IFLA /UNESCO / NALIS SEMINAR ON SCHOOL AND PUBLIC LIBRARY MANIFESTOS AND GUIDELINESCOUNTRY REPORT - TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO SCHOOL LIBRARY SERVICESThe Republic of Trinidad and Tobago is a twin island nation that lies10° north of the equator. This leading Caribbean Republic is located off the north-east coast of Venezuela and are the most southerly islands in the Caribbean chain. These islands have a total land area of 5,128 Sq kilometers, with 14.62% of the land considered as arable and 9.16% being used for agriculture. Trinidad and Tobago’s main focus is in the oil and petrochemical sectors with a growing manufacturing sector. Some evidence of this is the 1032 km of crude oil pipeline which exists and 904 km of pipeline for natural gas. There are several industrial estates along the islands’ main carriageways. It can be noted that all electrical generation on these islands come from fossil fuels. The population numbers approximately 1,262,366 persons, with 39.5% of African extract, 40.3% of East Indian extract and a mixed population of 18%. The main religions are Roman Catholicism 29.4% and Hinduism 23.8% (1999). Literacy is approximately 95% with approximately 15-20,000 children commencing secondary school each year. History of School
Libraries Since before the 1950’s there has been some level of library services at both primary and secondary schools, ranging from classroom collections to small areas set aside with shelves for books. The “prestige” secondary schools at that time could better afford collections for their students, usually helped by donations from affluent parents. Few schools if any, had full-time library staff or adequate accommodation. With the expansion of the education system in the late 1960’s and the extensive school building programme supported by the “oil boom” in the 1970’s, the Junior Secondary and Senior Comprehensive schools which were constructed at that time had purpose built accommodation for libraries. This expansion and growth placed increasing demands on the public library system to plan, develop and manage school libraries since no staff positions had been created to manage libraries in schools. In 1978 an important move was made to develop libraries in schools with the creation of the School Libraries Division (SLD) as part of the Central Library Services which was mainly engaged, until then, with the development of public libraries, except for bookmobile services to some schools. This School Libraries Division was mandated to plan and develop the secondary school system, but because of a great need, soon found itself involved in the development of libraries in primary schools. A number of senior professional staff positions were created to manage this Division and at the same time positions of School Librarian and Library Assistants were put in place for Sixth Forms and Senior Comprehensive schools. Unfortunately only one position of Library Assistant was created in Junior Secondary schools and that to cover two shifts, a situation which has not yet been addressed. The Ministry of Education, with a loan from the IDB in the 1980’s embarked on a primary school expansion programme, which saw most primary schools being provided with accommodation for libraries, and with small collections of books as well as library furniture. All new primary schools since that time have been provided with purpose built libraries. To address the management needs of the primary schools, the School Libraries Division has been undertaking short training programmes for primary school teachers in the basic organization and management of the primary school library. Invariably, a large number of these teachers return to the classroom and not to the school library. This is a situation that still exists today, and while hundreds of teachers have been trained to date, few are assigned to the library. At present, while all primary schools in the country can have an extra teacher assigned for physical education, for art and craft and for music (if the principal finds it necessary), no such consideration is given for the library service. The SLD now called The School Library Services provides technical services support for school libraries. Specially designated supervisors visit and give advice and assistance in setting up libraries to staff in both primary and secondary schools. The Staff also provide professional and technical advice to the Ministry of Education on all matters pertaining to school library development. Present There are some 497 Primary and 137+ Secondary Schools in Trinidad and Tobago. As part of the plan for development of primary schools, the Ministry of Education under a new loan arrangement with the IBRD, recently embarked on a project called the School Improvement Programme (SIP). Money is allocated to principals for school improvement under the SIP, and it is to the credit of principals that most are using this money for developing their school libraries, both the infrastructure and media resources. Many primary schools, because of the SIP, now have better libraries than secondary schools, which is a new occurrence for school libraries. At the Secondary level, the Secondary Education Modernization Programme (SEMP) of the Ministry of Education, funded through an IDB loan aims to ensure that all children of Trinidad and Tobago get quality education. The library provision component is given much attention under the SEMP. This programme has been benefiting school libraries and school librarians tremendously. Provision is made within this modernization programme for library infrastructure upgrade in existing schools (SEMP Technical Upgrade) and for library accommodation in new schools, with the library as part of a larger Multi Media Learning Centre. All of the recently built schools now have appropriately furnished air conditioned libraries. Funds have also been allocated under the SEMP for professional development of school librarians, as well as for school library media resources, and for library and information management technology, both hardware and software for School Library Services and for school libraries. SWOT Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats
The act which established the National Library and Information System (Nalis) in 1978 gave Nalis the responsibility for staff in all libraries in the public sector including school libraries. Nalis is responsible for the creation of new positions in school libraries and for the training of school library personnel. At present there is a staffing crisis in school libraries, and of the more than sixty (60) positions for professional libraries in secondary schools, only 27 are filled by professionally qualified librarians. To address the shortages, Nalis recently offered more than 30 scholarships to persons to pursue Masters degrees in Library and Information Sciences. Most of the vacant positions for professional librarians are in the School Library system and it is hoped that returning scholars will fill these positions. It is also of note that in only about half of the some 137+ Secondary Schools have positions for library personnel and this is a matter which will be addressed soon. Library staff in the education system also benefit from training provided by the Ministry of Education under the SEMP as well as that provided by Nalis. Staff Development The staff of the School Libraries Division as well as school librarians benefited in the late 1990’s from two consultancies which exposed them to techniques of integrating information