Museum Educator’s Handbook

This book is dedicated to the memory of Charles Edward (1922-1980)

and Doris Rose (1919-1999). The best of parents – together again.
Museum
Educator’s
Handbook
Second Edition

GRAEME K. TALBOYS
© Graeme K. Talboys 2005

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or
transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or
otherwise without the prior permission of the publisher.

Graeme K. Talboys has asserted his right under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988, to be
identified as the author of this work.

Published by
Ashgate Publishing Limited Ashgate Publishing Company
Gower House Suite 420
Croft Road 101 Cherry Street
Aldershot Burlington, VT 05401-4405
Hants GU11 3HR USA
England

Ashgate website: http://www.ashgate.com

British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data

Talboys, Graeme K.
Museum educator’s handbook. – 2nd ed.
1. Museums – Educational aspects 2. Museums and schools
I. Title
069’.07

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Talboys, Graeme K.
Museum educator’s handbook / by Graeme K. Talboys.
p. cm.
Includes bibliographical references and index.
ISBN 0-7546-4492-8
1. Museums--Educational aspects--Handbooks, manuals, etc. I. Title.

AM7.T35 2005
069’.15--dc22

2005018438

ISBN 0 7546 4492 8

Typeset by Saxon Graphics Ltd, Derby

Printed and bound in Great Britain by MPG Books Ltd, Bodmin, Cornwall.
Contents

Acknowledgements vii

Introduction 1

1 The Educational Role of Museums 5

2 Why Provide Education Services? 11

3 The Museum Educator 19

4 Setting Up – Background Research 33

5 Producing an Education Policy and Other Constitutional Documents 41

6 User Groups 51

7 Marketing, Networks and the User Relationship 67

8 Educational Provision – The Basics 79

9 Information and Indirect Services 87

10 Direct Services 99

11 Outreach 109

12 Loan Services 117

13 The School Curriculum 123

14 Logistics 129

15 Resourcing and Funding 143

16 Afterword 155

Appendices 157

Bibliography 175

Index 179
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Acknowledgements

This book owes its existence to a number of people whose confidence in me and the support
they gave during a difficult period is humbling in its magnitude. My thanks to them all,
especially my brother, Alan, for doing all the work for us and making all the arrangements;
my sister, Lorna, who helped with the research and flew round the world to dispense much-
needed comfort; Joan and Kathryn for their boundless warmth and great spiritual strength;
Sam Cocksedge and her team on D2, Brighton General Hospital; the team on VV1, Newha-
ven Downs House; and the staff at The Haven Nursing Home, Peacehaven. My thanks also
go to Suzie Duke, who approached me with the initial idea for this book, Elizabeth Teague,
who knocked it into shape, and everyone else at Gower, who saw the project through with
great professionalism and forbearance; John Pickin and the other staff at Stranraer Museum
for putting up with me long after my use-by date; all the individuals and organizations
around the world who had the courtesy and took the time to answer my queries; my wife,
Barbara, as ever supportive, resourceful and an inspiration to us lesser souls; and, not least,
Catkin, Matilda and Toby Kitten (wherever he may now be), each for their own form of
companionship. Although these good folk have contributed a great deal to this work, I lay
sole claim to any errors that may follow.

January 1999

The acknowledgements for the first edition tell their own tale. Much has happened in the
intervening years, not least the success of this book. I would like to take this opportunity to
thank everyone at Ashgate and Gower, especially Suzie Duke and Dymphna Evans, for
helping to make my museum books prosper as well as for commissioning this new edition
and seeing it through to press. I would also like to thank Thelma Lin, Aven Kuei of Five
Sense Arts Management Inc., and the British Council Taipei for working together to produce
the wonderful Chinese language edition; Sally Pointer, Glanely Discovery Gallery Manager,
National Museum & Gallery of Wales, for so readily sharing her experiences of and insights
into work with Home Educators; Janette Bell and Yvette Staelens, BA (Hons), AMA, FMA for
their work on loan services; and, once again, John Pickin of Stranraer Museum for allowing
me to litter up the place with my presence and keep up to date with journals and other
material. My wife, Barbara, also deserves a completely new set of thanks for being such a
tolerant and supportive companion. As before and always, all mistakes are mine alone.

Graeme K Talboys
Clas Myrddin
This page intentionally left blank
Introduction

Two major reports on museum, gallery, and heritage site education – Anderson (1997) and
Hein and Alexander (1998) – made comprehensively explicit two points that had been
known implicitly for some time. The first is that museums are enormously important and
wide-ranging, resource-rich centres for lifelong education. The second is that most museums
have a long way to go before they fulfil their educational potential.
This is not a criticism of museums. Many are engaged in a constant struggle to provide
the best educational service they can against enormous odds. Whereas they are being told
all the time how wonderful they are as educational resources and how important they are
to all forms of educational endeavour, they find it ever more difficult to secure the money
and other resources necessary to provide what is increasingly expected of them.
One of the major obstacles to museums trying to develop their educational potential is
the lack of specialist education staff. For many museums the employment and resourcing of
another member of staff is a low priority – in some cases an impossibility. Others have rec-
ognized that if you make education a priority, then most other things follow, but they still
find it difficult to commit the resources.
That is not all. No matter how willing museums may be to move education to the centre
of their efforts, no matter how ingenious they are in finding the necessary funds, they still
face the problem of convincing others that whoever is taking on the task of developing
education will need a great deal of time and support. Even those who are convinced of the
necessity of making education a priority are not always fully aware of just what such a task
involves. There are many different levels and aspects to the structure of a museum educa-
tion service, as well as a whole host of problems to be solved to ensure that education is an
integral part of the museum rather than an add-on that can be cast off again at the first
convenient moment.
By exploring the core aspects of museum education and being a museum educator, as
well as some of the obstacles that will be met on the way, this book has two aims. The first
is to help museums and museum staff set up a successful structure to meet the needs of
educational users and enhance the prospects of the museum. The second is to explain in
some detail what museum education entails so that its importance and complexity will be
better appreciated within museums, by museum management and by those who fund
museums.
If curators, conservators, designers, educators and all other staff understand each other
and work together, their needs can be satisfied to their fullest extent and the museum is
strengthened – and visitors get the best possible deal. Moreover, if those who make deci-
sions about resourcing are made fully aware of the complexities involved, they may even
give less grudgingly and more generously. An ethos in which the tensions between conser-
vation and access are allowed to flourish is damaging to all concerned.
This book cannot cover every aspect of museum education. It is intended solely as a
guide to creating the framework of and running a working education service. Much of the
subsequent detail that you will need to provide will depend, of course, on individual

1
2 Museum Educator’s Handbook

situations. What follows is largely confined to practical and logistical matters. You will not
find herein any extensive discussions of philosophy and reviews of learning theory, for
example, nor any of the other many theoretical subjects that are of relevance to the every-
day work of the museum and gallery educator. These subjects are, without doubt, of great
importance, but there is not room in a book of this nature to do them justice. They are left
to those more competent in their exposition and you are urged to seek them out.
Although the chapters of this book deal with distinct aspects of the subject in a par-
ticular order, it is important to remember that this was simply the best way to write them.
Real life is, as always, much more complex. Everything mentioned herein is interconnected,
and circumstances will often dictate that things be done differently. It is important, there-
fore, to read each chapter, even if it does not seem immediately relevant. It may spark ideas
and point out pathways and connections pertinent to your own context that could not pos-
sibly have been imagined by anyone else.
Extensive use is made throughout of certain words and phrases and it seems prudent to
outline the way in which they are used in this particular context, and why I have chosen
them over others. They are: ‘museum’, ‘museum educator’, ‘educational user group’, ‘school’,
‘student’ and ‘teacher’.
Precisely what a museum might be is contentious. Although the many definitions that
exist agree on many points, there are enough areas of disagreement to ensure that the
debate continues. Some discussion is offered in Chapter 1. One point, however, should be
made very clear from the start. For the purposes of this book, the word ‘museum’ includes
art galleries and any other establishment that collects and displays examples of material
culture. Those who work in museums should have a good idea of what they consist of, and
will need to apply what follows to their own particular circumstances.
A ‘museum educator’ is any member of the museum staff who has specific responsibil-
ity for organizing and delivering educational services, as well as ensuring that education as
a function of the museum is kept to the fore in discussion and planning. This person may
not necessarily be an education specialist and may have other responsibilities within the
museum as well.
An ‘educational user group’ is any group of any age or ability, be it formal, non-formal
or informal, actively making use of a museum for educational purposes. It is not a phrase
that trips lightly off the tongue, but it does have the virtue of being unencumbered by asso-
ciations that more specific words such as ‘school party’ or ‘college group’ might have.
‘School’ is used throughout as a generic term to denote any institution where formal
learning takes place – from kindergarten to university. Where specific types of school are
under discussion, the appropriate term is used. Where no generally accepted generic term
exists for a specific part of the school system, use is made of the terminology of the system
in England and Wales. This can then be compared with systems in other English-speaking
countries with which the reader is familiar by referring to Appendix 5.
In arguing (as this book does) that education is central to the existence and activity of
all museums, it would seem redundant to differentiate between visitors on grounds of who
is and who is not engaged in an educational activity. All visitors are. However, there are dif-
ferent levels of engagement and different reasons for visiting. The casual visitor looking for
something to do on a wet Saturday afternoon may undergo an educational experience when
wandering around the museum, but it is of a different kind to that of someone who visits
because they are following a specific educational agenda – no matter how informally. A
‘student’, therefore, is any person of whatever age, ability, and motivation who is actively
 Introduction 3

and consciously engaged in learning toward a specific and predetermined end. A ‘teacher’
(sometimes referred to as a ‘lecturer’ or ‘tutor’ where it is more appropriate) is any person
who is consciously engaged in helping others to learn. It is important to remember that not
only are the roles of student and teacher reversible in any given situation, but also that
student and teacher can be one and the same person. All students and teachers are visitors,
but not all visitors are students or teachers.
With those definitions in mind, it is time to consider what follows. The vision is of a
perfect world – what you should do rather than what your circumstances will allow. However,
adapting the ideal to the particular is part of the challenge. Working within the constric-
tions while maintaining a vision of what to work towards leads to development and
progress.
If you are reading this because you have been given (voluntarily or otherwise) the
onerous task of starting up or overhauling a museum education service, may I wish you
good luck and remind you that no matter how difficult it may seem, the end results will
more than compensate for any difficulty you will undoubtedly encounter on the way.
This page intentionally left blank
 1The
CHAPTER

Educational Role of
Museums

To most people outwith the museum community, the prime function of museums is usually
considered to be the preservation and display of artefacts of archaeological and historical
interest. They are unlikely to have given a great deal of thought to the wider role of museums
in society but would probably agree, if asked, that museums are worthwhile.
To those who are part of the museum community, museums are understood to be much
more complex institutions that fulfil a great number of interdependent roles. The relative
importance accorded these roles will depend upon whom you ask. A curator, for example,
will give an answer with emphases and biases that differ from those of a conservator or a
designer. In the end, however, they too are likely to agree that museums exist, in part, to
preserve and display artefacts of historical and archaeological interest.
There is nothing particularly remarkable or contentious in this. However, as it stands,
it does beg a very important question. Given that museums do exist for the reasons already
stated, what is so important about these artefacts that we are prepared to finance special
buildings to house them, procedures for their upkeep, as well as the training of people to
care for them, and then spend more money going to see them? After all, in the UK more
people visit museums each year than go to soccer matches and visit the theatre. Museums
in the USA record more than 500 million visits a year.
The importance with which we imbue museums and the artefacts they contain demon-
strates, even before an explanation for this is attempted, that there is a deeper, more funda-
mental reason for their presence – one which has existed since museums themselves came
into being many centuries ago.
Against a background of the complex cyclical rhythms of nature, the world of human-
ity is constantly changing – more so now and at a greater pace than ever before. Communi-
ties and societies once remained largely unchanged from one generation to the next. The
pace of change in all aspects of life was so slow that a deep-rooted sense of social continuity
existed. Now we find that items that were familiar only ten or twenty years ago are already
disappearing and, with them, the ephemeral ethos that brought them into being. Nor are
these simply trivial objects. Many of those that had a profound effect on the lives and the
thinking of whole generations of people have vanished from our lives. If these items are not
preserved in some way, we feel that they will be lost to us for all time.
Yet even when the pace of change was much slower, there was a sense that objects from
the past were worth preserving. During the sixth century BC, for example, there was a
school attached to the temple precincts in the Sumerian city of Ur. Two rooms of the school
housed objects that pre-dated the temple complex by as many as sixteen hundred years. We
do not know for certain that this was a museum, but it seems unlikely to have been any-
thing else.

