Helping our kids become better readers

Our Prime Minister has a special blog running:

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Helping our kids become great readers -
open from 12pm 2 February---> 5pm 12 February 2010

Guest Blogger: Morris Gleitzman
Morris raises his concern about  the pressures being placed on Teacher Librarians.
"As an author, I'd like to raise a particular aspect of this important goal that urgently needs a champion.
There are precious creatures among us who are facing extinction, or at least amputation. They're called school librarians.
I visit a lot of schools, and for years now I've been bumping into weary over-worked individuals who introduce themselves as 'point six of a librarian' or 'half a librarian' or, in particularly tragic cases, 'point two of a librarian'.
This isn't the result of over-zealous self-assessment, nor am I having conversations with disembodied heads on library trolleys. It's the result of a system that burdens school librarians with teaching duties. That asks them to wear two hats at once to the detriment of both roles. A system that doesn't believe school libraries are important enough to have full-time librarians.
I think this is tragic and silly. I hope you agree, Kevin, because it would be wonderful if you could do something about it. "................ ...................................


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