21stcentury learning spaces need to reflect the skills valued in the wider community. Libraries, as a shared space, have a responsibility to lead in this endeavour. To do so, it is necessary for teacher librarians to be knowledgeable in contemporary educational policies and practices, and understand how, together, these can promote best practice for learning. The following commentary will focus on two such components – The Standards of Excellence for Teacher Librarians and inquiry learning as a pedagogical framework. These will be applied to the design of a P-6 school library in particular, the two areas which are under-utilised – the outdoor space and the quiet reading alcove, with the aim of assessing the effectiveness of the learning space for the students.
Education Policy
The Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians was developed by the Australian School Library Association (ASLA) to identify the knowledge and skills required by practicing teacher librarians to be effective in their role. As such, it represents goals for attainment and provides a basis for ongoing professional development. It is organised into three distinct spheres – Professional knowledge, professional practice and professional commitment.
An explicit discussion of the learning environment is provided within the professional practice sphere which suggests the importance of the library space. This rightly suggests the learning environment should reflect the needs of the community, be effectively and efficiently resourced and include ICT opportunities (p. 3). Faulk & Evanshen (2013) agrees stating each of these elements should be carefully considered during the designing phase of a learning space.
However, while research identifies a clear link between various elements of the learning environment with student engagement and achievement (Shussmann, 2017), ASLA fails to align pedagogy with learning environments. This dissonance is seen throughout the document. The professional knowledge sphere frequently states the need for teacher librarians to be experts in curriculum in order to assist with the provision of contemporary ‘programs and resourcing’ (p. 2). Similarly, the professional commitment sphere requires teacher librarians to ‘emphasise a learning and teaching focus in school library programs and services’ (p. 4). These spheres make no mention of how the expert design of the learning space can enhance the school community.
This document should continue to be updated as the research into the impact design elements can have on the best practices for learning continues to develop. It should reflect teacher librarians as co-designers of learning spaces which promote student engagement and achievement.
Educational trends
Through the introduction of the general capabilities, ACARA (2013) has acknowledged the changing beliefs and expectations of todays’ society. The development of transferable skills such as, the ability to analyse and apply information, collaboratively solve problems and integrate technology, are seen as necessary for success across disciplines. Murdoch (2015) asserts inquiry learning provides the opportunity to develop such skills while increasing student engagement. Inquiry learning demands students be critical thinkers who ‘transform information into knowledge’ (p. 1) through its application to self-identified problems (FitzGerald, 2016). As experts in information literacy, teacher-librarians are well-placed to drive an inquiry pedagogy.
Being student-centred, inquiry learning provides students with a sense of agency. By guiding their own learning through a familiar process. Students will begin to see thinking as an action that can be applied across disciplines to connect knowledge and deepen understandings (Schwartz, 2016). This choice, as well as an increased comprehension of their world, works to increase student engagement (Lupton ,2015). This is particularly true when students are able to apply their knowledge to improve their own community through a transformative inquiry (Lupton, 2016).
Through this transdisciplinary approach to thinking and learning students have the opportunity to practice and therefore, develop, a variety of skills in context. Some of these skills, such as interpretation and analysis of information and the representation of ideas, are essential literacy skills (ACARA, 2013). Providing inquiry learning opportunities will assist in reaching the school improvement goals which currently focus on literacy attainment.
Therefore, the redesign of the library should account for the introduction and future development of transformative inquiry through the creation of a flexible learning space.
Implications
The library learning space as it is currently designed facilitates limited pedagogical strategies, mostly teacher directed strategies. The static projectors and whiteboards, large but limited tables (four in total) and lack of noise barriers create difficulties in promoting the collaborative nature of inquiry learning. Additionally, the storage of unused furniture and rubbish in communal spaces limits the use of the whole library learning space for the purpose of lifelong learning.
The physical learning environment is intricately linked to learning outcomes (Faulk & Evanshen, 2013). Through purposeful design, it can be used as a tool to support participants to be actively engaged and responsibly monitor their own needs (Hewes, 2013). The development of student agency, including that of knowing the type of learning environment that would best suit the learning activity, is one of the objectives of inquiry learning. Having a pedagogical model, such as inquiry learning, and understanding the desired outcomes of this for students prior to design, will guide the designers in making informed decisions that value the needs of all community members in this learning endeavour.
As inquiry learning is often collaborative a flexible learning environment would be the ideal. Flexible learning spaces require much thought and intention in order to ensure the goal of high student engagement and attainment are met (Douglas, 2018). The open plan space and moveable furniture, both desks and bookshelves, complement this aim providing some fluidity in space configuration. However, no provision for smaller, more private spaces was planned for. This, therefore, does not adequately cater for those students who prefer working in quieter, more intimate groups or individually (Faulk & Evanshen, 2013).
While the Standards of Professional Excellence for Teacher Librarians does not provide much explicit guidance on the design of the learning environment or directly link the design of learning spaces to student outcomes, it does demand teacher librarians to not only be cognizant of current educational theories, but also support their implementation (ASLA, n.d). In this way, the guidelines are implicitly supporting evidence-based innovation in the library. Given the clear link between learning spaces and student outcomes (Shussman, 2017), it can be surmised that references to ‘programs’ throughout the document include an understanding of design theory. Therefore, this document can demonstrate to the wider school community that contemporary libraries are not repositories of books, but places for exploration and creativity (Harte, 2016).
One element often noted in the guidelines is the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) as a teaching and learning tool. Other than the static projectors, the library does not have access to hardware that can enhance the learning objectives. Given the amount of information online as well as the benefits of using it and our role as information literacy specialist, not having the ability to teach students how to be critical users of such information detracts from our value to the wider school community. This also limits the ways in which students are able to collaborate when conducting inquiries, not only with each other, but also outside experts.
conclusion
The aim of the school library space is to be a safe, active environment where staff and students can collaborate to discover, create and empower. It should be used as an extension of the classroom. In its current design, this space is yet to reach its potential to be seen as a vital addition to the school. In order to provide contemporary, inquiry based learning opportunities, two areas of the library space, the outdoor area and the quiet reading alcove, can be redesigned. This redesign should focus on adding to the flexible nature of the larger space by providing varied learning spaces to cater for all learners and learning activities while still retaining fluidity. Additionally, this redesign should look to enhance the ICT capabilities of the overall space in order to meet the needs of today’s learners.
In order provide this more valued learning environment, it is important to recognise the participatory nature of design by meeting with all stakeholders (Hughes & Elliot Burns, 2019). This will allow for all parties to give insights into the elements that would best support their teaching and learning needs within an inquiry pedagogical framework.
The Oasis 