5
6 Museum Educator’s Handbook

However, the fact that our forebears considered ancient objects worthy of collection
and preservation still does not tell us why they did so or why we continue to do so. We must
look elsewhere for clues to that.
The choice of objects that tend to be selected for collection and display by museums
gives us a hint. Most people think of museums as containing aesthetically pleasing objects.
That is partly true, but it has never been the whole story. Moreover, during the last fifty
years a much broader approach to what is worth preserving has developed.
As an example, some countries are moving into a post-industrial phase of their social
development and some people have realized that if the industrial aspect of their past is not
preserved in museums, it will largely disappear. There is very little that is aesthetically
pleasing about industry and its processes, although, to state a truism, beauty does tend to be
in the eye of the beholder. But no matter how ugly an industry, no matter how heavy its
social and environmental costs, there will always be enough people who want to see it pre-
served – in memory if not in actuality.
The same is true of armed conflict. The overwhelming majority of people will be only
too glad if they are never involved in a war, but many men and women who have endured
such experiences spend countless hours reading about them and visiting museums with
relevant exhibitions. It is an attempt to make sense of something that radically altered their
lives – something they could not understand and a process they could not see in toto at the
time.
Indeed, social and historical phenomena in our rapidly changing world have now
become so vast and complex that we need, more than ever, a system by which we can make
sense of what has happened and, in some cases, continues. This role is fulfilled by museums.
They can tell the whole story (in outline at least), be it of coal mining, ship-building, war,
the town we live in or anything else, and tell it so that it is readily assimilated, safe, and can
be returned to again and again. What is more, they can tell it in a unique way using the
artefacts of our material culture.
Human beings, with their insatiable curiosity, have a collective desire to know, remem-
ber, muse upon, and make sense of their personal and cultural pasts. Nor is this a matter of
idle curiosity, because self-knowledge in both an individual and a community sense is
essential for other knowledge. However, there is a further reason for such self-knowledge
that has less to do with a search for knowledge and more to do with wisdom and a concern
for the future.
One feature that marks out human beings from other creatures is our sense of time. We
can conceive of a past stretching back many thousands of years and of an equally distant
future. We can also recognize the continuity of ideas, actions, and social influence that is
woven through this flow of years, despite the evolutions they have undergone.
Our concept of what the past was like is based in part on an understanding of ideas and
actions that we have inherited from our forebears. The world we inhabit today has been
created from those ideas and actions. One of our concerns as humans is that we pass on this
understanding of the world (past and present) to our children, so that they might have a
better chance of personal and social survival. It is why we send them to school to equip
them with the ideas and knowledge that previous generations have bequeathed to us. What
was once a useful strategy that improved upon and replaced instinctive behaviour has
developed into a potent aspect of what defines us as human beings.
There are many ways in which this knowledge can be passed on, some better than
others. Practical skills are still best learnt by doing. The understanding and passing on of
 The Educational Role of Museums 7

ideas is best accomplished through communication between people, using the spoken and
written word – as in schools. However, there is another aspect of human culture from which
we derive a great deal of our knowledge of the past – material objects, the combined product
of what we do and what we think.
It is a reflection of our society that much of what we are is defined by material objects
of one form or another. We are therefore predisposed to understand a great deal about our-
selves and others as well as the events through which they lived from the material objects
associated with them. Of course, they do not tell the whole picture of what we were, are,
and could be, but they do provide a unique focal point for contemplation and a uniquely
multifarious starting-point for exploration.
This is not the only role of museums in society, any more than they are the only institu-
tions within society that perform this role. They are, however, the most prominent of insti-
tutions involved in this exploration of material culture and they are specifically designed
for this purpose.
What all this implies, in answer to the original question, is that museums act as one
form of the collective social memory of a people. And just as a person has integrity through
their store of memories of first-hand experience, a culture has integrity through what it
stores of its first-hand experience of itself and of other cultures and the relationships
between them.
However, there is more. The International Council of Museums (ICOM) defines a
museum as a

non-profit-making, permanent institution in the service of society and its development,

and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhib-
its, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evidence of people and
their environment.

In Using Museums as an Educational Resource (Talboys, 1996) I defined a museum as

an organic institution or dedicated space open to all wherein a genuine artefact or a col-
lection of genuine artefacts of aesthetic, archaeological, cultural, historical, social, or
spiritual importance and interest from any place or time is preserved, conserved and
displayed in a manner in keeping with its intrinsic and endued worth. As such, it is an
informative means of storing national, cultural and collective memories, where people
can explore, interact, contemplate, be inspired by, learn about and enjoy their own and
others’ cultural heritage.

However, both of these definitions, whilst touching on the major reasons for the existence
of museums, fail to make explicit an extremely important aspect of that purpose. For
although museums deal with material culture, non-material culture (that is, the shared
values, ideologies, oral traditions, rituals, ethical standards and beliefs that give meaning
and symbolic or spiritual significance to the social and natural world) is of equal impor-
tance. Material culture cannot be understood properly without an understanding of the
non-material culture from which it arose. The museum is not and cannot be isolated from
the rest of the social and natural world.
Through museums, we learn about the past of our own society and, because of their
ability to present an overall or large-scale interpretation, come to an understanding of that
8 Museum Educator’s Handbook

past. Through museums, we learn about material culture and the non-material culture that
gave rise to it, as well as the context in which both cultures are embedded. Through
museums, we tap into human experiences of the past. Education begins with experience. As
such, museums are quintessentially educational.
It takes no great leap of the imagination to see that museums could and should be
central to a good education, just as education could and should be central to all museums.
If this is the case, then people must have access to museums, just as they must have access
to their own memories. Without access, memory is worthless; it has no function. Without
access, we are denied the experiences that are the foundation of education. Nor is it suffi-
cient that memories be paraded without understanding and interpretation, for what we
come to understand of the past (be that personal or social) shapes how we react to the
present and shapes the future. That is why repressive political regimes suppress, control, or
destroy access to museums and education.
Even in open societies, there are some people with collections, buildings, and sites in
their guardianship who feel that the only way to care for them properly is to prevent all
access to them. You can see their point to a degree – after all, schools would be wonderful
places to work if it were not for the students disrupting everything. Hospitals would be won-
derful institutions if only all those sick people would just stay away. However, that would
defeat the object of such places. And the same is true of museums.
A museum cannot ever be just a collection of physical objects. Artefacts need care but
they also need interpretation, for experts and the public alike. There can be no museums,
therefore, without people – people with their ability to interact with aspects of their own
and others’ material culture, people with their ability to come to some sort of understand-
ing of both their material culture and themselves. To achieve this, a museum should offer
the opportunity to see, touch, hear, and have sensual, emotional, and intellectual interac-
tions with and experiences of what it contains. A visit to a museum should be an experience
similar to listening to music, visiting a library, reading a book, going to the theatre or
cinema – a confrontation with the products of fellow human beings that can lead to revela-
tion and deeper understanding.
No museum can claim, with any logical justification, to be uninterested in education.
Education is intrinsic to museums. Unless they make purposeful provision for a broad range
of education, they are not truly museums. Indeed, much worthy educational work is done
within and beyond the bounds of museums. Many museums have actually led development
in this field, dragging other areas of education along with them.
The activities, properties, and collections of museums represent an educational resource
of enormous wealth, and not merely with respect to archaeology and history. Just as the
resource is of enormous wealth, the range of subjects it covers is (and is so as a necessary
consequence) extremely broad. The catch-all area of culture is perhaps the most obvious
because it is itself such a vast area of study. However, there is much more that can be offered
beyond (or perhaps, more accurately, within) these broad sweeps of interest. The resources
of museums are of interest to teachers and students, of whatever level, who have an interest
in virtually any subject or field of study that could be mentioned or imagined. In addition,
the connections between the collections held by a museum and the subject of study do not
have to be the obvious ones. The student of mathematics, physics, or design is as likely to
be interested in steam engines, for example, as the student of transport systems.
What is more, museums are places in which material and non-material culture can be
connected and where disparate notions can be juxtaposed and explored. Through this, they
 The Educational Role of Museums 9

can affect the values and attitudes of students by, for example, making them more comfort-
able with cultural differences or developing environmental ethics. They can promote explo-
ration of and identity with culture, community, and family. They can provoke interest and
curiosity, inspire self-confidence, and motivate students to pursue new avenues of learning.
Above all, they can affect how students think and approach their world as well as what they
think.
To be in possession of such vast, multiform, and powerful resources places a great
responsibility upon museums and those who manage and fund them. They are quite at
liberty to deny the existence of such a responsibility. They can allow the resources to lie
unused, and thus, in essence, go to waste. The resources will not disappear or deteriorate if
they are not used for educational purposes – museums need have no fears about that.
However, they will be wasted in terms of the stimulation and enrichment they could have
given to students. Moreover, if resources of this nature are not used, the rationale for their
existence is very much open to question.
Denying a responsibility does not mean, however, that it does not exist. Nor, in this
case, does it mean that the potential wealth of the resources is diminished. However, as
John Ruskin observed in Unto This Last (1970), true wealth is not measured in how many
ploughshares you possess. Rather, it is measured in the number of furrows you make with
those ploughshares. Museums cannot deny the richness of their resources. Nor can they
afford, in academic or in financial terms, to let them lie unused. The resources should be
put to work; the ploughshares should be set to making furrows.
However, the on-site services offered by many museums are still of great passivity. The
extent of the educational provision of many museums amounts to little more than allowing
public access to their properties and collections. However, the days when museums could be
considered the preserve of those who had the educational wherewithal to make their own
interpretation of what they saw have long since passed.
Much more than a passive approach is necessary if museums are to fulfil their function
as a collective social memory and enjoy the support of the public. After all, for every worth-
while display and exhibition that is mounted, selections have to be made. Selection of
artefacts and materials is based on learning. Yet there can be little point to such selection,
no matter how erudite the performance, if the significance of the material selected is not
then conveyed to students and other visitors. Although interpretation will always be partial
(in both senses), it is one of the main factors that provokes the dialogue fundamental to
education. Without that, visitors may come once, but they are unlikely to return. Similarly,
studies of the past based on these collections and on archaeological activity are of little
worth if the fruits of those studies are not made available to as wide an audience as possible.
Passive provision is no use. It does not provoke attraction, reaction, or curiosity, and insti-
gates no two-way flow of information, all of which are essential to education and to the
well-being of museums.
Nor is it enough for a museum to take one of Ruskin’s ploughshares, make a few furrows,
and see what seeds the wind blows in. That way lays chaos – an open house inundated by
groups who do not know how to make proper use of the resource and who stifle the muse-
um’s chance to innovate because they make narrow demands.
To extend the metaphor, a museum must cultivate its educational users, choosing seeds
that best suit its soil, nurturing them, and always looking for ways to improve yield and
diversity. Educational users must be taught the skills needed for work in museums. They
should be guided into the learning spaces that the museum has created. Once there, they
10 Museum Educator’s Handbook

