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- The aim of this study was to investigate a theoretical basis for the study of school librarianship and to give an overview of the development of school libraries to media centres as well as to give an insight into the functioning of these centres. The concept of library media centres at both primary and secondary schools have evolved from being housed in cupboards, classroom, multi-purpose rooms, halls and other inadequate premises to spacious modern buildings specially designed to cater for the changing demands exerted by socio-political and technological demands. Teaching methods traditionally dominated by teacher-centred methodology gave way to learner-centred education, where the learner assumed a more active role in the teaching-learning process rather than being relegated to a passive receiver of information. These changes in the educative process have emanated from progressive philosophers and educationists who emphasised the importance of the learner as a central figure in the learning process. The conventional school library was thus propelled from the periphery into the mainstream of the educative process where learners could interact with a variety of learning resources (normally not always available within the classroom) at their individual pace and ability. The conventional school library proved ideal in accommodating the variety of learning resources both hardware and software (overhead projectors, slide projectors, cassette recorders etc., and transparencies, slides, etc.) in addition to printed material. For the purpose of the empirical investigation, two self-structured questionnaires were utilized. An analysis was done of 10 questionnaires completed by media centre educators and 100 completed by educators teaching at primary and secondary schools on the Durban South region of KwaZulu-Natal. The data was processed and interpreted by means of descriptive statistics. In conclusion, a summary and findings emanating from the literature study and the descriptive statistics were presented. Based on these findings, the following recommendations were made: • The introduction of continuous assessment for media centre based research in the various subjects could promote the relevance of the media centre in the teaching-learning experience. • The use of the media centre for the delivery of Library Resource Education lessons for all the classes restricts accessibility of the media centre to the larger school population. The provision of an additional teaching area could help to overcome this problem. • Accessibility of the media centre after normal school hours, Saturdays and school vacations could provide a possible additional dimension to the existing services provided by the media centre.
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