It is 2016. We live in the United Kingdom, birthplace of the English
language, home of so many leading authors of children's literature. Birthplace
of Shakespeare, Milton, Austen. Books are our shared heritage. If you're trying to puzzle out what British values might be, the best place to start is in a library.
Yes, you do detect a note of sarcasm.
What's happening in our schools?
- Books are piled into skips
and destroyed
- Budgets for school libraries
are slashed.
- Libraries are dismantled and
converted into classrooms.
- Librarians have been sacked or demoted.
This week the Association of
Teachers and Lecturers (ATL) published a survey of school libraries at their
annual conference in Liverpool. It told a devastating story of decay and destruction.
Sometimes it was budget cuts, sometimes the lure of new toys. 'The new head has decided
a library is no longer needed so is planning to get rid of it as all reading
can be done on iPads,' said one teacher at a primary school in the West
Midlands. A PRIMARY school, a place where children learn to read, but will now
be unable to browse books and discover the ones they might enjoy. ' Our library has become a wall of shelves in a corridor with two chairs - we used to have a designated room where children could sit or read or research, We needed the space for another classroom,' said a teacher in a primary school in Cornwall.
It's not just school libraries that are being
eviscerated. School library services are disappearing too. This
year I was lucky enough to be shortlisted for the Red Book Awards in Falkirk,
run by the School Library Service there. The dedication that had gone into
making this event fun, meaningful and a positive learning experience for the
students involved was obvious. And yet Falkirk Council is cutting the entire
SLS budget - saving less than £400,000 - in an appalling act of
cultural vandalism.
The ATL's modest suggestion to stop the rot was that Ofsted should
be charged with reporting into schools' library provision. I like this idea. The judgment of Ofsted inspectors is something that school leaders genuinely care about. If they could fail an inspection for not employing a librarian, not restocking a library or replacing books with tablets, then we might see a change in policies and priorities.
I'd go further and
suggest that academy chains taking over a school should be required to
ring-fence a percentage of its budget to maintain a physical library,
employ a librarian or library service and replenish the book stock.
We also need to champion the schools that are bucking the trend.
Last month author Jonny Zucker opened a brand new library at Kenilworth Primary School in Borehamwood, Hertfordshire. The school choir sang. The Jolly Postman delivered book recommendations to every child. The Hungry Caterpillar provided snacks.
Head teacher Samantha Jayasuriya said: “We are determined at Kenilworth to keep our library open and thriving helping our children develop a love of lifelong reading.
“Libraries are amazing community spaces and Borehamwood is very lucky to have a beautiful and well stocked town library.
In Shropshire, in January, author Nicola Davies opened a new library at Highley Primary school. English teacher Vicki Kelly said: “We converted one of our spare rooms into a library space and the PTA gave us £1,000 to buy books for it. The children love having a library and it also has soft chairs, so is a good place for them to work in, research and read for pleasure.”
Hurray for schools which value libraries and invest in them! Unleash the Jolly Postman and his recommendations to every community in the UK! And send Ofsted's inspectors along with him, just in case.