need to be given assistance to explore those spaces thoroughly, making the most of their
experiences. The development of understanding must be nurtured while the museum also
challenges; arouses; interests; makes anxious; gives confidence; provides support, informa-
tion and advice; coordinates endeavour and achievement; and encourages reflection on the
use of skills and on the content of the subject (or object) being studied.
If the resource of a museum is to be developed to accommodate such use, this must be
done holistically, comprehensively, and in accordance with a basic structure. There are,
after all, many specific groups with specific and disparate educational needs who would
wish to make use of a museum education service. Moreover, the museum itself needs to
retain its integrity. With the guidance of a basic structure, it is possible to do so while devel-
oping the flexibility required to cope with the many and varied demands that will be made
on it.
None of this can be achieved properly without a great deal of thought, research, and
hard work. Ideally, museums should employ full-time, permanent education staff on attrac-
tive professional salaries with sufficient budget and autonomy to do justice to their work.
This is not always possible, especially where smaller museums are concerned. However, the
person undertaking the work needs to have the expertise and the experience to take many
factors into account.
To fulfil their role in society, museums must accept that they are quintessentially edu-
cational and that they must actively promote that aim. By recognizing education as their
reason for being, museums not only return to the purpose for which they were first created,
but also firmly establish themselves in a role that is essential to the future of society. It is
understandable that there are worries that too much emphasis on the educational element
will overshadow the other important work that museums do, but that work would not exist
were it not for education. In addition, education, far from endangering that work, or being
in conflict with its principles, can – if properly structured – do much to enhance it. It is not
just the content of museums, but also the work of those employed within them that could
and should be the subject of an education service, as well as museums per se. Brought to the
attention of the public in a well-structured way, museums will benefit from their enthusi-
asm, their good wishes, and their financial support.
Museums must work, therefore, to become centres of education. Furthermore, they
must activate the great store of memory that they are, and engage in becoming a voice that
speaks to us on behalf of those long past. They have much to teach us!
 2Why
CHAPTER

Provide Education
Services?

It is easy enough to expound on theory, but the arguments outlined in the previous chapter,
though sound and necessary, are insufficient. In the first place, abstract ideas take on
meaning only in their application. In addition, a museum and the person or persons respon-
sible for running its education service will be involved in practical work and will need to
base what they do on sound utilitarian as well as sound theoretical principles. This is espe-
cially so if the museum has a sceptical or impecunious managing body. Such a body will
want to know what the practical advantages of an education service will be to their museum.
It will also want to know that a museum educator is fully aware of the disadvantages of such
a service.
Even if there is a well-established museum education service, it is a worthwhile exercise
to review what theoretical and practical reasons were originally given for setting it up. They
may no longer be relevant. The world of education changes rapidly. Increasing use of com-
puters, greater use of personalized learning programmes, a growing belief (in these troubled
and litigious times) that visits may be more trouble than they are worth, changes to the
content of the curriculum – all these and more escalate the pressure on museum education
services. If these services do not constantly evolve to suit current needs, their ability to cope
with present and future demands would be undermined and any attempt to set the pace of
future thinking on education would be severely restrained.
Whether you are reviewing an established set-up or preparing a new one, there are a
number of distinct practical reasons why it would be of advantage to a museum to have an
education service run by a specialist museum educator. Some of these reasons will vary,
depending on location and type of museum, but the following will apply in most cases.

Professionalism
Museums are professional institutions. The work that is done in them, as well as their
general ethos, is characterized by and conforms to technical and ethical standards. Like-
wise, education is a professional undertaking. Teachers should know what they are doing.
Education is much too important to be left in the care of anyone who is less than competent
in its exercise.
It is hardly fitting, therefore, for any museum to be less than professional when it comes
to offering an education service. This does not mean it should immediately recruit a quali-
fied teacher. Such a move may not necessarily be appropriate, let alone affordable. However,
it does mean that at the very least a museum should take the challenge of education seri-
ously, seek good advice, and offer what service they can in a professional manner.

11
12 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Broadening perspective
Whilst there may be financial constraints, having a member of museum staff dedicated to
education does provide a number of benefits. In the first instance, it allows curators to do
their own jobs on a full-time basis. Being free to concentrate more fully on the collection
means they are able to provide a better curatorial service and develop the exhibitions.
An important aspect of this development is that there is an education specialist to call
on at the very earliest stages of planning and design. This does not mean that new exhibi-
tions have to be created. It does mean being able to reassess existing exhibitions from an
educationist’s perspective and making adjustments that enhance them both as educational
tools and as general visitor attractions.
This new perspective need not be limited to exhibitions and educational users. Education
is, in large part, about clear communication. It is also about providing people with the tools
to educate themselves. Such a perspective can work just as beneficially in-house, with staff
training, improved routes of communication, and a wider vision of the role of the museum.

Meeting the demands of providers of formal education

A professionally established museum education service will properly satisfy the many
demands made on a museum by a whole host of formal education providers. For example,
with increased concerns about safety (along with an increase in litigation), risk assessments
need to be made of a museum in respect of various educational user groups. Furthermore,
educational establishments demand best value from visits. They will not use museums
where they have to do all the work themselves, especially if they are also charged for the
privilege. There are also many (and sometimes bewildering) developments in education
which a museum must understand and to which it must respond.
If there is no education service, a museum will not attract anywhere near the number
of educational users it would if there were. However, it will still attract some, and they will
inevitably take up curatorial time that would be better spent on other things. And no matter
how interested in education curatorial staff may be, very few of them will have the time, let
alone sufficient educational training, expertise or experience to meet the demands made of
them.
To avoid the ad hoc nature of such an arrangement it is far better to have staff within
the museum whose specific remit is education. This means an overall education strategy,
not just a sideline that deals with schools and keeps them out of everybody else’s way. Edu-
cation needs to be considered throughout the museum, and this is far better done by
someone who has the time and expertise.

Meeting the demands of providers of non-formal education

A non-formal group is one that has educational aims, but which is not a school. Many of the
demands made by providers of non-formal education are similar to (if not identical with)
those made by providers of formal education. There are, however, differences. Approaches
to teaching vary widely, as does subject matter. The students also vary, having a wider range
of ages, interests, backgrounds, and experience.
 Why Provide Education Services? 13

Meeting the general needs of such groups, as well as devising specific programmes of
work is exacting and time consuming. Much of what they require cannot be used on a
regular basis. However, the rewards are enormous as there large numbers of such groups
who could use the museum. Whilst curatorial staff may meet some of their needs through
the giving of talks on their own specialist subjects, this would realize just a small propor-
tion of the potential for coping with and attracting non-formal providers.

Coping with the unexpected

A properly structured museum service acts as a fail-safe mechanism by which to cope with
the unexpected and the unplanned. No matter how well organized a museum may be and
how well advertised its educational protocols; there will always be those who are not aware
of them. At one extreme this might consist of an unannounced coachful of students arriv-
ing to do work or simply to make a visit that has not been arranged with the museum. This
sort of occurrence is increasingly rare but is still far too frequent. Of course, a museum may
be within its rights to turn a group away – especially if it is already full with pre-booked
groups. However, it would be a shame to miss the opportunity of educating the teachers in
proper protocol and opening their eyes to how much better the visit could have been if it
had been prearranged.
At the other end of the scale are the many families that arrive, especially during the
school vacations. These groups are not disruptive but they do present an enormous chal-
lenge. Parents usually have some vague notion that visits to museums are educational, but
are not sure how to tap into the resource once they are there. As such family groups repre-
sent a very large majority of the visitors to most museums, it is worth investing time and
effort in catering for them. Moreover, there are many situations in between, where unex-
pected and last minute demands are made.
This not only relates to having a well-organized stock of materials to be used and places
for people to go. It also relates to the general ethos of the museum that makes a visit an
educational experience through its general layout and approach to catering for visitors. If
staff are accustomed to dealing with educational groups as well as casual visitors and the
museum is generally structured toward education, those visitors who turn up unexpectedly
or make unexpected demands can be dealt with confidently and professionally.

Standards of behaviour
Allied to the provision of a structure that can deal efficiently and professionally with the
educational demands of visitors is the education of visitors in appropriate behaviour. ‘Appro-
priate’ is the key word here, as acceptable standards of behaviour will vary from museum to
museum and even from gallery to gallery within a museum.
This is not an overt business that can be dealt with in a series of lectures or a ten-minute
welcoming session – although it never does any harm to remind younger visitors of some of
the basic courtesies expected of them. The teaching of appropriate behaviours is part of
what an educationist might call the ‘hidden curriculum’. There is nothing sinister in this;
it simply means that such things as behaviour are learned from the example of others as a
by-product of other activities. It is, therefore, essential that educational work is structured
14 Museum Educator’s Handbook

so that ways of working are taken into consideration as much as the content of the work
itself. Method is, in any case, just as important as content, as it provides the structure for
successful and accurate work.
This is not just a strategy to be established for the good of a particular museum, as the
skills that are learned are transferable. It is simply a matter of deciding upon and establish-
ing an environment and a style of work that elicit behaviours conducive to the aims of the
museum in general, the education service in particular, and the comfort of other visitors.

Kudos
Any museum must be aware of, and make continual efforts to present, its public image and
foster public support and acclaim. Public acclaim is not easily quantified, but it can prove
to be a powerful ally for any museum in a whole host of situations. As with appropriate
behaviours, this is not something that can be done in isolation. It cannot be achieved by a
museum continually telling the public that it is a good museum. The public will weary of it
and demand proof. Image without substance is fragile and easily destroyed.
Promoting a positive image can only be done if there is something worth promoting.
Then it does no harm at all to draw attention to what is going on. Strangely, one of the least-
promoted aspects of any museum is the education work it does. Often this is because it is
not particularly glamorous, but most work in museums is not glamorous – although much
of it does have a mystique born of obscurity. Part of the general education process is to
ensure that people realize that a great deal of hard work goes on within the museum and
that the results are significant if not spectacular. And of all the things for which the general
public will hold a museum in high esteem, education will probably come top of the list,
particularly if they are directly involved through using it themselves or having children or
other family members benefit from the education services on offer.

