Student Learning in the Information Landscape : 01/06/2005

Executive summary

The metaphor of a landscape is used to describe the world of information both within and beyond the school. It includes information in all formats (print, electronic, and artefact), as well as the tools, systems and expertise that make these resources available to students and that aid them in seeking information and using it.

With the huge increases in the volume of information and students’ use of the internet, it has become crucial that students learn how to evaluate the authority, accuracy, objectivity, currency and coverage of the information they get from a wide range of sources.

Information literacy is a process of acquiring the skills, attitudes and values for effectively navigating and using the information landscape, including the internet. Information literacy needs to be taught explicitly throughout students’ schooling and across the curriculum to ensure they learn to apply it, as a matter of course, in all their encounters with information. It is about giving students the skills to “engage with information as the basis for developing a sophisticated understanding of the world and their place in it”^[1] and for becoming informed, fully‑contributing citizens.

Students also need to develop positive attitudes to reading to function effectively in the information landscape. Students who choose to read independently for information, pleasure and personal development are engaging with the information landscape and building foundations for becoming independent, life-long readers and learners.

It is the task of the school to provide students with rich learning opportunities for exploring the information landscape with confidence and skill.

The Education Review Office (ERO) conducted this evaluation to determine how effectively New Zealand schools were supporting students’ learning in the information landscape.

The sample for this study comprised 280 state primary schools (full primary, contributing primary and intermediate) and special schools, and 34 state secondary schools and composite schools, having ERO education reviews in Term 4, 2004 and Term 1, 2005.

It focused on the following three broad areas^[2] relating to the information landscape in the context of the whole school in general and the school library in particular.

• Connection: the infrastructure that brings information resources, collections, formats and services into the learner’s environment;
• Content: the content of information resources and material available to students; and
• Capability and Confidence: the skills, attitudes and values related to information literacy and life-long reading and learning that students require to function effectively in the information landscape.

Key findings and conclusions

Primary and secondary schools were all at various stages of development in supporting student learning in the information landscape and, overall, there was wide variability of development and effectiveness within schools across all the areas evaluated.

Whole school infrastructure and resources

In two thirds of the primary schools and three quarters of the secondary schools, the school leadership was providing an appropriate infrastructure to enable students to connect with the information landscape. Overall, primary and secondary schools were both making progress in this area.

In three quarters of all schools, the content of each school’s information resources (and those it provided through online services) effectively supported the needs, interests and abilities of the students. Overall, primary and secondary schools were both making progress in this area.

National initiatives (for instance, the Ministry of Education’s ICT^[3] Strategy and the National Library of New Zealand School Services’ strategic planning, professional development, and online resources initiatives) had assisted many schools in developing their information infrastructure and resources. However, ERO found, that in many schools, ICT and the school library were developing with ineffective links being made between the two. Continued collaboration between the agencies concerned to strengthen the alignment of their national strategies related to the information landscape, will assist schools in developing more cohesive programmes for the maximum benefit of students.

Information literacy

In half of the primary schools and a third of the secondary schools, students were acquiring the knowledge, skills and values of information literacy to some extent. Of these schools no secondary and 22 percent of primary schools showed progress to a great extent.

Information literacy was a particularly weak area. In most primary and secondary schools, teachers had incorporated aspects of information literacy (for example, information skills and library skills) into their teaching but there were few examples of a school-wide, integrated approach using an information process model^[4]. Few schools collected achievement data to show improvement in student information literacy skills. In some schools, an ‘information literacy programme’ was run by the school’s ICT coordinator but it was focused on computer skills only (for example, internet access, cybersafety and key word searching). Information literacy relates to all curriculum areas, and an information process model needs to be used by all teachers in their learning programmes. This has implications for teaching practice and teachers’ professional development, advocacy and leadership in learning, school structure, school staffing priorities, and the school library as well as ICT development.

Attitudes to reading

In 81 percent of the primary schools, whole school support of students’ attitudes to reading was effective, and half of these schools were highly effective.

This was an area of particular strength, overall, in the primary schools. The finding reflects the considerable emphasis on raising student literacy and reading achievement in primary schools through national initiatives such as the Literacy Strategy. Many schools had strengthened the quality of classroom and teaching resources to support this focus. Students said they enjoyed reading and using the library. This was substantiated by the level of independent reading they engaged in by choice, their readiness to discuss their reading, and the heavy use they made of the school library – if it were open – out of class time.

In contrast, whole school support of students’ positive attitudes to reading was not strong in the secondary schools. Just over half of the schools were effective in this area, and only 13 percent of these were highly effective. However, students had developed positive attitudes towards reading to some extent in 59 percent of the secondary schools, and to a great extent in 15 percent (compared with 44 percent and 44 percent respectively, in primary schools). These findings reflect that in spite of the low priority placed on fostering student enthusiasm for reading in many secondary schools, and an overall drop off in secondary students’ enthusiasm for reading, some students had developed, or retained, an enthusiasm for reading at secondary school.

