Question regarding the staffing and management of school libraries built under the Building the Education Revolution (BER) program in Western Australian primary schools. The answer reveals data limitations in centrally tracking teacher librarians and duty of care.

AnsweredQoN 5030Legislative Council
Asked
22 November 2011
Portfolio
Education

QuestionView source ↗

(1) How many of the Building the Education Revolution (BER) buildings constructed in Western Australia are school libraries?
(2) Of the BER-built libraries, how many are currently staffed by teacher librarians?
(3) Of the BER-built libraries, how many have library officers in charge?
(4) How many of the library officers in charge of libraries in Western Australian schools have accepted duty of care?

AnswerView source ↗

Answered
19 March 2012
Responded by
Minister for Energy representing the Minister for Education
Response time
118 days
I am advised by the Department of Education as follows:
(1) 179 new primary school library buildings and 10 modified/refurbished library buildings were constructed under the BER Primary Schools for the 21
st
Century program. The BER program was only for primary schools.
(2) Primary schools choose their own teaching staff profile, including teacher/librarians, that best suits their particular context and student needs. This varies from school to school and can also vary during the year. Accordingly, no central database is maintained.
There is no formal classification of teacher librarians in primary schools. Therefore the Teacher Establishment System (TES) does not identify teachers who are undertaking this role in a primary school.
It is possible to identify library officers in charge as they receive the classification - Library Officer Level 2 - and this information is held centrally.
(3) 146 in primary schools.
(4) This information is not held centrally by the Department of Education, but rather it is managed at the level of each individual school.
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