Commercial interest
Easier to quantify than public acclaim is the amount of cash that flows through an insti-
tute. Education, for all the other claims made for it, is of interest in economic terms as well.
If museums are simply perceived as impenetrable repositories of dusty artefacts and even
dustier academics (a perception that is partly encouraged by a passive approach to educa-
tion), they will lose out in what is an increasingly competitive field. Museums must be
concerned with their own future, financial as well as academic. Interest in the past contin-
ues to grow, and the number of potential visitors has also grown. The so-called leisure
market is expanding, bringing many new people into contact with the museum environ-
ment. If they are to be kept coming back, they must feel they are gaining from their visits.
Schools are increasingly in control of their own budgets. They will be looking for the best
value in terms of the complementary education they can offer to students. A good and
positive museum education service will guarantee their continued patronage.
In the short term, income from educational visits can boost the amount of money
flowing through a museum (if not substantially increase its income). For smaller museums,
this can make a considerable difference to their day-to-day running, helping to ease some
of the pressures they face. This income is not just derived from payment for educational
 Why Provide Education Services? 15

services. Most students will have some extra money to spend in the museum shop or café,
even if it is only a small amount.
In the medium term, educational use of museums generates a secondary area of income.
Students who have come on organized group visits tend to return to the museum with their
family or with friends. The numbers vary according to the particular user group involved
and most follow-up visits are one-off affairs. However, surveys show that, on average, 25 per
cent of children who visit a museum with their school will return within two weeks with
their family. Those who do make such visits, however, usually have more to spend than on
the initial visit. In most cases, this represents curious parents coming to see where their
children have been taken by their school, but the potential for building longer-term rela-
tionships is enormous – hence the need for an overall education strategy rather than one
that only deals with schools. There is certainly plenty of scope for picking up on this trend.
As just one example, a museum could offer a discount to returnees – perhaps using a voucher
distributed to students during their visit that can be redeemed on a return visit with their
family.
There are also longer-term commercial interests generated by educational user groups.
Educational visits have a lasting impact on students in terms of knowledge and of social
skills acquired. There is little evidence to suggest that adult visitors use museums simply
because they went as students. The picture is more complex. What the evidence does suggest
is that regular good use of museums enhances the education of students and their enjoy-
ment of education. Those who have enjoyed their education are more inclined to continue
it, to make use of museums in that pursuit and to regard such places as legitimate centres for
leisure and enjoyment.
Other educational users can also become involved in long-term relationships with a
museum. This does not apply just to visits to view exhibitions. Many non-formal and infor-
mal groups meet on a regular basis. Where they are not attached to a specific institution,
the museum may be able to play host. Such an enterprise is entirely dependent, of course,
on the museum having the space and other facilities (chairs, tables, and staff, for example).
Where they do, there is no reason why appropriate groups should not be using the museum
as a meeting place and contributing to raising its profile in the community as well as the
size of its bank balance.
Long-term benefits also accrue from a long-term strategy to increase the educational
attractiveness of a museum and move education to the centre of its being. This opens
museums to greater public scrutiny and increases the opportunity to explain the important
roles they play. Presenting a professional face and exploiting the prestige that goes with
education, along with educating the public in general about museums and how to get the
best out of them, as well as spreading the visitor catchment within a given community, all
help to ensure longer-term commercial strength.
Although money is important, museums and museum educators must firmly resist all
attempts by management and funding bodies to make museum education services ‘self-
financing’. Funding is looked at in more detail in Chapters 5 and 15, but is worth keeping
in mind here as arguments about the financial advantage of education services are often
misconstrued.
16 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Cultural interest and social benefits

As well as commercial reasons for encouraging the educational use of museums, there are
other less tangible reasons for ensuring that museums put education at the core of what
they do. Education is the key word here, in that the aim is to teach about more than just the
content and more than just the skills required to understand that content. Non-material
culture, as already stated, is just as important (if not more so to some people) as material
culture and the exploration of both is a key to wider work.
Museums are often invisible within a community and much undervalued because few
people think a great deal about their role in society. A broad educational remit will allow a
museum to incorporate a much more overt message about its worth in the work it does, as
well as opening up a wider exploration of ideas and issues that are relevant to the present
day. This cannot stand alone, but needs to be part of the overall approach of the museum
to its local community.
Educational programmes enable museums to engage with their local communities and
participate (if not take a leading role) in the cultural development and the cultural and
economic regeneration of their area. Museums cannot do everything. Museum education is
no panacea. Nevertheless, a well-considered approach to a two-way community involve-
ment can help museums become an essential part of community life.
A museum that works with its local community in order to involve it, and which does
what it can to improve the lives of those around them, is far more likely to be appreciated
and valued. Not only does this mean that long-term financial support is more likely to be
secure, but it also means that local involvement places the museum to the fore as part of
everyday life rather than as something a little out of the ordinary and a little out of reach.
Museums should emphasize the social benefits of their existence as much as (if not
more than) the number of tourists they attract. Tourists are in no way to be despised, but
tourism is fickle and prone to fads and fashions. Social development is non-stop, locally
based, and likely to outlast any benefit from outside the area. This means that museums
should not be seen as the preserve of an elite, but as places where everyone is welcome.

Meeting legal and other requirements

Museums, like all other organizations, are bound by laws and may have to meet many legal as
well as non-statutory obligations. Among these may be requirements that a museum provides
an education service. These requirements may be internal, in that they are part of the legal
constitution of a museum. They may also be imposed on a museum by external bodies such
as local or national government, funding bodies and the like. It may even be that a museum
is gifted money in a will on condition that it is used for education (although some museums
have been known to take legal action to try to have such conditions put aside).
Whatever the requirements may be, it is in a museum’s best interest to embrace them
rather than fight them or pretend they do not exist. Even without a ‘separate’ education
programme, it is possible to produce temporary and permanent exhibitions with a more
educational approach, as well as making it easier for students and educational institutions
to gain access to material and documentation. Such work, of course, is far better coordi-
nated by a specialist who can assess the needs and devise ways of meeting them that do not
disrupt the other work of the museum.
 Why Provide Education Services? 17

Assessment
Instituting an education service that has a broad remit (rather than just being a buffer to
deal with schools) can have wide-ranging implications for a museum and will, in the end,
produce a much better place in which to work, as well as offer a superior experience for
visitors.
Integrating an education service into the structure of a museum means rethinking eve-
rything that goes on. This does not imply that anything should be rejected or that there is
anything wrong to begin with. This is, unfortunately, a common feeling among those being
assessed. Moreover, the fault often lies with those who are doing the assessing. All too often,
it is looked on as an exercise of judgement on what has been done. True assessment is par-
ticipatory and should allow those involved not only the opportunity to consider what they
have been doing in the past but also how they, with their knowledge of the system, can
improve it and their own working conditions. This involvement in forward planning imbues
participants with a sense of ownership and a willingness to make it work.
Education staff are in an excellent position to carry out such assessments, especially
within larger museums, as it is part of their work to know what goes on within the system
as a whole. It may be argued that management know this as well, but the unique aspect of
education staff is that it is also their role to teach others about it. Whether those others are
the public at large or the much smaller community of museum staff, they are well placed to
increase understanding about problems and assist in finding solutions.
There is also a role for an education service to provide in-service education for museum
staff. Whilst it is unlikely in most cases that this will be at a professional and specialist level
(usually well catered for by national specialist bodies), there is ample scope for broadening
the horizons of those who work in museums. For example, if front-of-house staff know
something about the work that goes on behind the scenes, they are better able to explain to
visitors why certain things are as they are (such as galleries closed or objects removed from
display).
Similarly, if those who work behind the scenes understand more of the pressures that
face front-of-house staff, they will understand why certain work becomes a priority or why
they are being asked to do something that seems to them to be outside their normal field of
expertise.
These examples are somewhat simplistic but clearly demonstrate the point. This process
of education extends in many other directions as well. It should certainly include a pro-
gramme of events to enlighten visitors about the work that goes into producing and main-
taining a well-run museum. This sort of change will not happen overnight but it is certainly
an excellent opportunity to bring a renewed sense of purpose to a museum and its staff.

Drawbacks
As with all human endeavours involving change, there are drawbacks to altering the culture
of a museum so that education becomes integral with or even central to its purpose. Knowing
what some of the drawbacks might be, however, will go a long way towards working out
strategies that minimize their effect.
To begin with, having an education service produces a great deal of work. This is not
just for the person or persons given the task of setting up and running the service. There
18 Museum Educator’s Handbook

will also be increased workloads for other staff members, especially in the initial phases.
This will tend to fade for non-education staff as both the idea and the practice of education
become absorbed into their normal routines.
For the museum educator, however, the ongoing workload will be heavy, especially in
terms of administration. However, that is only part of it, because the museum educator will
also have to spend a great deal of time ensuring that they are up to date with the latest
developments in museology as well as education. They will also have to meet statutory
requirements. And on top of all that, they will have to produce educational materials, work
with educational user groups and museum staff, liaise with other individuals and organiza-
tions, constantly assess their work, and cope with a whole host of other duties.
As an adjunct to this, museum staff may find themselves faced with the need to adopt
new or altered working practices as well as opening themselves to the scrutiny of someone
they may feel is unqualified to assess them. Even where the issue is handled sensitively and
everyone in the museum has a positive attitude, it will still result in considerable upheaval
that may (though will not necessarily) cause other projects to fall behind agreed deadlines.
One of the first things that has to be done in setting up an education service, therefore, is
to recognize that this initial period of establishment may cause delays.
Once an education service is established and it becomes known that the services of a
museum educator may be called upon, a museum is likely to experience an influx of new
visitors. Whilst this may be welcomed in theory (and financially), it will cause disruption
to well-established routines, no matter how well planned and catered for. This disruption is
likely to be felt most by other regular visitors. That is why it is essential for an education
service to have a broad remit that allows it to plan in such a way that it can cater for and
educate all visitors. With that sort of scope, it should be possible to launch (or relaunch) an
education service so that it is eagerly anticipated by everyone it will affect.
Allowing such a broad remit, however, will mean that a great deal of the museum
comes under scrutiny and a great many alterations may be needed in order to make it a
better museum. This need not happen overnight (and is unlikely to do so, given the finances
of most museums), but it should at least become part of general museum policy that, when-
ever an exhibition is replaced or renovated, the opportunity is taken to bring it in line with
new educational developments as well as with museum policy.
This, of course, will cost money. Good education cannot be provided on the cheap.
Even if the education service is phased in over a period, it will mean an added financial
burden on a museum. Some of the implications of this will be looked at in the relevant parts
of later chapters but, although it will undoubtedly be a major factor, it should not be seen
as an insurmountable problem.
The aura produced by and associated with an active and professionally run education
service, as well as a generally more central role for education (of whatever level and type)
greatly enhances the worth of a museum, and gives it prestige in the eyes of others. There
are doubtless many challenges to be met along the way and no one pretends that establish-
ing or enhancing an education service is ever an easy task. If such challenges are not met, a
museum must first face the question of what it is for and must then face the very real pos-
sibility that it will become extinct. However, there are many compelling reasons for meeting
the challenges and making available the opportunities that will enhance the museum itself
as well as provide a broader education for students.
 3The Museum Educator
CHAPTER

