Capacities of the lifelong learner
The State Library of Queensland aims to build and foster the capacities of the lifelong learner including:
- personal qualities such as self-management, agency, self-efficacy, initiative and enterprise
- critical and creative thinking, planning and problem solving
- interpersonal skills and the ability to work collaboratively
- multiple literacies and communication skills
These capacities, combined with State Library’s core values, drive the learning principles shaping State Library space and practice, creating a rich learning environment for children and young people encouraging:
Joy: freedom, fun, laughter and play. Achieved by:
- Providing opportunities for children and young people, educators, parents and carers to experience joy through interaction, fun, choice and play through learning programs, services and events across all units of the library
- Incorporating the principles of aesthetic/arts based learning, engaging the learner through experience, emotions and the senses
Inclusion: a sense of belonging, trust and acceptance. Achieved by:
- Adopting a children/young people centred approach to issues of access, equity and opportunity across all units of the library
- Offering and developing formal and informal programs, services and ongoing communication strategies to build trust and positive relationships with children, young people, parents, carers and educators
- Allocating appropriate space and resources to offer an inclusive and consistent quality experience for all children and young people
Collaboration: active partnerships, dialogue and interaction. Achieved by:
- Adopting a collaborative approach to learning that facilitates dialogue and cooperation between learners, co-learners and facilitators
- Engaging in coordinated processes and strategies that build active partnerships internally and externally with the aim of delivering higher impact, sustainable, relevant and effective programs, events, services and collections for children and young people, parents, carers and educators
Challenge: imagination, critical thinking, creative risk taking, problem solving. Achieved by:
- Providing opportunities for imaginative and creative thinking
- Offering programs that include a problem or inquiry based approach to encourage thinking about thinking
Immersion: time and space for practice and deep thinking. Achieved by
- Providing real and virtual environments that promote deeper engagement with collections, services and programs
- Following up and encouraging connection over a period of time
- Continuing to offer and develop creative, transitional and interactive spaces that offer children and young people the opportunity to play and move between their interpersonal, inner and cultural realms of experience
- Adopting a three tiered approach, assisting children and young people to move from:
– participation, to
– deeper engagement, to
– transformative experience - Utilising one-off programs as leverage to move engagement from “tourist” to “citizen” of the library
- Matching the learner’s needs with appropriate facilitators and consider engaging external experts to help facilitate this process
Agency: personal choice, initiative and investigation. Achieved by:
- Utilising children and young people’s ideas, knowledge and experiences as a primary tool for engaging with, and planning for, services, collections and programs
- Including opportunities for self directed and autonomous learning approaches for children and young people
Self-awareness: self reflection, dimensions of self identity and evaluation. Achieved by:
- Offering a balance between content, skill and reflection (on experience) to foster deeper and more enduring learning
- Expanding possibilities for children and young people to develop self awareness and personal identity through the offering of specific exhibitions, programs and services
- Developing staff capacity for critical reflection on practice and interaction
- Investing in cycles of practice, reflection, evaluation, review and new implementation in the development and planning of programs, services and collections
Multiple literacies: opportunities for the development of multiliteracies including critical and information literacy. Achieved by:
- Adopting an overall organisational position, acknowledging the need for multiple literacies to be embedded in all programs, services and collections
- Developing children’s and young people’s skills and confidence in interpreting and creating multimodal texts
- Including more multimodal materials and events
- Expanding understanding of literacy and move beyond text based resources to include the development of all literacies
Last updated: 23rd September 2011
Creatively engaging people with information, knowledge and community