Primary school libraries

ERO found that the school library was set up effectively to support information literacy development in half of the primary schools, and in 70 percent of the schools, the school library was set up effectively to support students’ development of positive attitudes towards reading. Few primary schools were assessing the impact of their school libraries on student learning outcomes. In many schools, links between the role of the school library (including library ICT) and the role of ICT in the classroom in relation to information literacy development, were ineffective.

The library’s role is to provide an environment that facilitates students’ independent inquiry and discovery through its provision of planned, managed access to information resources in wide range of formats, including ICT, which gives students opportunities to develop the skills to find and use them. In this role, the school library functions as an extension of the classroom and is complementary to the use of ICT as a tool for learning in the classroom. The two (classroom ICT and the school library) need to be aligned to enable students and teachers to make more meaningful links between classroom teaching and learning, including e-learning, and the support the library can provide. This has implications for teacher professional development and school staffing priorities, particularly in relation to the library. An effective school library requires an appropriate mix of teaching and library management expertise to ensure it is not only well-managed, organised and promoted but also plays a central role in supporting learning programmes.

The large majority of students who spoke with review officers during this evaluation expressed a high degree of enthusiasm for the school library. Some expressed disappointment with their limited access to it – especially on an independent, ‘as‑needs’ basis, and out of school hours and during lunchtimes.

Secondary school libraries

In 68 percent of the secondary schools, the school library was set up effectively to support students’ development of positive attitudes towards reading. Given the overall poor result in secondary schools for student outcomes in positive attitudes to reading, this finding indicates that the school library may offer largely untapped solutions to structural barriers that secondary schools face in developing a whole-school ‘reading culture’.

In 53 percent of the secondary schools, the school library was set up effectively to support information literacy development. Again – given the poor result in student outcomes for information literacy – this finding indicates that in many of the secondary schools where the library infrastructure and resources were set up to support information literacy, effective links were not being made between the library and the school’s teaching and learning programmes. In particular, some secondary schools had made a considerable investment in ICT and/or the school library but links between the role of the school library (including library ICT) and the role of ICT in the classroom were unclear and ineffective. The two are complementary and need to be aligned to enable students to make better use of the information landscape. This has implications for teachers’ professional development and school staffing priorities, particularly in relation to the library.

An effective school library requires an appropriate mix of teaching and library management expertise to ensure it is not only well-managed, organised and promoted but also plays a central role in supporting learning programmes. This also has implications for those who lead learning to advocate for and build a shared educational philosophy with the school community, centred on ensuring that whole-school infrastructure, including the school library, supports students’ development of information literacy skills.

Māori student learning in the information landscape

Many schools (primary and secondary) had not specifically planned or catered for Māori student learning in the information landscape. In most of these schools, school leaders talked about their policies and plans ‘being inclusive’ but had not provided resources or implemented strategies and programmes that met the diverse needs and interests of Māori students. This was reflected in the quality and relevance of school and library collections and resources.

Next steps

On the basis of the findings in this report, ERO recommends that appropriate government agencies take a national leadership role in:

• aligning information literacy development with other national education strategies (for example, the Digital Strategy, the Literacy and Numeracy Strategy, the Schooling Strategy and the ICT Strategy);
• reviewing the current assessment tools available for information literacy and attitudes to reading and developing these further for monitoring students’ ongoing progress;
• developing a national focus for secondary schools to implement a school-wide approach to fostering students’ positive attitudes to reading; and collaborating to provide advice, guidance and support to both primary and secondary schools in:

- developing a shared educational philosophy and commitment by all staff to fostering student development of information literacy;

- establishing a school-wide cross-curriculum approach for student information literacy development that features the explicit and systematic use of an information process model;

- designing whole-school professional development in teaching and assessing information literacy skills;

- linking the school library’s role in supporting information literacy and students’ attitudes to reading with the school’s overall vision and direction;

- aligning the various parts of the school’s information infrastructure – principally the school library (including school library ICT) and other ICT within the school – with a clear rationale for their respective complementary roles in contributing to student learning;

- allocating the appropriate mix of teaching and library management expertise to the school library to ensure it is not only well-managed, organised and promoted, but also plays a central role in supporting student learning;

- improving assessment of both information literacy and student attitudes to reading to inform future planning for positive student outcomes;

- improving assessment of the school library’s impact on student achievement to inform future planning for positive student outcomes;

- developing programmes and strategies based on identified needs, for improving Māori students’ learning in the information landscape; and

- identifying and addressing any specific barriers that low decile (both primary and secondary) and small and rural (primary) schools may face in developing students’ positive attitudes towards reading.

ERO intends to publish examples of good practice in this area, along with the results of a further analysis of information gathered from schools during this evaluation in order to identify specific resources, programmes or initiatives that are making a positive impact on student learning in the information landscape.

ERO also proposes to develop indicators, based on current research, for evaluating information literacy development and will integrate these into future ERO evaluation indicators. Within the context of individual education reviews, ERO will continue to monitor schools’ progress (including the impact of school libraries) in improving students’ information literacy development and positive attitudes to reading.