The role of the museum educator is an unusual one within the museum community. It is
often regarded by other members of that community as being not quite a true museum job.
This is not a universal perception and it is by no means as widespread as it once was, but it
is still common. There are a number of factors that have led to this situation. However, two
are predominant and have been for a long time.
To begin with, there has long existed the notion that a museum presenting artefacts for
display is sufficient in itself to constitute education. What need, therefore, of specialist edu-
cation staff? Although it has been demonstrated that this reticence to engage with museum
visitors leads to a failure in satisfying educational needs, such erroneous thinking has
become paradigmatic in some quarters. It is so deeply seated that it can inform the structure
of institutions and the attitudes of staff, and is invisible to those who perpetuate it even
when they openly profess contrary views.
The other main factor is also historical. In the past, many (though by no means all)
museum educators were teachers seconded to or permanently employed by museums, paid
for out of local government education budgets. This, too, produced a feeling that the
museum educator was an outsider.
In addition, museum educators usually spend most of their time working beyond the
relatively narrow concerns of the rest of the museum community (even if they spend all
their time in the museum itself). That is, they have dealings with individuals and organiza-
tions whose prime concern is something other than the collection, conservation, and
display of artefacts. This is not unique amongst those who work in museums but, allied
with the factors already mentioned, it does lead to a situation in which many museum edu-
cators are constitutionally and psychologically isolated from the mainstream of museum
work.
Another important factor that continues to contribute to this feeling of division is the
apparent dichotomy that exists between conservation and education. This can be expressed
simply as the fear that you cannot possibly use artefacts for education and stick to the high
standards of conservation demanded by curatorial staff. It is an understandable fear on the
part of curatorial staff, whose central role in life is the care of the artefacts under their pro-
tection. However, the idea that education equates with hordes of marauding students fin-
gering everything in sight and dropping rare and precious items is specious. This is a
reflection of the specialist concern of curators, but it shows a lack of imagination and a lack
of respect for the skills and sensibilities of museum educators. Not only are museum educa-
tors aware of the prime importance of conservation; they are skilled in finding ways of
working with fragile material that do not compromise the curatorial concern. After all, it is
not necessary to touch things to understand them – even if it is a good way of learning.
Of course, once it is understood by curators that one of the aims of museum education
is to teach about the value and fragility of the resource, much of this conflict should be

19
20 Museum Educator’s Handbook

resolved. However, there is no simple formula that can be applied to artefacts in respect of
their use. The variables are so diverse that a constant balancing act must be undertaken to
ensure maximum education and maximum conservation. After all, if the resource is
damaged or destroyed, it can no longer be used for education. It is, therefore, in the interest
of everyone to conserve the resource. At the same time, it must be remembered that the
whole purpose of conserving the resource is to make it available for education.
Nevertheless, many a museum educator, even in the most enlightened of museums,
will find themselves in a curious situation. They work for a museum but are not quite seen
as museum professionals; they deal with the concerns of various educational user groups
but are not quite seen as education professionals. A role that fulfils two functions and faces
in two directions at once can be extremely difficult to cope with. A person who works at
this full-time can, if not careful, fall between two stools and hit the floor with a hard smack.
This has little to do with the competence of the museum educator and much to do with
attitudes and perceptions of what the post entails.
A museum educator, despite their apparent halfway house position, should not be
regarded as an add-on who is not truly part of the museum. What they do is integral to the
good running of a museum and they should and must have input into a museum’s structure
and day-to-day running. Happily this now happens with increasing frequency as museum
educators are recognized as true museum professionals who specialize in education rather
than as teachers grafted on to a structure solely to cope with visiting schoolchildren.
More and more mainstream teachers are also recognizing that museum educators are
highly professional persons with a great deal of specialist expertise in a specific form of
complementary education. Museum educators are teachers, but they are also museologists,
managers and administrators, experts in their field, curators who specialize in education.
The integral nature of their role is now being further enhanced by a growing number of
colleges and universities offering graduate and postgraduate courses in museum education.
There is, perhaps, a danger that this will lead to the pendulum swinging the other way, with
only graduates of such courses being acceptable to museums. This would be a shame as such
a development would institutionalize museum education and remove some of its vigour.
There is still a long way to go to redress current perceptions, and the person best able to
do this in specific cases is the museum educator. Indeed, this is one of the important parts
of the job, bringing about a complete integration of education into the ethos of the museum.
Of course, whoever is appointed to provide an education service must work within the set-
up as it is. This will range from hostile to supportive, and beyond to the manager or curator
who will allow nothing to be done unless it has passed their stringent and minute examina-
tion. It may also be that curators who are indifferent or opposed to museum education have
museum education staff appointed for them by management boards. In addition, there are
those who expect museum educators to work miracles on a shoestring budget, work only
with children and keep those children out of everybody else’s way. The variations are enor-
mous.
However, the fact that a museum has a museum educator is a step in the right direction.
No one will find themselves working in a perfect world – even the museum that positively
relishes having educational visitors and ensures it does what it can to accommodate them
will never be completely free of problems. The ideal is simply what the museum educator
must work towards from the particular situations in which they find themselves.
 The Museum Educator 21

Roles of the museum educator

What does the job of museum educator consist of? The specifics of the job will depend on
a number of factors. Management attitudes to the idea of education and to dedicated educa-
tion posts have already been considered. The resources made available are also a significant
factor, as are the type of museum, its size, relationship with other museums and the com-
munity, and the nature of its collection. Finally, there are the demands that are made upon
it by the various user groups within its catchment area, as well as the potential for develop-
ment of these and groups not yet using the museum.
As we have seen, everyone who works in a museum is a museum educator. However,
where there is a person (or persons) whose primary role is education, they must be suffi-
ciently well versed in these and other areas to perform effectively. That is, they must be
museologists and educators of sufficient expertise and experience to be accepted by special-
ists in both these fields.
In general terms, there are seven core areas of work. A number of others may apply in
specific circumstances, for example with highly specialized collections. The proportion of
each of these core areas in relation to the others depends on the extent to which education
is seen as integral to the museum as a whole and the demands that are made upon the
museum by specific user groups.

MUSEUM TEACHING
The highest profile activity, and the one most expected of museum educators, is museum
teaching. That is, whoever is responsible for such work will be expected to teach students in
the museum about whatever they have come to see. It is also worth remembering that
museum teaching may include outreach work, teaching in schools, colleges and other places
of education.
This can be a highly satisfying, hands-on, part of the job, not least because of the
opportunity it presents for exercising a wide range of skills in a wide range of teaching situ-
ations. There are also opportunities for instant feedback and for learning more about the
efficacy of the museum as a teaching environment. However, teaching is not the most effi-
cient way for a museum educator to spend their time if they are the only member of staff
and that is all they ever do. Not only does every hour spent teaching require at the very least
an hour of preparation and another of administration, but also constant teaching allows no
time for development.

EDUCATING TEACHERS AND STUDENT TEACHERS

To avoid spending all their time teaching, it is imperative that museum educators target
both practising and student teachers in order to instruct them in the proper educational use
of museums. An hour spent with 30 students reaches 30 students. An hour spent with 30
teachers is an hour spent with, at the very least, 900 students. An hour spent with 30 teach-
ers of teachers is an hour spent with, at the very least, 27,000 students. In reality, the figures
are much higher as the skills acquired by teachers are there for their entire teaching career,
to be passed on and used with countless numbers of students. The museum educator’s time
is therefore much better spent in this way.
22 Museum Educator’s Handbook

This works at two levels. First, there is the need to convince teachers of the worth of
using museums in their teaching. Some have no problem with this and are eager to tap into
any resource that enhances the work they do. However, there are still many teachers (espe-
cially in subject areas not traditionally associated with museum work) who do not under-
stand the worth or importance of working with material culture.
Once teachers become convinced of the worth of museum work the second level comes
into play. Museums are exceptional educational resources but they are not schools. The
ways of working with the resource are different from those employed within a school
context, even where material culture is introduced into the school. A detailed exposition of
these skills and other factors involved in visiting museums is given in Using Museums as an
Educational Resource (Talboys, 1996).
Any museum educator, if they are to be an effective advocate for museum education,
must have at least a basic knowledge of educational theory. They must also have a set of
quality arguments (which they understand in depth) that they can use to persuade others
that museum education is worthwhile and that all teachers should learn how to use museums
for themselves.
Where practising teachers are concerned, this can be achieved through training and
familiarization sessions at the museum. It can also be accomplished in conjunction with
specific schools by offering them in-service training (InSeT). The scope is enormous and the
courses you offer could cover basic skills for using any museum or gallery as well as intro-
ductions to the artefacts, collections, and services that your own museum can offer.
Very similar courses can be offered to students undertaking initial teacher training
(ITT). However, this is easier said than done. Surprisingly, given their importance as educa-
tional resources, the use of museums, galleries, and other forms of complementary educa-
tion is not a compulsory of ITT courses. Introducing this to students is very much dependent
on the enthusiasm of individual lecturers. You will need to seek out these enlightened indi-
viduals and persuade them to make use of your museum.

TRAINING MUSEUM STAFF

Another area of concern for the museum educator is to educate museum staff about educa-
tion – in general and with specific reference to museums. This is difficult, not least because
museum staff have full working lives of their own. However, it is extremely important they
are given the opportunity to understand what the museum educator does. After all, their
work will affect that of the other staff to a lesser or greater degree, and an understanding of
issues makes them less likely to be points of conflict.
Many museum staff have fixed and sometimes outmoded ideas about education based
on their own experience and do not recognize that, although a museum is a prime educa-
tional resource, it is not a school. Therefore, ways of working with the resource differ from
ways of working in a school environment. Not only that; one of the main reasons for taking
children on visits is to ‘socialize’ them, getting them used to appropriate behaviours in
particular environments.
This concern to spread a general understanding of the principles of the museum educa-
tor’s work can also be made more specific. It is not only a courtesy to keep other staff
informed of specific projects that will be going on; it is also an ideal opportunity for con-
sultation. Everyone who works in the museum can contribute to the museum educator’s
work and such input helps to increase awareness and tolerance of that work.
 The Museum Educator 23

Those most likely to come into contact with educational users should also understand
that they can participate in the work that is going on without it interfering with their
primary function, be it guarding the treasures on display, working in the shop or serving
refreshments. Museums in the USA have done a great deal of work in this area.

INVOLVEMENT WITH THE WIDER COMMUNITY

Beyond the confines of the museum and of what is normally considered the work of the
museum educator, there is the wider remit of educating the public about the worth of a
particular museum and of museums in general. In part, this comes about because of every-
day educational work. If that is done well, then people begin to realize that museums are of
value to society. However, a more specific programme of educating the public about the
worth of museums should be undertaken, in concert with a programme of events designed
to increase the involvement of the local community with the museum. This dual approach
is more sensible as it rolls content and method into one package. Each on its own would lack
the context of the other and be far less effective.

INVOLVEMENT IN PLANNING AND DESIGN

It is not just educational users who will have need of the experience and expertise that you
bring to the museum. A great deal of work within the museum needs your input, particu-
larly the mounting of new exhibitions and the production of written materials. As an edu-
cator, you have a perspective on these things that other museum staff do not.
In setting up a new exhibition, for example, there may be a wealth of curatorial exper-
tise and knowledge about what is to be displayed. There may be professional designers who
know how to set things up and make them look good at the same time as producing an
overall layout that expedites visitor flow. As a museum educator, you will have another
agenda, and your input into the displaying of artefacts, writing of text, labels, guidebooks
and the like, along with ideas on how the display will work better as an educational resource,
will be vital.
What is more, it is much easier to design educational programmes for an exhibition if
you are involved from the very beginning in all aspects of the exhibition’s creation. Indeed,
you might even be able to suggest exhibitions that would attract large numbers of educa-
tional users and which would be most relevant to topics of study in schools and colleges.
Close collaboration with design and interpretation staff is essential. Moreover, regular
meetings on more general areas of concern are just as important as those that concentrate
on specific projects. Regular contact with other museum staff as well as input into planning
is beneficial in a number of other ways as well, not least of which is the opportunity to raise
your professional standing.

