The value of collaboration: who, how, why

Abstract

The qualitative analysis done on interviews to 20 teacher librarians, about their perceptions on factors that might impact students’ educational success seems to reveal that collaborative work is one of the conditions for this success to exist and one of the biggest challenges to those teachers. The theme collaboration appears in the discourse of all interviewees and it was not found significant differences of opinion, in what refers to its importance, between teachers with and without specific training to perform their tasks in the school libraries belonging to schools with diverse characteristics and geographical location. Nevertheless, it was not identified any real collaboration practices between teachers but only cases of coordination and / or cooperation. Some of the conditions most referred by the interviewed teacher librarians as “against” to and “in favour” of collaborative work and educational success, where respectively, lack of time and the existence of a full time teacher librarian. Some suggestions and / or recommendations are done to the responsible for the organisation and development of school libraries as to gather efforts to get the teacher librarian post institutionalised, and to the school management boards to implement and stimulate true collaborative work between teachers and teacher librarian, aiming at the students’ educational success. specific training might have on students’ educational success, and to gather diverse opinions, TL with (WT) and with out (WOT) specific training, to perform their duties at the SL were interviewed. The interviews were taped, with the interviewee’s agreement, and their qualitative analysis was supported by the use of ATLAS.ti software.