Expanding information literacy

Critical and creative thinking is one of the general capabilities in the Australian Curriculum that all schools must address. Students are expected to ‘generate and evaluate knowledge, clarify concepts and ideas, seek possibilities, consider alternatives and solve problems’. School libraries are uniquely positioned to support students with this area.

Although teacher librarians embed information literacy skills into curriculum, such as using databases, appropriately referencing research material, and ethically sourcing creative commons licensed materials, information literacy programming is about more than promoting information resources. Teacher librarians can also teach students to discern when information is reliable and of high quality, take notes effectively, knowing which method works best for the individual, apply skimreading strategies to effectively engage with texts, and differentiate between these learning activities.

At Our Lady of Mercy College Heidelberg, the teacher librarian works with teachers and learning leaders to evaluate our students’ current information literacy skills and finds opportunities to enhance students’ skills. We have developed a scope and sequence document to track skills across year levels. Where possible, we introduce a particular skill via classwork and assignments that students are already undertaking and then revisit the skill in another subject. The aim is that students understand that a particular skill is relevant across all subjects, not just for the activity where the skill was initially introduced.

Active promotion of the work that is being undertaken to improve students’ information literacy skills must be shared with staff, students and parents/carers where possible, to ensure that these important cross-curricular skills remain a priority in school settings.