Do you use the National Library? I would like to hear your comments about all of this. If you are able would you like to be a part of the discussions with the Home Education Foundation and the Library – see the last paragraph of the letter below:
To whom it may concern
National Library Services to Schools Transformation Programme
I am writing to advise you that the National Library is transforming its services to schools in response to library and education directions. These changes will impact on home educators.
The National Library has developed a new vision statement for its Services to Schools, which is that “all young people will have access to effective and connected library services and library learning environments that support their development as readers and digitally literate learners”.
We will be moving to achieve our vision by implementing services with an increased emphasis on the priority areas of reading engagement, digital literacy and modern library learning environments. The changes are designed to make the best use of National Library expertise and value; reflect the factors research has proven to have the highest impact on student learning in the priority areas; and to take advantage of current education sector opportunities. The changes will also provide a sustainable path into the future for our services to schools.
You can find more information about the Services to Schools transformation programme on the frequently asked questions page of the Services to Schools website.
Changes to the curriculum topic print loan service
We will be developing and implementing new services over a four year period, commencing in July 2015. From term three 2015 a new print based reading engagement service will be introduced, replacing the current print curriculum topic service. The emphasis of the reading engagement service will be on supporting students to read for pleasure, as a foundation for learning achievement. The content of loans will be quality fiction and high interest non- fiction resources to support reading for pleasure.
Enhanced curriculum topic support will be available online via the Services to Schools website, with tools and curated content to support the delivery of the curriculum.
The reading engagement lending service and enhanced curriculum topic online service will both be available to home educators from term three 2015.
For terms one and two home educators will be able to get a curriculum topic loan as usual. They will need to put in a request for this before 13 March 2015. They need to put in one request to cover both terms, and will receive the usual number of allocated books.
Any enquiries from home educators can be directed to s2stransformation@dia.govt.nz
Supporting home educators through the transition
We are currently in the process of designing the specific reading engagement loan offer for home educators, and want to support home educators through the transition to the new service. We would appreciate the opportunity to meet with your organisation to discuss how we might work together to best achieve this.
Yours faithfully
Geraldine Howell
Director Literacy Learning Public Programmes
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Please share/forward this link with others
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Updated 1 October 2014: Three years on (Craig Smith’s Health) page 7 click here
Needing help for your home schooling journey:
https://hef.org.nz/2011/
And
Here are a couple of links to get you started home schooling:
Information on getting started: https://hef.org.nz/
and
Information on getting an exemption: https://hef.org.nz/
This link is motivational: http://hef.org.
Exemption Form online: https://hef.org.nz/
Coming Events: https://hef.org.nz/
The word that has been troubling me since I received the response is “curated”.
The National Library will choose our books for us. This bothers me a lot. I want a high educational standard of books for my children, aimed at the level I believe they are at, or even higher. This curation leaves me at the mercy of what a librarian thinks is important, or what level they think my child should be at, or worse: simply sending something that fits their new ‘reading for pleasure’ focus rather than the reason I am educating my children….to stretch and educate them in detail on a selected topic. This is the reason we use the National Library……for curriculum topic support.
As I see they have obfuscated their response and really said nothing at all except that the original information stands (focus on pleasure and engagement, and not in-depth topic study through a variety of non-fiction sources as per the last xxxx decades of their history), I now feel moved to ask what will happen to the books they will no longer be using.
I did see a question asked about this in the initial webpage information, and the NL made a vague statement to the effect that they will decide an appropriate way to dispose of these resources. I’m hoping they will give them to schools? Or sell them?
This is what I now want to know, because I would like the chance to buy what I may no longer be able to borrow…..and create a library at home. Planning overdrive for the next few years or I’ll bankrupt myself!
Hey Melissa, I like your solution: “create a library at home”. I know that is more difficult and expensive (not to mention bulky), but it is possible. We shop the book sales (rotary, red cross, etc) and frequently find gems by careful filtering. Usually we come home with more than we keep. You are then also better able to help/support other homeschoolers in your area more directly.
I think hard copies really are better for our eyes based on various medical reports recently. It looks like the National Library wants to go digital…Kindle etc. There could be real health advantages to keeping your paper around.