Teacher and librarian partnerships in literacy education: Contradictions, Barriers and Opportunities

Abstract

This thesis develops new knowledge about and theoretical perspectives on the contradictions, barriers and opportunities that might occur within the development of teacher and librarian partnerships in literacy education. Drawing on Cultural-Historical Activity Theory (CHAT), the study explores and analyses contradictions in two small-scale educational interventions involving teacher and librarian partnerships at the school level and at the inter-institutional level in Norway. The thesis discusses how these contradictions are triggered by a primary systemic contradiction in literacy education between a sociocultural discourse and a dominant technocratic discourse. Dominant technocratic discourses in education makes it difficult to resolve contradictions that occur in teacher and librarian partnerships solely through local efforts. The development of sustainable teacher and librarian partnerships depends on the priority given to such partnerships in educational policy and research, in curriculum development and in the professional training of both professions.