Supervision of seniors during untimetabled periods

	See Federation http://www.nswtf.org.au/TeacherLibrarians/secondary.html updated 10th March 2004
Issue:	The situation with senior study has changed enormously. Most Year 12 students and many Year 11 students have 'study' periods.. In some schools they are sent to the library.
Situation:	Prior to the 'new HSC' only Year 12 students had study periods. In the new HSC all Year 11 and 12 students study fewer units and therefore have more study periods. The new HSC particularly (but also increasingly all curriculum areas) requires more personal research. Huge numbers of Year 12 students have a reduced load. The extension of some school's days to 9 periods to accommodate the timetable creates a further 6 periods for every senior Years 11 and 12. Senior classes can be held during lunch, compensated with 'frees' in class time. VET classes can go until 5.00 p.m. creating large slabs of time off. Flexible pathways are increasing e.g. students doing HSC over two years. Some students study a subject at TAFE which is often after hours - giving even more free time at school. There are also part-time students who only attract staffing for the time they have classes. Some senior common rooms have been closed. In areas where casual teachers are in short supply senior classes are sent to the library. This situation is so hard to police, even when TLs have advised executive that they will not do extras, students still gravitate to the library. Situations vary, however changes made in the name of flexibility and choice have greatly exacerbated the senior problem (quantity and quality).
Impact	With a lot of seniors in the library there is often no room to fit classes and therefore the library is not seen as a 'useful' place for teachers to bring classes. The teacher-librarian is required to constantly keep an eye on the seniors and is unable to fully concentrate on working with groups.
	Seniors may be great kids for the most part but the herd mentality kicks in and causes serious deterioration when numbers get beyond 30.
	For some students it is appropriate to work unsupervised. For some, it is not. Students who cannot cope with this learning style have been known to 'drop out'.
Case study:	One teacher-librarian has reported working with best and worst case scenarios. 'Students in my current school have other places they can be. The ones who use the library are a joy to work with. At my previous school, we had something like 150 students who were not full-time. They either did some subjects at TAFE, or were doing their HSC effectively part-time. By and large these were the very students you would least expect to have in the library - they were just not interested in working and the only use they had for the library was checking out the liquor prices in the paper. There was a room for them but only 30 could fit and the overflow had to go to the library. On occasions the overflow was 110 students in a library with seating for 70.' [Sen 1]
Current solutions:	Students in some schools are permitted to arrive late and leave early. Some schools have alternate places in the school for students. One school has had a 4 day week for Year 12 with the fifth day for the TAFE classes. [2] One library has time slots and allocated space booked for seniors. If students are not working effectively, there is a violation form to be filled in, with consequences. An executive is allocated to supervise students in the school hall if they have shown themselves to need closer supervision. Students can be sent directly to the hall. [3] Some TLs meet regularly with the principal to review the situation. The principal recognises the problem, and that it requires monitoring. The principal informs parents, staff and students of arrangements made to ease the burden on the library, such as closure at certain times and number restrictions in the senior study. [3] Some TLs develop their own well-structured comprehensive document in the absence of DET guidelines. SASS staff may NOT be used to supervise students under their award (PSA)
Future solutions:	Encouragement of senior executives in schools to look creatively at the issue, acknowledging the impact on valuable teaching and learning in the library. Revitalisation of support for the teaching of Information Skills as an integral part of the school's  teaching and learning program. Establishment of learning support for students in need. Reassessment of resources, including staffing and physical space, to reflect HSC changes and TAFE involvement. e.g. Study supervision recognised as an 'extra' teaching load.

NSW Teacher-Librarians