Educational Roles of Primary and Secondary School Teacher-Librarians in Hong Kong

Abstract

This study explores the professional development and current work situation of Teacher-librarians (TLs) in primary and secondary schools in Hong Kong, and investigates and compares the educational roles of primary and secondary schools TLs in teaching subject courses, developing stakeholders’ information literacy, collaborating with teachers and cultivating students’ reading habits. Key findings include: relatively more secondary school TLs have professional qualifications; secondary school TLs spend on average more than one-quarter of their time teaching subject (non-library related) courses, compared to primary school TLs (15%), which they see as restricting their ability to provide library services; primary school TLs spend more time on the preparation and delivery of library lessons than secondary school TLs; both primary and secondary TLs spend less that 5% of their time collaborating with teachers; and that primary school TLs appear to have a more holistic approach to information literacy acquisition.