TY - JOUR
T1 - Who are Australia's information educators?
AU - Partridge, Helen
AU - Hider, Phillip
AU - BURFORD, Sally
AU - Ellis, Leonie
N1 - Funding Information:
This paper develops our understanding of the nation’s information educators by presenting key findings from a recent study that explored the characteristics and experiences of information educators in Australia. The study reported in this paper was undertaken as part of a national research project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council, Reconceptualising and Repositioning Australian Library and Information Science Education for the Twenty-first Century. This project was undertaken with a team of 12 university and vocational information educators from 11 institutions around Australia between November 2009 and December 2010. The purpose of the project was to establish a consolidated and holistic picture of Australian information profession and to identify how the profession’s future education and training could be mediated in a cohesive and sustainable manner (Partridge and Yates 2012; Partridge et al. 2011). Recognising three major stakeholders in the education process, the project was framed around three areas of consideration: students, industry and educators. This paper reports on one of the three areas considered – the educators. The data for the study was collected in 2010 so the findings reported here represent a snapshot in time. The Australian information sector and its subsequent education is not static, but is evolving and growing in response to various national and international stimuli. Nonetheless, the findings presented in the paper provide, for the first time, a unique insight into the characteristics and experiences of Australia’s information educators. The paper begins with a brief review of relevant literature before providing an overview of the research design and outlining key findings from the study. It concludes by discussing the key implications of the study and identifying areas of further research.
Funding Information:
This work was funded by the former Australian Learning and Teaching Council Ltd, an initiative of the Australian Government Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations.
Funding Information:
The study reported in this paper is one part of a larger project funded by the Australian Learning and Teaching Council: Reconceptualising and Repositioning Library and Information Science Education for the Twenty-first Century. Eleven institutions representing university and vocational information education in Australia undertook the 12-month project, which was designed to establish a consolidated and holistic picture of the Australian information profession and identify how its future education could be mediated in a cohesive and sustainable manner. The project was framed around three areas: information students, the information workforce and information educators. This paper reports key findings from the information educators area, which sought to establish greater understanding of the key nature and characteristics of Australian information educators. The key findings of all three considerations areas are available in the project’s final report (Partridge et al. 2011).
Publisher Copyright:
© 2014 Australian Library & Information Association.
PY - 2014/10/30
Y1 - 2014/10/30
N2 - In recent years, there has been considerable discussion of the challenges facing the future of information education in Australia. This paper reports a study that explored the characteristics and experiences of Australia's information educators. The study was undertaken as part of a larger project, which was designed to establish a consolidated and holistic picture of the Australian information profession and identify how its future education could be mediated in a cohesive and sustainable manner. Sixty-nine of Australia's information educators completed an online questionnaire that gathered data on aspects such as age, gender, rank, qualifications, work activities and job satisfaction. The key findings from this study confirm that a number of pressing issues are confronting information educators in Australia. For example, Australia's information educators are considerably older than that of the total Australian academic workforce; over half the information educators who participated in the study are looking to retire in the next 10 years; and Australia's information educators spend more time on service activities than members of other disciplines within Australia's education system and place a stronger importance on teaching over research. Left unaddressed, these issues will have significant implications for the future of information education as well as the broader information profession. Many of the key observations drawn from this study may also have relevance to other disciplines in the Australian educational context.
AB - In recent years, there has been considerable discussion of the challenges facing the future of information education in Australia. This paper reports a study that explored the characteristics and experiences of Australia's information educators. The study was undertaken as part of a larger project, which was designed to establish a consolidated and holistic picture of the Australian information profession and identify how its future education could be mediated in a cohesive and sustainable manner. Sixty-nine of Australia's information educators completed an online questionnaire that gathered data on aspects such as age, gender, rank, qualifications, work activities and job satisfaction. The key findings from this study confirm that a number of pressing issues are confronting information educators in Australia. For example, Australia's information educators are considerably older than that of the total Australian academic workforce; over half the information educators who participated in the study are looking to retire in the next 10 years; and Australia's information educators spend more time on service activities than members of other disciplines within Australia's education system and place a stronger importance on teaching over research. Left unaddressed, these issues will have significant implications for the future of information education as well as the broader information profession. Many of the key observations drawn from this study may also have relevance to other disciplines in the Australian educational context.
KW - Information
KW - information education
KW - tertiary educators
KW - tertiary education
KW - Library and information science
KW - professional education
KW - information profession
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=84920120799&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.1080/00049670.2014.966409
DO - 10.1080/00049670.2014.966409
M3 - Article
SN - 0004-9670
VL - 63
SP - 275
EP - 291
JO - Australian Library Journal
JF - Australian Library Journal
IS - 4
ER -