The school library workforce in Australia

A literature review by Lonsdale in 2003 observed that ‘a lack of systematically aggregated national data makes it difficult to gain an accurate picture of national trends in Australia in relation to the staffing of school libraries’ and noted ‘an apparent decline in the numbers of qualified teacher librarians employed in school libraries in public schools in Australia.’ This absence of data was also acknowledged in the 2011 report from the Inquiry of the House of Representatives Education and Employment Committee, which recommended a thorough workforce gap analysis of teacher librarians across Australian schools. New analysis of the Staff in Australia’s Schools surveys from 2007, 2010 and 2013, points to a decline in primary school teachers in library settings, fewer teachers working in libraries in low SES schools compared to high SES schools; and over one-third of primary teachers and one-quarter of secondary teachers working in school libraries having no tertiary education in the area. Further data are provided and the findings are discussed.