Teachers' perceptions of Information Literacy

Secondary school teachers participating in a recently completed study carried out by Professor Dorothy Williams, Caroline Wavell and Louisa Coles at the Department of Information Management, The Robert Gordon University, identified a number of different conceptions of student information literacy: finding information, linguistic understanding, making meaning, skills, critical awareness of sources, and independent learning conceptions.

The results of the study indicate that teachers understand information literacy to be important for lifelong learning but do not feel able to effectively support the development of information literacy in their students within their current curriculum environments.

The final report of this research Information Literacy in the Classroom: Secondary School Teachers' Conceptions, funded by the Society for Educational Studies, August 2004 – July 2005, is available online.

This study was followed up by research looking at how a teacher and librarian in one school planned and supported the development of information literacy in a small group of students, Untangling Spaghetti? The Complexity of Developing Information Literacy in Secondary School Students, funded by the Scottish Executive Education Department.  This study has already provided useful insights and the final report will be available soon.

Both these studies extend the empirical research conducted over a number of years by the research team, looking at The Impact of the School Library Resource Centre on Learning; The Use of Research by Teachers: information literacy, access and attitudes; and two literature reviews looking at the Impact of School Library Services on Achievement and Learning.  More information on all projects can be found on the RGU Information Management Department's research web pages.