Examining the educational role of school librarians in Hong Kong, Taiwan and mainland China : a comparative study

Abstract

A lot of studies have been conducted to study school librarians (SLs)’ educational role. Those studies have identified SLs’ contribution in improving students’ academic achievement, cultivating students’ information literacy and fostering students’ reading habits. However, those studies mainly focused on the European and American regions, studies on the non-English speaking countries, especially in the Chinese milieu, were limited.

This study examined the educational role of SLs in Hong Kong, Taiwan and Mainland China, and investigated their staffing level and work distribution respectively. Questionnaires were sent to public primary school librarians in these three regions on a convenience-sampling basis, 25 responses were received from Hong Kong, 15 from Taiwan and 20 from Mainland China. Employing a mixed-method design, both quantitative data and qualitative data were collected and analyzed to get an understanding of SLs’ perception on their educational role and to examine the related factors.

Findings showed that SLs from all the three regions agreed that they have contributed towards students’ academic performance. SLs in Hong Kong and Taiwan were found to be more proactive than their counterparts in Mainland China in supporting students’ inquiry based learning in in these four aspects: Holding library lessons to teach IL, collaborating with teachers, holding reading programs and library/reading committees to promote reading and having professional development opportunities by broadening their professional network and participating in related conference. It is also found that there was still some deficiency of the educational role of SLs in Hong Kong and Taiwan. Instead of integrating the content of information literacy (IL) into subject courses, library lessons was still a prominent means to teach IL in Hong Kong and Taiwan. In both regions, SLs’ educational role was undervalued. Hong Kong and Taiwan SLs perceived that the level of subject teaching has restricted their professional role. Disparities between Hong Kong and Taiwan were also noted. Taiwan SLs, who were originally subject teachers, held a more positive view on subject teaching and interacting with other teachers while Hong Kong SLs were better qualified.

Those findings may shed some light on how SLs’ educational role could be maximized in these three regions. It may provide some evidence for the government and principals to understand SLs’ active impact on students’ achievement and the different educational systems’ impact on SLs’ role, it will also bring out some practical recommendations for teachers and school administrators to support SLs’ professional job.