ASSESSMENT
Evaluation and assessment of all educational and related activity is an essential part of the
museum educator’s job. Formal systems of assessment need to be built into projects and
programmes of work as part of the basic structure. Not only does this save a great deal of
work later on; it also means that all aspects of educational work are monitored as they
proceed – starting with basic educational and museological aims, administrative and
24 Museum Educator’s Handbook

marketing efficiency, budgetary controls and more prosaic matters such as visitor numbers
and shop spending.
Informal assessment is just as effective, if less easy to present to others. However, it is
worth undertaking – asking teachers if a session went well, asking students if they have
enjoyed themselves, chatting to museum staff after user groups have gone.
All this assessment allows the museum educator to do several things. To begin with, it
provides a rich source of quantitative material so beloved of management – the statistics
that show, in their eyes, the progress and effectiveness (or otherwise) of a given activity.
That they measure in numbers only, means they do not give a well-balanced picture. Qual-
itative information is just as important, if not more so. After all, education is not about
numbers but about enriching people’s lives.
The aim of assessment is not to gather evidence that allows you to pat yourself on the
back. Assessment involves the continuous gathering of information that allows you to make
continuous improvements to all that you do. If it is not used in this way, it is a great deal of
wasted effort. A further discussion of assessment and evaluation can be found in Chapter
14.

ADMINISTRATIVE WORK
If all the preceding activity is to run smoothly, it must be backed up with an efficient
administrative system. Unless you work in a museum with a large enough museum educa-
tion staff to warrant your own office personnel, you will have to do all your administration
yourself.
Many of the details of this are discussed later, in Chapter 14, but it is worth considering
at this point the importance of such a function. It should never be looked on as a necessary
evil, something to be dealt with as quickly as possible and without too much attention to
detail. This can happen, especially as administrative work is done behind closed doors,
rushed through last thing on a Friday. Unfortunately this only leads to problems – work not
done, letters not answered, bookings mixed up, paperwork lost.
If administration is seen as an integral part of the job and adequate systems and habits
are set in place as the service is developed, it will be seen as part of the whole and be dealt
with as and when necessary. For example, when a teacher books a visit, that should be seen
not as an administrative chore but as an integral part of the visit. Indeed, a good adminis-
trative system is essential if you hope to develop an efficient and professional service. You
will be dealing with a large number of outside agencies and your transactions need to be
monitored closely and accurately.
In addition to the foregoing duties, you may find you have some or all of the following
with which to contend.

MARKETING AND PUBLICITY

The work of the museum educator and the services they provide must be made known to as
wide an audience as possible. In this age of highly sophisticated marketing, with so much
competing for the attention of potential educational user groups, it is important to be able
to catch the interest of those you wish to make use of your services. Larger museums may
well have marketing specialists on the staff whose expertise and services can be used. Most
museum educators have to do it for themselves. However, for all that you may tap into
 The Museum Educator 25

accepted routes of advertising and promotion, every personal contact you make is also an
act of marketing and no opportunity should be missed to make the most of it. Being confi-
dent, courteous, and helpful makes a great impression on people, more so than unsolicited
leaflets full of information.

FUND-RAISING
Although attempts to make an education service self-financing should be rigorously
rebuffed, there will be times when it is politic to look for sources of funding or other
resources for specific projects. With larger museums, there may well be professional fund-
raisers on the staff who can advise or deal with such matters. However, it is more likely that
you will have to do this yourself. For many this is a daunting prospect, but only because
they have never done it before. Much useful information exists in book form and a frame-
work for such activity can be found in Chapter 15.

MISCELLANEOUS DUTIES
In some cases, a museum educator will be required to fulfil other roles within the museum,
especially if it is a small institution. This may entail general management work, curatorial
duties, as well as work in the shop or café, putting up exhibitions, even cleaning floors and
windows. Such teamwork should always be regarded as an opportunity to get to know the
museum and its staff, and virtually everything can be seen in an educational light and
provide inspiration for educational work. In addition, the chance to participate in a museum
in this way provides an excellent insight that is not always available in larger institutions
where specialists can be somewhat isolated from one another, let alone from the day-to-day
running of the place.
Just as the range of work expected of a museum educator is enormous, so too is the
range of working environments. A museum educator may be one of a team in a large museum
or working alone to provide a service for a handful of small museums scattered throughout
a large area. They may even be doing education work part-time, along with other duties
such as curatorial work or marketing. Whatever your situation, it will have a bearing on the
sort of work you are able to do and the way that you have to organize your workload.

Knowledge and expertise

In order to accomplish the above effectively, museum educators should become conversant
with a number of areas of knowledge.

EDUCATION
In the first instance, the museum educator needs to have a good background knowledge and
understanding of educational psychology, philosophy and sociology, as well as educational
theory and practice. This may seem a little over the top. It is not expected that museum
educators will be the foremost experts in this very large field. However, a good grounding
provides the basis for informed choices and decisions as well as for implementing projects
that will better achieve the aims that have been set. It also means that a museum educator
26 Museum Educator’s Handbook

can converse with teachers and other educators on a level playing field. This not only makes
life a little less complicated for the museum educator; it also helps to make teachers and user
groups confident that the person they are dealing with is a responsible professional.
Any museum educator who enters the museum world from teaching will have acquired
this sort of background of knowledge and understanding from their own training. It is
important, however, that the museum educator keeps abreast of developments and new
research, and is given the chance to do so, especially as museum education has different
priorities and emphases. Thus, a broad approach to theory and practice is required so that
the different environments of museum work are exploited successfully and married to
working styles with which students are familiar.
However, it is not just the professional aspects of education with which a museum edu-
cator must be conversant. Other areas of educational knowledge and understanding are
equally important. For example, the law as it relates to the educational use of museums,
especially where minors are concerned is of supreme concern to the museum educator, who
must know it thoroughly.
The museum educator should also have a good grasp of subject matter – what is taught
to students in their schools and how it relates to the museum. In addition, they need to
know how the education system is structured, financed, and administered. Furthermore,
they should be aware of the basic day-to-day running of education, including the dates of
school vacations.
Finally, a museum educator needs to be conversant with the processes of planning and
preparing a visit to a museum with a group of students. Knowing the logistics involved as
well as the museum’s place in the educational process is essential. Not only does this increase
understanding of group dynamics (readily affected by travelling and working in a strange
environment); it also makes it easier to tailor educational programmes to the needs of stu-
dents and teachers.

EDUCATIONAL USE OF MUSEUMS

Having a working knowledge and understanding of what goes on in the educational world
outside the museum is only half the educational story. Whereas museum educators require
a working knowledge of that, there is one area in which they must be experts – the educa-
tional use of museums. Again, this covers both theory and practice.
Museums are unique educational establishments with unique sets of working environ-
ments, methods, skills, and priorities. It is not enough, for example, to know the major
theories of education; the museum educator must understand how they apply to both a
general and a specific museum situation. If those that are applied in schools are not rele-
vant, then it is incumbent upon the museum educator to seek out those that are and that
can be applied.
As with any profession or field of knowledge and practice, a great deal of research is
done each year and the museum educator should keep up with this. Not all of it will be
obviously or immediately relevant, but that does not mean it never will be. Keeping up,
however, should never be allowed to take over. There are many fine organizations that help
museum educators digest all this information.
The practice of working within the museum is also important. Much competence in
this comes with personal experience, but there is a great deal that can be learnt about it
from other practitioners. A growing number of professional and commercial organizations
 The Museum Educator 27

now exist to facilitate museum practice. As a museum educator, you should take what
opportunities you can to avail yourself of these services. All this knowledge and experience
is vital in being able to present material culture to educational users in an authoritative
way.

MUSEUM PRACTICE
It must be a main aim of a museum educator to be conversant with the principles of all the
different forms of work that go on in the museum. They should get to know some of the
detail as well, so that they can talk with a degree of authority about the various skills
employed. Of course, it would be ideal to make use of the conservators and designers and
other staff members to explain what they do. That, however, is a limited option. These
people have work to do and they may not, in any case, be very good teachers.
All aspects of museum work should come under the museum educator’s scrutiny,
including collection, cataloguing, research, restoration and conservation, cleaning, display,
design and administration. Having become familiar with this ‘inner’ world of the museum,
the museum educator must then see how the detail and the broader sweep of museums
relate to the world at large. Museums are extremely important aspects of any community or
society, but they are not always very good at explaining this to the community or society
that supports them. This important role can be fulfilled by the museum educator.

THE COLLECTIONS
The area of knowledge most expected of museum educators relates directly to the collec-
tions held by the museum in which they work. It would be impossible to expect a museum
educator to know everything about every object; specialist areas are the province of their
curators. However, the museum educator will need a working knowledge of the artefacts
and collections, especially those that attract educational user groups.
This need is more acute if the museum educator spends a great deal of time teaching. It
is one reason why museum teaching is so time-consuming. If research is to be done, it is far
better for it to be used in producing information packs that teachers can then use.
For all that, the museum educator will be asked plenty of questions about artefacts and
collections. Moreover, it is surprising what questions will be asked by educational users and
what degree of background knowledge is needed to answer them. Whatever you, as museum
educator, learn about an artefact, someone will have a question for which you have no
answer. That is why it is important to cultivate a way of working that puts emphasis on
exploration and the building and testing of hypotheses rather than straight question-and-
answer sessions.

ARCHAEOLOGY AND ASSOCIATED SUBJECTS

One of the best ways of coming to know about individual artefacts and collections is to have
a working knowledge of how they were originally produced as well as how and why they
reached the museum. This means knowing a little about the principal crafts such as wood-
working, pottery, metalworking, textile production, and so on. It also means knowing
something of the principles of archaeology and the collection of both organic and inor-
ganic specimens.
28 Museum Educator’s Handbook

As well as all this, and no matter what your own beliefs and convictions may be, you,
as museum educator, must appreciate that non-material culture has been important in
shaping material culture. An understanding of non-material culture as it relates to artefacts
in a museum is essential to an understanding of such collections. This should be considered
an integral part of the understanding process. You need to know not just how a thing came
into being, but also why.
This is particularly relevant where artefacts have spiritual significance or were origi-
nally collected in ways we would now consider unethical. It may be that this is covered by
legislation. In the USA, for example, part of the Native American Grave Protection and
Repatriation Act refers specifically to items held by museums. Often, however, these sensi-
tive issues fall outside any legal framework. Informed debate and sympathetic handling are
of far greater value to museums than the imperialistic attitude they sometimes adopt. As a
museum educator, you may find yourself in the front line not only of general discussion of
such issues but also of specific controversies. Acquaint yourself with museum policy on
such matters.
All this may seem daunting, as does any body of knowledge before it is acquired, but it
is surprising how quickly information is picked up through day-to-day working and small
amounts of daily study.

Job requirements
There has been a great deal of discussion over the years about what sort of experience is
desirable in someone coming to the job. This is a difficult area, not least because of the
‘Catch 22’ problem of only getting work if you have the experience and only getting experi-
ence if you are given the work. Of course, all people coming to work in museums for the first
time clearly lack experience at that point. Moreover, for every aspect of experience thought
necessary there are many examples of successful museum educators who entered the field
without it. What follows, then, is a look at some of the core areas of experience that would
prove very useful, even if it cannot be claimed that they are essential.

