Ofsted Review of Effective School Libraries

The Ofsted English team have recently completed a survey of good practice in school libraries, visiting a range of primary and secondary schools throughout England. They held dissemination conferences last week and the report of the survey should be on the Ofsted website before too long.

Some of the key messages from the conferences were:

In schools where best practice was demonstrated the librarian was line managed by the Headteacher or member of the Senior Management Team.

In most of these schools good use was made of the local Schools Library Service.

The best schools expanded their libraries and library space effectively to meet the needs of pupils.

It is important that there is support for the central role of the school librarian in school development

Too many pupils struggle to make effective use of information and teaching of information literacy is rarely effective or coherent.

Change is effected to create good school libraries through:
External influences eg inspection or SLS review
The leadership of effective Headteachers
The impact of knowledgeable and inspiring school librarians

Areas for development (even in many of the most effective schools)
Monitoring and evaluation
Providing a coherent programme for teaching information across the school
Extending opening hours and accessibility especially in primary schools
Improving use by pupils in Key Stage 4
Exploring ways to provide more opportunities for pupils to develop independent learning