Curriculum Development

29. Overall, 67.8% of schools have a written Library Policy; for Scotland this is 47% while for Northern Ireland it is 74%. Special schools (34.1%) and independent schools (41.9%) tend to fall behind on this. Larger schools also tend to have a policy; for schools with up to 50 pupils the figure is 21.9%, while for the 2000 plus pupil schools it is 81%. If the school does not currently have a policy then it is the larger schools that intend to introduce one.

30. Overall, 60.7% of schools have a current written Library Development Plan; English schools lead at 63% followed by Welsh schools (54.4%), Scottish schools (47.6%) and Northern Ireland schools (42.9%). Special (24.4%) and independent (40.8%) schools tend to lag behind on this aspect. The size effect is again apparent with 24.2% of the very small schools having a plan and 68.3% of the very large schools with such a plan. If a Library development Plan did not exist then it was the larger schools that intended to introduce one.

31. In total, 68.6% of libraries featured in the school Development Plan; there were significant differences between countries with Scotland lowest at 53.4%, Wales (64.8%), Northern Ireland (66%) and England (71.5%). Special (61.2%) and independent (52.9%) schools scored lower in this aspect. The size effect was not statistically significant.

32. Only in 8.9% of cases does the person responsible for the library receive schemes of work from subject departments all or most of the time. There were, however, significant variations from this average. Welsh and Northern Ireland schools tended not to disseminate schemes of work to the library. Special and independent school libraries tended to fare worse. Larger schools tended to disseminate curricular information to their library more often, but the picture was not clear cut.

33. Only 27.2% of libraries work closely with all departments or faculties; there were differences, however. Scottish school libraries seemed to be less extreme in working more closely with some departments and much less likely not to be working with any departments. However they were less likely to work with all departments. Special school libraries tended to work much closer with all departments but a significant number did not work closely with any department. Independent school libraries also had a slightly greater propensity to having no close links.

34. Overall, 83.6% of schools attempt to teach specific information skills systematically to particular years or groups across the school. Out of the total sample 1034 responded to this question; 41 were missing responses. There were significant differences. Scottish schools tend to attempt to teach specific information skills to particular years or groups across the school more than the other three countries. This may be explained by the higher percentage of Scottish schools employing a full time chartered librarian. Special and independent schools come in at lower levels than the other sectors. This aspect of curriculum development involvement tended to increase with increasing size of school again reflecting the fact that the larger schools tended to employ a chartered librarian. For the smallest schools the percentage was 46.2%, increasing with size of school in terms of pupil numbers: 50-100 (55.8%), 100-500 (79.5%), 500-1000 (85.2%), 1000-2000 (93.0%) and 2000 plus (83.3%).

35. The person responsible for the library seldom attended meetings ‘most of the time’ with departmental meetings (23.3%), senior management team meetings (SMT) (12.1%), curriculum development meeting (20.8%). For ‘not at all’ the percentages were: departmental (36.4%), SMT (70.2%), curriculum development (52.6%). Different teaching cultures reflected different involvement. Welsh schools excluded the person in charge of the library from departmental meetings much more than Scottish schools, but school libraries in Scotland tend not to be involved in these meetings most of the time. There are several differences, the largest being due to the special schools. While special schools have tended not to single out the library in a positive way, generally, in this respect they are seen as an important feature of the school. This is also the case for other types of meeting.

36. Overall, 69% of schools use the School Library Service (if available); in 15.7% of instances there was no SLS; 15.3% of those responding to the questionnaire said that they did not use the SLS. There were significant differences between country and sector. Northern Ireland school libraries tend to make use of an existent School Library Service. A higher percentage of Welsh schools have no SLS; a higher percentage of Scottish schools make use of the SLS. Only 17.6% of independent schools used the SLS; nearly 40% reported that none existed. For grant maintained schools the figure for ‘no SLS’ (16.6%) was very similar to LEA schools (12.5%); nearly a quarter of grant maintained school libraries said they did not use the SLS, however this figure was only 8% for LEA school libraries.

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