T-L qualifications downgrade rejected

By Wendy Currie

Following consultation with teacher-librarian members, Federation will reject the Department of Education and Training's (DET's) proposal to change the qualifications requirement for those who are already qualified teachers to become accredited as teacher-librarians.

The proposal would lower the requirement from Graduate Diploma to Graduate Certificate. Without providing any detail, the DET argued that the four units of the Graduate Certificate would adequately prepare teachers for the role. Federation is not convinced that this is true in light of the work performed by teacher-librarians, nor is it convinced that, since pre-service training now includes some element of information technology, less post initial training is required.

DET's own retraining program is certificate level, but Federation needs to take care that no precedent is set for lowering qualification requirements because a retraining program, approved some time in the past, is based on a lesser qualification.

DET-provided teacher-librarian retraining has already been reduced from the one year full time diploma course, on full pay, that existed in the 1980s.

The proposed change might well provide a justification for the DET to vacate the retraining field, transferring the responsibility and cost to individual teachers on the basis that they need only provide themselves with the shorter, and less expensive, Graduate Certificate.

DET also argued that moving to a Certificate level qualification would increase the supply of accredited teacher-librarians DET could call on. If there is a shortage of accredited librarians, this is a dangerous precedent for dealing with it.

Wendy Currie is a Research Officer.

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September 2004 contents