MUSEUM EXPERIENCE
Museum experience is a clear advantage. From this sort of first-hand awareness you can
derive an understanding of the dynamics of a museum, the priorities of other staff and the
museum in general, the timescales involved in the work done and so on. To have worked
with artefacts is also very useful. Knowing how to handle, store, and analyse them will not
only make your job easier; it will also help you to gain the respect and trust of colleagues.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE
Teaching experience in mainstream education is not a prerequisite of museum education
work any more than it is a guarantee of success in the museum environment. Many good
classroom teachers flounder and fail in the museum setting simply because they fail to
appreciate that a museum is not a school and cannot be used as such. Indeed, many people
in museum education were originally already in museums doing other work which led
them increasingly into direct contact with educational user groups.
 The Museum Educator 29

For all that, many museum educators have previously been teachers and their experi-
ence has proved invaluable. Most, though not all, have worked with six- to sixteen-year-
olds. This limited experience of age range has often been cited as a problem. Whilst this
may be true to a certain extent, it is not intractable. It is no greater a barrier to dealing with
groups outside that age range than that of having no experience at all of teaching.
Those who have some difficulty in accepting that a museum educator can be a good
educationist and know all about museums as well need only look at other specialist teach-
ers. Good classroom teachers who specialize in a specific age group can still be leading
experts on their subject and work well with groups of other ages. It is not unknown for
classroom teachers to have PhDs. Conversely, there are specialists in many fields who also
happen to have a gift for passing their knowledge and understanding on to others, despite
the fact that they have never had any formal teacher training.
It can help potential museum educators to have worked with user groups in the envi-
ronment they normally work in (for example, a school). This not only offers insight into
what they are working on, but also how they are working and how best to use the museum
to enhance that (rather than replicate it). It also means having experience of dealing with
the dynamics of groups of students in different environments.
Experience of teaching does not just refer to contact time. It also includes the prepara-
tion of teaching sessions, the production of teaching materials, assessment, and all the
other skills that a teacher must have to work successfully. Whatever the amount of previous
experience, however, it can only be regarded as a foundation on which to build, a starting-
point for gaining experience in the techniques of museum education.

COMMUNICATION SKILLS
Given that most of a museum educator’s work involves communication with others in a
wide variety of forms and contexts, the ability to communicate well must be considered a
primary skill. Ideas as well as complex (and often incomplete) sets of information will have
to be conveyed quickly and clearly. In addition, it will often be necessary to provide a
context, as most students are more used to working with text than they are with objects.
Methods of delivery will vary. They will involve speaking, writing, and making multi-
media presentations to individuals, small groups, large groups, young and old alike, formal
and informal. You will also have to consider the production of leaflets, teaching materials,
and marketing materials. In some cases, it may be expedient to obtain the services of others
to produce printed material, but mostly you will have to do this for yourself.

COMPUTER LITERACY
A specific extension of communication skills is the need to be conversant with and experi-
enced in the use of word processing, databases and spreadsheets, graphics software, the
Internet, as well as producing digital images. This goes beyond the normal use that the
majority of people make of the computers they have at home. There are many excellent
courses available although the European/International Computer Driving Licence is fast
becoming a recognized worldwide standard of computer competence.
Aspects of website design are also worth considering. It will not be necessary to become
an expert, but given the prevalence of websites, it would make sense to be able to make a
knowledgeable contribution to the content and design of any site the museum may have.
30 Museum Educator’s Handbook

UNDERSTANDING OF THE PUBLISHING PROCESS

As the person most likely to oversee the production of educational materials (if not carry
out the process in its entirety), it would be sensible to have a basic knowledge of the proc-
esses of publishing. This would need to include the preparation of text and images (includ-
ing proofreading), layout, printer’s jargon, the time each stage takes, and so on. It also
means having some notion of the rate at which materials sell or are used in order to print
the correct amounts. There are many books (written principally for authors) that explain
the processes in detail.
Computers now make it possible for much of the work to be done in-house, producing
material that is ready to go straight to a printer. There are obvious advantages to this. Retain-
ing control of the process makes it easier to change items at short notice, and to print off
short runs of material using a high quality printing machine. It would be worth taking a
course in desktop publishing, as this would save the museum money in the end.

FLEXIBILITY OF APPROACH
The museum educator will need to take on many roles in their work, from the traditional
form of teacher to a more relaxed and less pedagogical approach with older students and
informal groups. There are times when the lead role needs to give way to a supporting role,
guiding and providing back-up in learning situations. There are also times when you, as
museum educator, need to give way altogether, perhaps taking on the role of pupil, learning
from others who have expertise and understanding that you do not.
Beyond the direct teaching side of the work, you, as museum educator, will find your-
self in many different situations working with different groups, organizations, and indi-
viduals. At all times you need to be able to adapt to your environment without ever
becoming subservient to it.

EMPATHY
Empathy is very important. It is a dirty word in some circles, which believe that only objec-
tive and analytical systems work in respect of museums and their collections. If they were
just objects that might be possible, but everything in a museum has a human connection,
very often at the deepest level of human existence.
The ability to empathize with those who made and used the artefacts, as well as those
who have collected and studied them is important if one is to educate others about them
and their original importance. This does not mean a reckless and unfounded use of imagi-
nation. Empathy must be based on fact or it is worthless, but it is an application of under-
standing as well as knowledge, an acceptance of the irrational in human existence, an
acceptance of aspects of life that cannot be quantified.
The museum educator also needs to be able to empathize with students, most of whom
will be encountering specific artefacts and collections for the first time. Some may even be
entering a museum for the first time. It is all too easy, when working in a particular environ-
ment, to lose the memory of how it feels to the casual and infrequent visitor. Indeed, even
the frequent visitor will see it through different eyes, as it forms a different aspect of their
experience of life from that of someone who works in the museum environment.
 The Museum Educator 31

RESILIENCE
Museum educators also need resilience. Most will be working on their own. Despite the
contact they may have with colleagues and with user groups, they often work alone at a job
that is primarily about long-term aims and rewards. Often those rewards are experienced by
others in a way that is invisible to the museum educator, as membership of user groups is
ephemeral. The same school may visit on a regular basis but the museum educator rarely
gets the chance to build up a long-term relationship with students. It can be lonely work at
times.

DIPLOMACY
Diplomatic skills, too, are extremely useful. This relates not only to handling museum staff
who may find the presence of user groups difficult to cope with; it also relates to other visi-
tors to the museum who may find the presence of groups who appear to be enjoying them-
selves or getting privileged treatment too much to handle. There are even those who do not
think that museums should function in this way at all. Of course, as is constantly stated,
part of the long-term task of any museum educator is to educate the general public so they
will accept not only that their visit may coincide with the visit of educational user groups,
but also that such an event is part of museum life.
If all this seems daunting and makes the museum educator sound like some kind of
wonder being, then you are right. The job involves a great deal of study and hard work.
Educational users must have sufficient confidence in the museum educator’s ability, experi-
ence, and training to want to use the museum. The museum must be sufficiently confident
in the museum educator’s understanding of museums, collections, artefacts, restoration,
conservation, and so on in order to let them loose amongst all those precious objects.
Above all else, however, the museum educator must be that – an educator. Interpreta-
tion has its place, but it is one small aspect of education. An interpreter merely toes the
party line and gives the official explanation of what is on display. A museum educator
works to involve groups in an active way, providing them with the skills and the sensibili-
ties to work with what the museum has to offer. A museum educator teaches people how to
make their own valid interpretations and follow their own lines of enquiry. A museum edu-
cator teaches people how to question. The rewards of success in that venture are enormous
for all involved.
This page intentionally left blank
 4Research
CHAPTER

Setting Up – Background

Before launching any sort of museum education service, ensure that it is properly tailored
to meet the needs of those it purports to serve. To that end, you will need to undertake a
considerable amount of background research in a number of different areas. This will guar-
antee that whatever you do later is both soundly based and a carefully measured response
to the needs of various user groups and the capabilities of the museum.
Although this chapter relates specifically to setting up a new education service, it is an
exercise well worth considering for anyone new to an existing post or even for those who
have been in the post for some while. The greater your understanding of your catchment
area and those who live and work in it, the better will be your response to educational
users.
All research should be carefully planned. In the first instance, you should aim to provide
yourself with a framework of information that will allow you to set priorities both for
detailed research and for the design of programmes of work.
A considerable proportion of the information you require is probably available on the
Internet. Get to know the relevant websites. These may well include the sites of local and
national museums associations, local and national government (containing arts policies,
advice, and law), academic institutions, local schools, and local museums. Keep a record of
their addresses.
Websites are useful for gathering information, but use of the Internet should never be
substituted for face-to-face contact. Getting out and meeting people is essential to building
good relationships with different members of your local community, especially those who
have no natural lines of communication with the museum. Furthermore, meeting people
and visiting places in person gives you a far better idea of what you are dealing with and the
dynamic qualities involved. This is particularly true of schools and colleges.

Educational user groups

To begin with, you should consider who might make use of an education service. Within
easy travelling distance of most museums there can be found the whole range of formal and
informal educational institutions and organizations in both the public and private sectors.
There will be a range of schools within the compulsory sector, at least one university, col-
leges of further and higher education and teacher training facilities. Pre-school provision
will also exist in a number of forms.
In addition to this, there are likely to be special schools, field-trip residential centres,
adult education centres, open learning centres, and a host of extra-mural courses on offer.

33
34 Museum Educator’s Handbook

There will also be many hundreds of local people registered on correspondence courses of
varying levels and just as many following private courses of study.
Further afield there are usually many more establishments that are within day-trip
range of museums. Although travelling longer distances may preclude visits from more
generalist or younger students, older and specialist students are often very willing to travel
much further – as are their teachers. Students from greater distances may also be using field
study centres for longer stays in the area. These are groups that could well be persuaded to
visit several museums with collections on a common theme of interest to them.
Between them, these students will be involved in studying a vast range of subjects,
aiming for all levels of qualification or simply out of interest. These subjects are offered not
only in traditional courses, but also as talks, lectures, workshops and so on. Furthermore,
the population of educational establishments is constantly being renewed as students pass
through the system. Such renewal creates a constant need for educational resources – a need
that means that educational establishments are likely to become regular users if they receive
a good service from you.
Next to be considered is the whole field of educational delivery as it pertains to schools
within the catchment area of the museum. Is compulsory education provided to the dic-
tates of a national curriculum? Are there certain subjects (such as sex education and reli-
gious education) that are subject to specific laws or taboos? How are lessons presented and
how is work assessed? What assessments and examinations do students take? How does all
this relate to the museum and its collections?
For each institution within the catchment area, record a basic set of information,
including details such as address, type of institution, size of student population, courses
and subjects being taught, and so on. In addition, establish the names of contacts within
these establishments. As you gather information, remember this will be an ongoing task.
Do not overload yourself with trivia, as you will have to keep everything up to date. You
may find much of what you need in published directories and registers, which are updated
annually. These can be expensive but should be considered.
You should also familiarize yourself with specific approaches to education within
various user groups – is it learning by rote, whole-class, project-based, research-based, cross-
curricular and so on? This is not so that you can replicate these with appropriate groups (an
approach that would not work in the museum), but so that you can best tailor your own
approach to match the educational experience and mood of the group.
You should also become familiar with the overall structure of the education system.
Knowing how the individual parts relate to one another and how they are administered,
along with the staff who administer and monitor the system, is just as important as knowing
about the individual institutions from which user groups will be drawn. Indeed, getting to
know who the members of staff are at this administrative level is vital to gaining access to
other levels of the system. You do not need to know everything about a system as long as
you know the people who do.
Having assessed the size of the potential educational audience, you should next con-
sider the past educational use of the museum itself. Even if there has been no formal educa-
tion service or specialist staff in the past, there must be some record of educational user
groups who have used the museum. Find out who they are and what they came to the
museum to see or do. If you are newly appointed, these groups provide the perfect opportu-
nity for first contact and initial research into the use of the museum and the needs of its
users.
 Setting Up – Background Research 35

Determining what groups already use the museum and why they have done so is only
the first step. You then need to move on and find out what other user groups want from the
museum and let them all know what you want from them. It is at this point that you must
begin to create links with individual educational user groups and teachers.
More detailed ideas for contact with educational user groups can be found in Chapter
7, but it is important that you find out as much as possible about what exists within your
catchment area. In the long term, it will be worth trying to visit as many of these as your
time will allow, but in the short term, it is much more important to assess your priorities.
Finally, if your local and national education authorities distribute materials, whether
curriculum materials or directives, updates on the law, administrative memoranda, and all
the other paperwork that circulates, do whatever it takes to get yourself or your museum on
their mailing lists. This can be an invaluable source of information that helps you to keep
up to date with educational developments and administrative and legal changes. Most of it
will not affect you directly, but you will soon learn to scan such material for relevant infor-
mation. Even if this means registering the museum as a school or some such similar ploy, it
is worth the effort, as you will then not have to go cap in hand to a number of different
sources to get a glimpse of this material.

