A School Library Guideline for Disadvantaged School Children in Brazil

Abstract

It is known that families and schools that work together can improve the children’s learning process. Student’s success is also related to social conditions and the quality of the school. While information ability is widely recognized as a key factor in contemporary education, the school library is not yet entirely associated with the development of informational competencies in Brazil. Though information literacy (IL) may be a successful device to master effectively the current variety of information needs in education, what to do with children whose educational failure is connected to parental attitudes towards drug use, environment of violence, delinquency and antisocial values? Has school library any relevant role in social situations of ethnic discrimination? In pursuance these issues, an experimental IL program aligned with social and emotional learning (SEL) was settled based on an interdisciplinary approach of school library guideline and social skills from international references (IFLA, UNESCO, CASEL) and national laws. Developed as an academic extension activity, the program was conducted in a school in São Paulo State (Brazil) during the second half of 2013. The population included 3 teachers and 100 students (6-11 year-olds) that regularly attended the program 1 hour once a week. The results show that interdisciplinary approaches may offer good insights on how to design standard school library guidelines for social disadvantaged children.