fall into decline to a point where circulation becomes too problematic to be worthwhile and the resource center becomes merely a place to house an aging collection of infrequently used and inadequate resources. Senge (1990) suggests that the prolonged delay between action and consequence makes it difficult for the departments and agencies that initiated changes in allocations to learn from their mistakes, and adds that we, as professionals, learn best from experience but never directly experience the consequences of many of our most important decisions (p. 23). Changes in government and turnover of administrators and staff augment the problem in that those who initiate changes are gone before they can ever directly experience the consequence of those decisions.

Shrinking budgets and the glut of teachers available in the late 1980s and 1990s have also led to cutbacks in education faculties at universities. These cutbacks in the education faculties and the programs they offer have not reflected the changing needs of schools in a timely way (Oberg, 1996). With respect to teacher-librarianship in Canada, "the programs are small, few in number and spread out over a very large geographic area" (Oberg & Freeman 1996). There is now a shortage of qualified teacher-librarians in North America (Oberg, 2000). In the United States, "library personnel shortages in more than half the states mean that administrators are forced to hire non-certified staff, or worse - to dismantle the library program entirely" (Everhart 2000).

The aging trend resulting from the influx of teachers in the 1960s and early 1970s has resulted in a large percentage of the teaching force retiring over the last few years, a trend which is expected to continue for the next decade (Newfoundland Department of Education 2000, Oberg 2000). In addition to the openings created by retiring teacher-librarians, there is a secondary, less obvious impact. The leadership qualities and academic qualifications held by many teacher-librarians provide them with opportunities to move into higher-paid administrative positions that have opened up due to retirements, leaving their teacher-librarian jobs open.

As Hamilton (2000) observes, "many of the self-evident truths we held about our opportunity to do good in the schools will be meaningless when there are few of us left" (p.32). Reductions in the number of positions, staff turnover and changes in the quality and availability of training for teacher-librarians have led to a loss of leaders and an erosion of vision.

Cutbacks - A Reaction Response: Looking Deeper

The education system has been caught in a vicious cycle of checks and balances that began with the need for teachers that was created by the baby boom that succeeded World War II. The delay between teacher training and teacher availability created a lag between supply and demand. A factory model was applied to schools in order to maximize the number of students each teacher could handle. Eventually this lag diminished and the pendulum swung the opposite way. Those who had entered training continued to graduate, and although the original demand was being met and demand had stabilized, the supply of qualified teachers continued to increase. The natural decline in births, coupled with the advent of "the pill" and shifts in population distribution, resulted in lower student populations, cuts to educational funding and an oversupply of teachers. This in turn led to drops in enrolment in teacher education, financial cuts to education faculties often at the expense of specialist areas, and to eventual shortages in qualified personnel. Although this may be a simplistic depiction of this pattern, it serves to illustrate the relationship between supply and demand and how reactive solutions serve to compound problems and create a vicious cycle (Senge, 1990).

This problem has grown from the failure to apply systems thinking to the dilemma caused by changing enrolment patterns and teacher aging trends. Systems thinking is a conceptual framework or a body of knowledge and tools that helps individuals to recognize patterns more clearly and to see how individual pieces affect the whole (Senge, 1990). Cutting staff and reducing programs and support treat the symptoms of the problem but do not address the structures within the system that are causing the problems.

Clearly there is incongruence between curriculum philosophy, the existing school model and financial policy. A more learner-centered approach to school and classroom structure and to instructional strategies might be a viable alternative from all three perspectives. Such a systemic approach to change could bring the educational environment closer to the shared vision of what schools should and can be. Maintaining the current system through continual cutbacks serves only to undermine effective teaching and learning.

Reality Check: Examining the Lens

There is a multitude of factors that color the lens through which reality is viewed. Fullan (1991) suggests that daily pressures often lead to a short-term perspective and an emphasis on coping. As well as being exhausting, this mindset often limits time for reflection and leads to dependence on routines and isolation from colleagues. This is particularly true for teacher-librarians whose responsibilities include teaching, repairing computers and other equipment, collaborating on the organization, development and implementation of resource-based units, scheduling volunteers, providing professional development opportunities, administering the library resource center and evaluating and developing the collection. Under a demanding daily grind it is easy to lose sight of what is important. A continuum of information literacy skills and strategies developed years ago may no longer be adequate as it may not include current information technology skills and strategies or reflect changes in curriculum outcomes. Obsolete, it is left to collect dust on a shelf. In the pressure to get everything done, previously developed units are recycled ad nauseam. Packed schedules make it increasingly difficult for teachers to arrange mutually convenient times for collaboration so that too diminishes to brief sporadic episodes. The work gets done but at a steadily decreasing standard and by teacher-librarians who feel increasingly overworked, underpaid and unappreciated. The vision is gradually pulled down to more closely match reality.

