8. CURRICULUM DEVELOPMENT

8.1 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.

8.2 Overall, 60.7% of schools have a current written Library Development Plan; with this English schools lead at 63% followed by Welsh schools (54.4%), Scottish schools (47.6%) and Northern Irish schools (42.9%). Special (24.4%) and independent (40.8%) 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.

8.3 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%) scored lower of this aspect. The size effect was not statistically significant.

Does the person responsible for the library receive copies of schemes of work from subject departments ?

8.4 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 as is shown below:

8.5 Welsh and Northern Irish schools tended not to disseminate schemes of work to the library.

Table 8.5 Does the person responsible for the library receive copies of schemes of work from subject departments (by country):

8.6 Special and independent school libraries tended to fare worse , here.

Table 8.6 Does the person responsible for the library receive copies of schemes of work from subject departments (by sector):

8.7 Larger schools tended to disseminate curriculum information to their library more often, but the picture was not clear cut:

Table 8.7 Does the person responsible for the library receive copies of schemes of work from subject departments (by size of school):

Working closely with departments or faculties

8.8 Only 27.2% of libraries work closely with all departments or faculties; there were differences, however:

Table 8.8 Working closely with departments or faculties by country

8.9 The Scottish school libraries seem to be less extreme in having more close work with some departments and much less response to working closely with no departments but they were less likely to work with all departments.

8.10 There were also differences between sectors.

Table 8.10 Working closely with departments or faculties by sector

8.11 Special school libraries tended to work much closer with all departments but a significant number also worked closely with no departments. Independent school libraries also had a slightly greater propensity to having no close links. In this instance the ‘Other’ sector is unusual. The nature of these schools encouraging greater links between library and all departments.

8.12 There are differences between types of school but they mainly reflect the special and independent mixture:

Table 8.12 Working closely with departments or faculties by type of school

8.13 When comparing working arrangements by size of school the pattern is not as clear cut as with other comparisons but there are significant differences:

Table 8.13 Working closely with departments or faculties by size of school

8.14. The differences lie mainly with the some/no department split; the relationship improving with increase in school size. The larger schools tending to employ full time chartered librarians rather than unqualified people in the library.

Teaching specific information skills

8.15 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 here.

8.16 Scottish schools tended 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.

Figure 22 Teaching specific information skills by country

8.17 Sector differences were significant (see Figure 23 below). Special and independent schools come in at lower levels than the other sectors.

Figure 23 Teaching specific information skills by sector

8.18 The differences by type of school merely reflecting the 'Other' category.

8.19 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 (less than 50 pupils) the percentage was 46.2%, increasing by increasing 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%).

Library staff involvement in the teaching of specific information skills

8.20 When the school attempted to teach specific information skills across the school the questionnaire asked respondents to indicate the involvement of library staff. Of those reporting this teaching :

Planning this teaching:

66.7% of the smallest schools reported positively on this, while 87.5% of the largest schools did. The overall figure was 80.4% from 578 responding. There were no other differences.

Teaching the specific skills:

There were significant differences between types of school, with 79.5% of 11-16 and 86.7% of 11-18 schools reporting positively; the overall was 85%. There were observable differences between countries:

The Scottish schools being well ahead with Northern Irish schools well behind. No other differences were observed.

Designing learning activities to develop information skills:

Differences, here, related to sector only. While there was a slight tendency for larger schools to be more active in this context the differences were not statistically significant. For sectors:

Independent schools tend not to figure in this activity, while the ‘Other’ category is unusual (but also small in number).

Evaluating Information

skills work: there were significant national differences here, on those responding positively:

The Scottish schools being very different from the rest.

The person responsible for the library seldom attends meetings as shown below:

There were differences worth reporting and these are shown below.

8.21 For Departmental meetings, comparing countries:

Table 8.21 Person in charge of library attends departmental meetings

8.22 Different teaching cultures reflected in different involvement. Welsh schools excluded the person in charge of the library from departmental meetings much more than Scottish schools, but schools in Scotland tend not to be involved in these meeting most of the time.

