Alison Tarrant and Mary-Rose Grieve talk to Nikki Gamble
The evidence that a school library supports children’s academic attainment and wellbeing is available for anyone interested to read it. And yet, it is not statutory in England for a school to have a library. The shocking reality is that the children in most need of a library are the least likely to have access to one. Alison and Mary-Rose make an eloquent case for school libraries to be statutory if we are serious about ‘levelling-up’ so that all children have the best opportunities.
00:00 Introduction
04:19 What arguments do we put forward for advocating for a school library?
11:58 What are the qualities of a good school library?
16:15 Librarians and library workers, are they valued?
21:15 A plan for development
24:00 The aim of the Great School Libraries Campaign
29:00 Teacher training
32:00 Do we have data from schools about why they do or do not have a library?
34:47 What can school leaders and teachers do to support the campaign?
39:40 How can the SLA practically support schools?
41:31 What can SLG offer schools?
43:10 Other matters.
This post was written by Nikki Gamble
Nikki GambleFormerly a teacher (secondary and primary) and university lecturer, with over 40 years’ experience, Nikki is Director of Just Imagine. She has worked extensively in schools across the UK and internationally. She is the author of Exploring Children’s Literature now in its fourth edition (Sage, 2019) and co-author of Guiding Readers, winner of the UKLA Academic Book Award (UCL, 2016). Nikki runs workshops for teachers, librarians, students and researchers on different aspects of children's literature, an online summer school and hosts literary events. Contact nikki@justimagine.co.uk