"People with high levels of personal mastery are continually expanding their ability to create the results in life they truly seek" (Senge, 1990, p.141). Halting the drift to mediocrity requires that teacher-librarians stop and look at reality objectively, that they clarify what really matters to them and focus their energies on achieving those things. Looking at reality objectively includes examining mental models, "those deeply ingrained assumptions, generalizations or even pictures or images that influence how we understand the world and how we take action" (Senge, 1990, p. 8). Institutionalization cannot occur if the new practice conflicts with deep beliefs about how the world works. Fullan (1991) suggests that people can believe that they have changed when in reality they have only assimilated the superficial trappings of a change. A teacher-librarian who regularly implements resource-based units, without a systematic and progressive approach to the development of information literacy skills including critical thinking, may be accomplishing little more than the teaching of traditional library skills. Changing such behaviour requires changing beliefs, a difficult and long-term challenge, particularly if these beliefs are tacit.

What kinds of underlying beliefs affect how teacher-librarians do business? What are their hidden fears? What do teacher-librarians personally believe about the way the world works and the nature of schools? Is there a belief that:

• Certain teachers don't want to collaborate?
• Teachers resent teacher-librarians because they do not have a class?
• Most teachers do not want to learn technology, and believe that the teacher-librarian should handle that?
• Teacher-librarians can do certain things better than anyone else so they had better do it all themselves?
• A skills continuum is a waste of time?

What underlying assumptions do classroom teachers, principals and district personnel hold about the role of the teacher-librarian or about particular teacher-librarians? Long-term commitment to an innovation requires that deeply entrenched mental models be searched out and examined. Teacher-librarians must be willing to question the data such assumptions are based on and be willing to consider that these assumptions may be misguided or wrong.

Engaging in dialog is perhaps one of the most effective ways to deeply examine such assumptions (Senge, 1990). Dialog does not involve convergent thinking. Its purpose is not to come to a conclusion or an agreement but rather to listen carefully and thoughtfully and to work at clarifying thinking and developing an understanding of the beliefs and generalizations that drive actions. Dialog requires a safe and collaborative environment.

There is rarely more than one teacher-librarian per school. Unlike classroom teachers who regularly collaborate with their grade-level colleagues or colleagues within their subject discipline, the teacher-librarian works in relative isolation. Although teacher-librarians collaborate with teachers within their school, there is little opportunity for getting together with other teacher-librarians on a regular basis. Institutionalization of those practices that define excellence in the field requires team learning, "the process of aligning and developing the capacity of a team to create the results its members truly want" (Senge 1990, p. 233). Teacher-librarians need time to work together to inquire into diverse visions in such a way that deeper, common visions can be become reality, to engage in dialog with others to expose flaws in thinking, to share information and strategies, to solve problems and to provide support to one another in challenging times. As teacher-librarians examine together the forces that contribute to both their personal and their common daily realities, and as they become aware of their power to influence or change that reality, a synergy is created. Energy and enthusiasm is renewed and refocused towards bringing reality towards the vision.

Synthesis and Recommendations

The theory that formed the foundation for the shared vision and programs subsequently developed and implemented by teacher-librarians remains sound. The underlying belief in the importance of resource-based learning and information literacy and of an inquiry-based approach to teaching and learning is still supported in the new core curriculum documents. What is needed now is systems thinking. How do teacher-librarians fit into the big picture that is emerging from broad educational reforms and restructuring? Teacher-librarians need to examine and define their role in improving student learning in relation to the whole process, and work together through national and provincial organizations to clarify their role within the emerging new curricula both on a personal and a public level.

Public policies that clarify the role of the teacher-librarian and ensure sufficient staffing allocations will support existing jobs in this field and encourage the development and delivery of high-quality educational programs for new teacher-librarians. Distance education holds promise for increasing access to such programs across the broad expanse of this country. Such programs would require adjustments and flexibility in instructor time and autonomy, course levels and program requirements (Oberg, 1996). Internships and mentoring programs would help orient new teacher-librarians and provide them with opportunities to tap into the knowledge of experienced, successful teacher-librarians.

