Fellowship of the RSA

[Darryl Toerien Keymaster]

The launch of the FOSIL Group was timed to coincide with a presentation at LILAC 2019 (1) and the announcement of the winner of the Information Literacy Award (2).

Following LILAC, Jane Secker (3), Chair of the CILIP Information Literacy Group and a Senior Lecturer in Educational Development at City, University of London, nominated me for Fellowship of the RSA (Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce).

The mission of the RSA is to enrich society through ideas and action. This mission is supported by a global network of nearly 30,000 Fellows. A key theme of the RSA is Creative Learning and Development, which addresses the question of what kind of education will help bring about a 21st Century Enlightenment?

In my view, an education that is not centered on a library – as representing a reality in which our children are actually able to learn by finding out for themselves – does not qualify. And this is why I agreed to submit an application, which was based on the work of the FOSIL group towards this end. I am pleased to say that my application was successful, and will immediately begin exploring how we might take full advantage of this network and platform for social change.

(1) Information literacy: Necessary but not sufficient for 21st century learning, which may be downloaded from here.

(2) I had been shortlisted for work on FOSIL leading to the formation of the FOSIL Group, and was placed third with a special mention for raising awareness of the vital contribution of schools to developing information literacy.

(3) Meet Jane in the Staff/Common Room here.

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