The Australian School Libraries Research Project
Australian School Libraries Research Project Report 1: A snapshot of Australian teacher librarians
Age of teacher librarians
Figures 6, 7 and 8 indicate that teacher librarianship is an aging profession. Succession planning and active recruitment need to take place across Australia if the profession is to survive. In this sample group 88.888% of all TLs are aged 40+ years, 77.28% are aged 45+ years, 55.058% are aged 55+ years and 10.116% of all TLs are aged 60+ years. Only 3.15% of all TLs are younger than 30 years.
Figure 6: Australian TLs: Participants, age (i)
Table 2: Australian TLs: Participants, age
Age |
Anglican |
Catholic |
Govt |
Christian |
Other |
Total |
<25 |
0 |
1 |
5 |
1 |
1 |
8 |
25-30 |
2 |
5 |
3 |
1 |
1 |
12 |
30-35 |
3 |
5 |
11 |
3 |
1 |
23 |
35-40 |
0 |
5 |
16 |
1 |
3 |
25 |
40-45 |
5 |
16 |
35 |
6 |
8 |
70 |
45-50 |
7 |
37 |
71 |
7 |
12 |
134 |
50-55 |
22 |
42 |
93 |
12 |
12 |
181 |
55-60 |
11 |
18 |
41 |
6 |
14 |
90 |
60+ |
7 |
14 |
30 |
5 |
4 |
60 |
Total |
57 |
143 |
305 |
42 |
56 |
603 |
Figure 7: Australian TLs: Participants, age (ii)
Figure 8: Australia TLs: Participants, age by state
The state breakdown of this data reveals Tasmania as the worst of the states with only 2.04% of the workforce younger than 40 years of age, with South Australia (6.666%) and Victoria (7.2%) coming a close second.
Figure 9: Australian TLs: Participants, age by school type
In this sample, the Anglican schools have greater numbers of TLs in the 50+ age bracket. However, it is difficult to single out any one school type, as the data indicates that aging of the profession is across sectors and across all states. Research conducted by Gillian Hallam (2006) reports that aging of the profession is an issue across LIS sectors and Australia-wide, with 60% of workers aged 45+. In this sample of TLs 72% are aged 45 and over.