Districts also play a key role in staff development and orientation. How do new or replacement teacher-librarians know what is expected of them and their program in a particular school in a particular district? There is no "curriculum document" to guide them. In Newfoundland, the provincial document, Learning to learn (Newfoundland Department of Education, 1991), has been out of print for over five years. It is the responsibility of the district to work collaboratively with teacher-librarians in the field and with representatives from the provincial departments of education to develop local guidelines to ensure that common goals, rationales, implementation plans and evaluation strategies are articulated. With restructuring of district school boards, most district policies have been made obsolete. How many have been restated? The mega boards created through educational reform are badly in need of such documents to ensure a degree of consistency in schools that have seen major shuffles in staff and student populations. When it is clear that the structural supports for programs are trembling under the crush of daily pressures, it is hardly surprising that institutionalization has failed.

There is a growing need for increased and more effective avenues of communication. Provincial and national organizations need to ask themselves what they can do to stimulate dialog. How can the benefits to memberships in professional organizations be improved and the barriers reduced? How can national conferences and symposiums be made more accessible in these times of financial cutbacks? How can the distribution of Canadian professional publications be increased? Would the establishment of a national directory of teacher-librarians be useful in helping teacher-librarians connect? Communication is essential if teacher-librarians are to think insightfully about complex issues and instigate innovative and coordinated actions.

To achieve full institutionalization, local associations need to be vibrant and active. They need to provide an avenue for teacher-librarians to meet socially and professionally in order to encourage the development of a collaborative culture. Local associations can serve as forums for dialog, as the basis for the formation of lobby groups and as hubs for the distribution of information. They can also work to explore opportunities for meaningful professional development including seeking out critical friends to assist in research and school growth and development initiatives.

Individual teacher-librarians need to be proactive in fostering local collaborative teams and in lobbying their principals for scheduled school time for meetings. As Senge (1990) so convincingly reveals, teams are the fundamental learning units of organizations. Working together, individuals grow faster than is possible on their own. These teams could form microcosms of learning organizations.

Teacher-librarians must take the initiative to promote their resumes and their reputations. That is to say, they must work to increase awareness that what they do makes a difference. There is a body of research that shows that teacher-librarians have a positive effect on student achievement (Lance, Welborn & Hamilton-Pennell, 1993; Lance, Hamilton-Pennell, Rodney, Petersen & Sitter, 1999; Lance, Hamilton-Pennell & Rodney, 2000; Lance et al. 2000). Brown (1997) warns that teacher-librarians must measure the goals they value and ensure they can provide evidence that what they teach students, and the professional development they provide for teachers, positively affects students' learning outcomes. Action research projects can provide the accountability needed to promote and maintain the structural supports necessary for institutionalization (Clyde, 1997: Howe, Stack & Rettig-Seitam, 1997; Todd, 1997). Personal research results prove to teachers and administrators the importance of teacher-librarians to the success of school programs.

Critical examination of how schools are organized offers the most hope for institutionalizing the kind of changes that teacher-librarians have envisioned. The concept of learner-centered schools closely represents the educational environment espoused by current teaching and learning theory. Learner-centered schools offer the collaborative environment and scheduling flexibility that invite new approaches to teaching and learning and that foster team learning.

Conclusion

Haycock's (2000) concerns are well founded. The synergy that characterized the initiation and implementation of resource-based learning policies that promoted the systematic development of information literacy through collaborative inquiry has dissipated. Institutionalization of change begins at the personal level and can only occur if the conditions are established for long-term support of the initiative. Teacher-librarians have not paid enough attention to threats posed by the gradual erosion of the structures that support their positions and programs. To change this trend they need to be able not only to understand what caused it, but also to determine how they can influence those causes and refocus their energies. Teacher-librarians, if they are to survive as a viable group, need to examine the relationships between programs, policies and context. Institutionalization requires that they address the subjective realities of the individuals involved, as reality is always complex and significant change is never linear or guaranteed.

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Rhona Oldford is the Learning Resource Teacher at Paradise Elementary School in Paradise, Newfoundland. She can be reached at rgoldfor@stemnet.nf.ca.