Last week, teacher-librarians at 58 schools in the Newcastle/Maitland diocese were informed they were either being made redundant or ‘redeployed’.  

This is not an isolated event: across Australia, teacher-librarians are quietly being phased out of schools. 

Parents, teachers, authors, illustrators and kids are fed up with the extinction of our teacher-librarians. 

We know schools with teacher-librarians:

• Have vibrant reading cultures
• Foster critical thinking
• Support struggling readers
• Have higher literacy rates
• Support class teachers with relevant literature
• Inspire a lifelong love of reading in all children
• Provide a safe space for students    

Despite all the evidence, library budgets are being cut and students are paying the price. 

A school library and qualified teacher-librarian should not be a luxury. 

This petition calls upon the Departments of Education across Australia, to mandate the employment of qualified teacher-librarians in all schools including: catholic, public and independent schools. We also call for teacher-librarians to be in the library doing what they are trained to do, not deployed to other roles.

Every kid deserves access to a properly funded library and qualified teacher-librarian.

Please sign this petition and help us shake this up!