Adapting Education for School Librarianship
Over the past few years repeated calls have been made by teacher librarian educators for evidence based practice by teacher librarians. This study is an attempt to provide evidence for the adoption of innovative practice in a post-service, part time Bachelor of Education program. Part time tertiary students undertaking studies in education at the University of Hong Kong are often heard to voice the opinion that the demands of university study are excessive. While it is generally accepted that the Hong Kong lifestyle is hectic, that teachers have a heavy schedule, and that travel to and from the university campus is time-consuming, little useful data exists to allow university professors to better understand the plight of the students or to provide evidence from which action could be taken to better tailor courses to the needs of students. Likewise many assumptions are made about tertiary student motivation but these assumptions are probably not grounded in any research findings. This exploratory study was undertaken to determine the factors affecting the full-time teacher’s progress in their tertiary part-time study in school librarianship. The findings will better enable instructors to tailor teaching and learning to meet the needs of the part-time participant. Findings will also be informative for other part-time undergraduate programs.