The Role of the Primary School Library in Shattering Gender Stereotypes

In November 2022, Ms Michele Rutter, Head of the Junior School Library, was selected by the School Library Association of Victoria (SLAV) to receive the 2022 SLAV Research Fellowship Award. The SLAV awards are a key focus of the school library professional community and a celebration of the important role school libraries play in quality teaching and learning. Ms Rutter’s proposed action research project, titled ‘Shattering Stereotypes Through Story: The Primary School Library Cultivating Healthy Identity,’ aims to explore the potential of school library programs to impact boys’ socioemotional development.

My project is inspired by Dr Margaret Merga’s work on how school libraries can foster literacy and student wellbeing. Dr Merga’s research focuses on reading for pleasure and bibliotherapeutic practices, the active and intentional use of texts to promote positive outcomes, and their positive influences on students’ capacity to deal with issues relating to wellbeing and mental health. I aim to extend Merga’s hypothesis to include the field of gendered stereotypes and the promotion of related prosocial behaviour and characteristics.

While the school library is recognised for the role it plays in fostering wellbeing, the evidence of how this influence might be demonstrated through targeted pedagogy is currently anecdotal. Recent literature has pointed to the need for further research into the impact school library programs have on student wellbeing, including through the use of reading for pleasure and bibliotherapeutic practices. As such, my project aims to inform the development of library programs that promote socioemotional skills, connectedness, and healthy masculinity.

As a teacher librarian, I strongly believe in the power of books and storytelling to connect, inspire, and foster wellbeing. The sharing of stories in a purposeful way can also have socioemotional benefits. The project objective is to focus not only on academic development, but also on the provision of learning experiences employing high-quality literature that promote socioemotional skills, connectedness, and healthy identity. The development of socioemotional skills is essential for students to thrive, both academically and personally. Through reading and reflection, students can gain empathy, perspective-taking skills, and a better understanding of different cultures and identities.

In Library lessons I embrace the metaphor of books as ‘Mirrors, Windows and Doors’ to highlight the importance of children seeing themselves reflected in literature, exploring new worlds beyond their own experience, and using reading as a tool for personal growth. By promoting quality literature that shatters gendered stereotypes, I hope to foster positive self-identity and sensitivity towards others in our young students.

The weekly primary school library lesson can provide a time for delving deeper into books with students with a particular intent. The project will leverage reading for pleasure and bibliotherapeutic practices within a scaffolded unit of work across the primary year levels, Prep to Year 5. Observations and work sample data will be collected to gauge the positive impact on the development of perceptions of gender stereotypes and self-identity among young students. Lessons will focus on targeted literature, including picture books and fiction, combined with evidence-based pedagogies with the intent of encouraging the development of prosocial characteristics such as empathy, perspective-taking, identity affirmation, open-mindedness, and tolerance.

By exploring the role of the primary school library in shattering gender stereotypes and promoting healthy identity through bibliotherapeutic practices, we can create more inclusive and empathetic school communities and more compassionate and confident young men. I hope that the findings of this study will inform the development of library programs, providing students with the socioemotional skills required to navigate their world with confidence, empathy, and a sense of identity. Ultimately, my aim is to contribute to the body of research that highlights the vital role that school libraries play in promoting student wellbeing and academic success.

I am grateful for the opportunity provided by the SLAV Research Fellowship Award to undertake this research and look forward to sharing my findings with the school community and the wider school library professional network.