8.23 Now, comparing sectors:

Table 8.23 Person in charge of library attends departmental meetings

8.24 There are several differences, the largest being due to 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.

8.25 The effect of school size is worthy of comment:

Table 8.25 Person in charge of library attends departmental meetings

8.26 This is a complex picture; smaller schools tending to have a fuller involvement; there is a trend in the 'Rarely' category increasing with size of school; as does the 'Sometimes' category. The levels for ‘no involvement at all’ are more or less even across school size. It looks like 'Sometimes and Rarely' trade with 'Most of the time' as the school increases in size.

8.27 A picture of significant differences also emerges for SMT meetings. This time there are no national differences worth reporting and any slight difference between school types is mainly due to special and independent school influences.

8.28 Now, comparing sectors:

Table 8.28 Person in charge of library attends SMT meetings

8.29 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. The person responsible for the school library tends to be slightly more involved at SMT meetings in independent schools, although this difference is small.

8.30 The effect of school size is worthy of comment:

Table 8.30 Person in charge of library attends SMT meetings

8.31 This is a complex picture; smaller schools tending to have a fuller involvement; ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Most of the time’ this reduces dramatically for schools between 100 and 2000 pupils; for the 2000 plus pupil schools the trend is reversed, somewhat, but since numbers are relatively small care should be exercised with inferences. While only about a quarter of those responsible for the school library in the smaller schools are excluded from SMT meetings, this rises dramatically to three-quarters for schools with between 100 and 2000 pupils. The largest schools see a reversal in this trend.

8.32 A picture of significant differences also emerges for curriculum development meetings. This time any slight difference between school types is mainly due to special and independent school influences.

8.33 For Curriculum Development meetings:

Table 8.33 Person in charge of library attends curriculum development meetings

8.34 For the Welsh schools, the person responsible for the library is excluded from curriculum development meetings in 73.1% of instances; while the Scottish schools do not exclude as much they tend not to involve the person in charge of the library most of the time (8.3%).

8.35 Now, comparing sectors:

Table 8.35 Person in charge of library attends curriculum development meetings

8.36 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. The person responsible for the school library tends to be slightly less involved in curriculum development meetings in independent schools, in two thirds of the schools responding there was no involvement at all in curriculum development meetings.

8.37 The effect of school size is worthy of comment:

Table 8.37 person in charge of library attends curriculum development meetings

8.38 This is, again, a complex picture; the very small schools tending to have a fuller involvement; ‘Sometimes’ or ‘Most of the time’; this reduces dramatically for schools between 50 and 2000 pupils; for the 2000 plus pupil schools the trend is reversed, somewhat, but since numbers are relatively small care should be exercised with inferences. While only about a third of those responsible for the school library in the smallest schools are excluded from curriculum development meetings, this rises dramatically to over half for schools with between 50 and 2000 pupils. The largest schools see a reversal in this trend.

Use of the School Library Service

8.39 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.

8.40 Northern Irish 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.

Table 8.40 Use of school library service by country

8.41 Only 17.6% of independent schools used the SLS; with 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 schools said they did not use the SLS, however this figure was only 8% for LEA school libraries.

Table 8.41 Use of school library service by sector

Use made of the School Library Service

8.42 When schools made use of the SLS they made use of:

Loan facilities: (differences by sector are reported, no other differences were found to be statistically significant)

Figure 24 Use of SLS loan facilities by sector

8.43 Independent and grant maintained schools libraries showing lower usage of loan facilities.

Project material: (differences by sector are reported, no other differences were found to be statistically significant)

Figure 25 Use of SLS project material by sector

8.44 Here, special schools make more use and independent schools less use of project material.

Advice: (differences by country are reported, no other differences were found to be statistically significant)

Figure 26 Use of SLS advice by country

8.45 Northern Irish school libraries ask more advice of the SLS than other countries; but, as can be seen, the overall percentage is over 83%.

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