School Library Commission: Lines of Enquiry
1. It is generally agreed that children need to read widely, enjoy reading and are able to find the information they need from a range of sources, evaluate it, critically and synthesise their findings. In the context of the Commission’s work, are there other outcomes for children and young people, their families and parents and the wider community that we need to consider?
2. What are the adult skills, attitudes and knowledge required to help children achieve these outcomes?
3. What experiences do children need in order to achieve these outcomes?
4. What resources do children need to achieve these outcomes?
5. What resources and support are required by parents, teachers and the children’s workforce to allow children to achieve these outcomes?
6. How does the school library and school library service support the delivery of outcomes?
7. What other agencies have a role in delivering these outcomes?
8. How could these outcomes be delivered more effectively in the future?
9. How can the school library and schools library service work to deliver these outcomes more effectively in the future? Please consider the following:
- The opportunities created by developments in the curriculum
- The partners it should be working with
- The clusters and networks it should be involved in
- How it should fit within the extended school system
- How it should work within local authority performance and delivery systems
- How it could become more cost effective and efficient
- What the relationship should be between the school library, the school library service and the public library network
- What the relationship should be between the school library, the school library service and organisations working with children and young people
- What the relationship should be between the school library and school leadership in terms of target setting and monitoring to deliver the school’s priorities.
- What are the comparative challenges of establishing and popularising school libraries in areas with different socio economic and ethnic groupings
- Can other agencies and services add value through partnerships with schools libraries or deliver these outcomes themselves?
10. What do you think needs to happen to create a sustainable and valued school library and school library service in the next ten years?
