The Education Directorate is to invest in 10 scholarships for local teachers to become qualified teacher librarians by undertaking a Master of Teacher Librarianship course.
Minister for Education and Youth Affairs, Yvette Berry said the Directorate would provide the 10 scholarships every year to 2025 as there was a shortage of teacher librarians across the Territory.
“Teachers are the single most important factor to secure good educational outcomes for students,” Ms Berry said.
“A qualified teacher librarian supports students, classrooms and whole-schools by enhancing digital and information literacy, resourcing the curriculum and helping students become critical, creative and collaborative thinkers,” she said.
“Right now, there are not enough qualified teacher librarians available and this commitment will support teachers to undergo further studies to increase the number of qualified teacher librarians.”
Ms Berry said teacher librarians were trained teachers with additional master’s qualifications in teacher librarianship.
“ACT teachers were there when we needed them most – ensuring our children continued to learn during COVID-19 restrictions,” the Minister said.
Ms Berry said Canberra was facing a huge economic challenge and creating jobs and additional skills was the number one priority as part of the ACT Jobs and Economic Recovery Plan to rebuild the economy after the COVID-19 pandemic.