skills in the curriculum. Also benefiting were curriculum officers, school supervisors, secondary school teachers, and primary school teachers. A further consultancy in 2002 under the SEMP also benefited this staff as well as the staff from the Ministry of Education’s Divisions of Curriculum Division and School Supervision and its Media Development Unit. This latter consultancy sensitized participants to the benefits of total school integration and to the development of techniques of an integrated approach to teaching. There is also an allocation under the SEMP for the training of unqualified and the retraining of qualified staff. Finance Funding for the libraries in the education sector are the responsibility of the Ministry of Education. Estimates of expenditure are prepared annually for school libraries and the Ministry of Education makes provision in its budget. Sometimes School Principals allocate a proportion of their budget for library development. Fundraising is a common practice in many schools to develop school library collections since levels of funding are far from adequate. Information Literacy The major focus of the School Library Services at present is the integration of library and information skills across all subject areas of the school curriculum. Many librarians are now collaborating with teachers in this effort and are doing lesson plans and delivering curriculum to ensure that students are taught the skills so necessary for coping in the age of information. An eight lesson course on audio cassette for the primary school level on integrating information skills into the curriculum was developed by the staff of the School libraries Division in collaboration with the School Broadcasting Unit in 1997. The Course entitled “Solving the Research System” was piloted to nine schools through the School Broadcasting Unit’s weekly radio programming to primary schools. The response from the pilot school as well as from those schools which tuned in to the broadcast was overwhelming. A Teacher’s Handbook, a Student’s Workbook and a “Big Six” Poster were produced as part of this course. A review at the end of the pilot project indicated that some adjustments needed to be made, but overall it was a very successful programme. Subsequently, there were numerous requests for copies of the tapes from principals and teachers wanting to use them in the classroom. Constraints of time and funding affected the amendments to and distribution of these lessons to all schools. A Library and Information Literacy Curriculum has been developed by the School Library Services with the help of school librarians and the Division of Curriculum, and is now ready for implementation. This curriculum has been accepted by the Ministry of Education and will be piloted in 10 new schools in the near future. This curriculum can stand on its own, however, it will be integrated across all subject areas of the school curriculum. Standards of Provision Despite the fact that a relatively high budget is allocated by the Government of Trinidad and Tobago for education, it would be difficult for us to achieve international standards of provision in the short term. We have therefore developed our own standards for school library provision which we feel are more realistic and achievable and which include standards for staffing in schools of various populations, standards for furniture and equipment, and for accommodation. This document, Standards for Secondary School Library Media Centres has proved useful to planners in the Ministry of Education when preparing briefs for libraries and to architects who have been involved in the SEMP Technical Upgrade Programme. Publications 1) Library and Information Literacy Curriculum (2002) 2) Standards for Secondary School Library Media Centres (1998) 3) Manual for Secondary School Libraries (1996) 4) Solving the Research mystery: an eight lesson course on audio cassette with Teachers’ Handbook, Student’s Workbook and a “Big Six” poster. Other Libraries in Education There are five other major libraries in the education sector. The Ministry of Education headquarters library is at present under-funded, understaffed and located in inadequate accommodation. It has proved impossible over the past years to improve the situation here since the Ministry’s divisions are themselves housed in inadequate accommodation. This library supports the functions of the Divisions of Educational Planning, School Supervision, Research and Evaluation and Administration. (These divisions also have access to library information services from the Rudranath Capildeo Learning Resource Centre (RCLRC).) There are two Primary Trainee Teacher Training Colleges with well developed libraries. Plans are afoot to improve staffing to allow the librarians to undertake courses for trainee teachers in information skills/curriculum integration and to offer an elective course in the management and organization (basic) of the primary school library. This would ensure that all trainees leave college with the ability to teach information skills in the classroom and, those who wish to be assigned to their school library would be able to perform with a certain degree of effectiveness. The Rudranath Capildeo Learning Resource Centre (RCLRC) library was opened in 1992 as the research aim of the Division of Curriculum. Its location in central Trinidad was chosen to facilitate ease of access from both the north and the south of the country. This library strives to provide up-to-date resources so that its main clients, Curriculum Officers and Teachers can benefit from latest developments in education for transferring to students in the classroom. It aims to promote best practice among educators by producing booklists, displays of multimedia resources and by providing SDI services to its clients. There is cooperation between this library and Heritage Library Division to repackage local and Caribbean information to cater to the needs of teachers requiring resources for curriculum implementation. The Division of Technical Vocational Education and Training, closely aligned to the Division of Curriculum Development has its own library which serves the needs of the curriculum officers and the trainee teachers in that subject area. Since the whole raison d’etre for the existence of all of the Divisions of the Ministry of Education is the student, all the libraries in all the divisions work towards the ultimate aim of helping to develop students who are learning focused and who can contribute to the development of the society. Future With the SEMPs, the reform of the Secondary School System thrust to the Constructivist approach in curriculum, the library in the school has taken on a central role, and many opportunities are presented for school librarians to get more involved in curriculum delivery and to make their mark in the education system. Library skills are written into the new curricula and there is official acceptance for the integration of information skills into all subject areas of the curriculum using the Library and Information Literacy Curriculum. A pilot project is on the cards to integrate information skills across all areas of the curriculum. This the main thrust for the immediate future. With all the plans for School libraries we are well poised to support the national objective of developing information literate citizens who can contribute to the development of the society. Given the many strengths of the system and the opportunities available, the future for school libraries is bright. |