Principal support of the role of the TL

Principal support is crucial to the role of the teacher librarian. All specialist teachers need support from their school and their administrators and without this will face many challenges in their role. According to Harvey (2009), a principal expects that their teacher librarian will take on many different roles within the school, all of which of course relate to the idea of an excellent teacher librarian. They are for the most part expected to be a teacher, a resource locator, a media specialist and a collaborator, amongst other roles. Yet in order for this to happen the principal must be pro-active in their support of this. They must understand the complexity of the role and promote this across the school. They must also provide opportunities for collaboration across staff to occur in order for this multi-faceted role to be successful. 

Many studies have found that the role of the teacher librarian is crucial to student achievement (Haycock, 2007, p. 25). The teacher librarian provides opportunities in their library programs to extend students across curriculum areas and to encourage student-centred learning whereby they take ownership over their own learning. In order for students to achieve this, teacher librarians must be collaborating with classroom teachers to ensure they are supporting the work in the classroom and providing appropriate learning experiences relevant to the needs of the students. The principal therefore needs to provide time and the opportunity for the teacher librarian and classroom teachers to collaborate effectively. 

It is often common for the role of the teacher librarian to be misunderstood. If a teacher librarian is not active in the promotion of their role then what they teach and contribute to student learning can often go unnoticed. Therefore the teacher librarian must also involve the principal in their planning and programming and encourage them to promote collaboration across the school. 

A principal can also support the teacher librarian in a variety of other ways including working as a supervisor to other teachers, as a manager to the library program or as a mentor to the teacher librarian (Oberg, 2006, p.14). Through these varied roles the principal is demonstrating their commitment to the students and teachers of the school as well as their own personal commitment towards the teacher librarian. They ensure that the teacher librarian is provided with ongoing professional development and that the school is provided with a teacher librarian with the expertise and skills needed to improve student learning outcomes.

Without the complete support of the principal a teacher librarian would have difficulty incorporating the many roles expected of them into one that is achievable. They would encounter all sorts of challenges in their teaching and programming and may not feel as though their role is valued. It is therefore vital the teacher librarian actively promotes their role in the school and seeks the support of the principal to make their place known. This is crucial to the future role of the teacher librarian to ensure they are not replaced by someone without the skills and expertise necessary to guide their school into 21^st century learning.

References

    Harvey, C. II (2009). Hands on Handout: What should an administrator expect a school library specialist to be? Library Media Connection. Retrieved from http://hoorayforbooks.pbworks.com/f/lms+evaluation+ideas.pdf

    Haycock, K. (2007). Collaboration: Critical success factors for student learning. School Libraries Worldwide, 13(1), 25-35.

    Oberg, D. (2006). Developing the respect and support of school administrators. Teacher Librarian, 33(3), 13-18.