General population
As well as the core work with educational user groups, there is, as we have seen, a much
broader remit for education. If this is to be effective, it must engage with all who visit the
museum as well as encouraging new audiences.
Beyond the specific and easily defined educational clientele, there is an educational
element involved in the visit of the humble tourist and of the local visitor, as well as long-
term community involvement. Educational user groups may be easier to cater for as they
have specific and well-defined goals, but there is no lack of motivation on the part of what
one might term casual visitors. Many surveys have consistently revealed that more than 80
per cent of casual visitors to museums consider one of the main purposes of a museum to
be educational. Parents (a sizeable sub-group of casual visitors) have a similar expectation
and they will often bring their children to museums in the belief that it will enrich them.
Other people take their holidays in areas that interest them and spend a great deal of their
time visiting museums. Foreign tourists also visit museums with an educational intent –
that of absorbing something of the cultural heritage of the country they are visiting.
In one sense or another, nearly every person who visits a museum does so with an edu-
cational intent. It would be sensible, therefore, to aim to maintain a high level of informed
interest in all visitors. With this as a basic policy, it should be possible to establish specific
educational packages and a general educational approach that is sufficiently flexible to
appeal to various sectors of the casual educational market.
To do this sensibly and coherently means beginning with a high level of awareness of
the composition of the local community. This should include such factors as social condi-
tions, ethnic backgrounds, religious and spiritual beliefs, as well as age distribution, educa-
tional backgrounds, first languages, cultural backgrounds and so on. Information of this
nature need not be over-precise; nor should it be used in itself for drawing any conclusions.
However, an accurate grasp of such facts means that you are working from a well-informed
base when considering ways in which the museum can cater for the local community. Of
36 Museum Educator’s Handbook

course, not all museums have collections that relate naturally to some or all sections of the
community in which they reside, but therein is the challenge.
It is far more difficult to gather this sort of information for tourists – although that is
no reason for catering for them any less well. They may be transient, but they can spread the
word about the museum far and wide. Any information you do require will have to come
either from in-house visitor surveys or from local tourist organizations.
Such information is also relevant to the make-up of educational user groups – especially
those originating from the compulsory sector, which are far more likely to reflect accurately
the make-up of the community at large. As well as providing a base of information that will
inform decision-making on a wider remit, it also acts to alert the museum educator to the
areas that the museum may have neglected in the past. It is also useful in pointing out pos-
sible areas of controversy and problems that may be caused by exhibitions, as well as prob-
lems that may be faced by individuals in confronting artefacts and ideas that are taboo
within their cultural or ideological background. This is not to say that anything that is pos-
sibly controversial should be abandoned or avoided, only that it needs to be planned and
approached with sensitivity to the ideas of others and put forward for good reasons and
with well-prepared arguments to counter any possible objections.
There is one other reason why it is useful to know about the composition of the com-
munity in which the museum exists. Most people living within reach of the museum are
unlikely ever to have visited it. There are many reasons for this; and many, with a little
effort on the part of the museum, can be overcome. In the end, the majority of those
reasons come under the general heading of relevance. That is, most people who do not visit
their local museums simply do not see them as relevant to their lives. It is up to the museum
to provide temporary exhibitions and activities that will overcome that apathy and engage
the interest of these people. It is not just a question of getting them to accept the museum
as it is. Education pertains to the museum as well, for it must learn to evolve in order to
involve local people, finding out what they would like, finding ways in which the genuine
interest of these people can be matched to the vision the museum has of its own future.
Although it is sensible to look to professional research and professional knowledge
when determining the shape of your education strategy, it is prudent to seek also the
common sense, the ideas, and the needs of the general community. Use your professional
understanding to deliver what is required by the community (and never forget that you and
the museum are also part of the community and can have your say).

Museum characteristics
Having gathered information about those who are likely to want to make educational use of
the museum, as well as those who may be persuaded to do so in the future, you should now
turn your attention to the museum itself.
In researching your own base of work, you need to consider a wide range of factors that
will affect any education work that you do. To begin with you should investigate the popu-
larity or otherwise of permanent and temporary exhibitions for the general visitor as well
as educational user groups. This will allow you to prioritize further investigations into why
certain areas of the museum are more popular than others. It may be that educational
groups only use certain areas because they have yet to see, work out, or be guided into real-
izing that other areas, collections, or artefacts can also be of use to them.
 Setting Up – Background Research 37

In addition, you will need to consider how use of the museum alters with time – what
times of day, what days of the week, what weeks, months, and seasons of the year are more
popular than others. This applies to the general visitor as well as educational user groups,
not least because they are sometimes at variance in their needs. Looking at visitor numbers
in this way is not a precise science. People are notoriously fickle when it comes to visiting
museums, and factors such as the weather are not reliable indicators. However, general
trends can be observed and work can then be done to ensure a flow of educational visitors
that does not conflict too much with that of other visitors.
In concert with this, you need to explore the physical space of the museum, visitor
flows, its capacity for absorbing large groups, possible bottlenecks, and possible problem
areas such as the shop and the toilets. It would also be wise to see if there are places where
groups can gather on arrival, leave their coats, work, eat lunch, and gather before leaving –
all without unduly disrupting other visitors or breaking fire or health and safety regula-
tions. Not every museum has such spare capacity but even the smallest museum, with a
little careful planning, can make some provision to accommodate groups in this way. As
well as the physical structure of the building, you will need to become familiar with staffing
structures, policies, protocols, and lines of communication. And learn people’s names; even
if it means, to begin with, writing them all down.
The form of the museum displays – especially if they are strongly thematic or dogmatic
– may dictate the nature of the programmes you devise as well as how you teach. Not all
museum environments are conducive to learning, and work will need to be done to assess
the present form and devise ways of improving the displays and the general atmosphere. If
students feel comfortable, they learn better. Of course, although comfort is a necessary con-
dition for learning, it is not, of itself, sufficient. Many other in-house factors come into
play.
The geographical location of the museum is also important. This is not so much whether
it is in a rural, suburban, or urban situation, but where it is in relation to other geographical
factors. For example, is it isolated or close to other facilities? If it is isolated, you may have
to provide a sufficiently interesting package to attract visitors away from the heady arena of
the city centre. You will need to know how the museum relates to public transport routes
and their pick-up and drop-off points. People approaching you to make a booking may well
ask for this sort of information. Can coaches off-load and pick up with ease? If not, can
arrangements be made with the appropriate traffic authority? What about parking for
private vehicles (including bicycles)? Do these services operate on a 24-hour basis or are
evening, weekend, and holiday services limited or different?
You need to be aware of how groups are going to reach the museum. A group that comes
by coach will want to fill that coach, which may mean a group of 50 or more. Minibus-size
groups of around fifteen also exist. Other arrangements often apply. Imagine 60 children
being ferried to the museum in private cars, three or four to a car. Is there parking space or
dropping-off space? How do you cope with a group of that size arriving in small clusters? If
you are some distance from a public transport drop-off point, what state will a group be in
by the time they have walked to the museum in the baking sun or freezing cold or pouring
rain?
Your museum research should extend to other museums in your area and what they
provide for their educational users, both generally and specifically. You are not going into
competition with them and should resist any such suggestion. Competition is destructive,
wasteful of resources, becomes the overriding motivation for what you do, and reduces edu-
38 Museum Educator’s Handbook

cational users to prizes in a game. It is far better to work in concert with others, even if only
informally. Pooling ideas and offering a ‘joint’ service is of benefit to everyone. To do that
you need to know what sort of museums they are, who uses them, what sort of education
services they offer, and who runs their educational programmes.
It goes without saying that you must become familiar with the content of the collec-
tions held by your museum. Even if you are a specialist in one particular area, you should
gain a working knowledge of what constitutes your resource and of the authorities who can
tell you more. Ultimately, this may entail long trawls through reserve collections. To begin
with, it is a matter of gaining an overall picture. Make sure you know how to handle arte-
facts properly and are aware of the principles of conservation and safe storage. You should
also become conversant with the way in which artefacts are catalogued as well as the systems
for retrieving that information. Take every opportunity provided to go on courses that deal
with these and other aspects of museum work. Cultivate other members of staff. This is far
easier if you work in a small museum where, as a matter of course, you may have to under-
take curatorial and other duties.
This last is not just a matter of knowing the content of your resource. It is also a matter
of showing an informed interest in the work of the museum and, if this is done with proper
respect for the resource, it helps you to gain the trust and respect of conservation and cura-
torial staff. If they trust and respect your knowledge of and commitment to the work they
are doing, they are more likely to include you at the decision-making level where it is impor-
tant that the voice of an education specialist is heard and noted.

The law
The law is a complex issue and may affect the work you do as a museum educator in many
ways. The museum itself should comply with all fire, health, and safety laws and regula-
tions that apply, but it is worth checking that these cover the special situations where large
parties are involved, especially if there are differences in the law in respect of groups of legal
minors.
Compliance is not just to do with adequate toilet and washing facilities, clearly marked
exit routes in case of fire or other emergencies, adequate ventilation and so on. It also
applies to the relationship between adults and minors. Many countries now require any
adult who works with children to be positively vetted in relation to past criminal activity.
Even if this is not required by statute, it may well be worth attempting to make this museum
policy in order to ensure the safety of children in your care. There may also be localized
legal requirements or prohibitions in respect of what is actually taught. This usually applies
only to the compulsory sector.
The complexity surrounding the subject should not be an excuse for sweeping it under
the carpet. If you are in doubt, seek advice, usually from the body held responsible for
administering and enforcing the law concerned. Other agencies may also be able to offer
advice, including your local and national museums associations, professional organizations,
and trade unions.
 Setting Up – Background Research 39

Research library
The gathering of all the above-mentioned information is a practical exercise that is intended
to provide a sound base from which to work. Most of the information will be remembered
in general terms, but details are not always easy to recall and may sometimes only be needed
on rare occasions. It is important, therefore, that any information that is gathered is collated
and comprehensively indexed as it is collected. Trying to index in retrospect can be horribly
time-consuming – one of those tasks you never seem able to complete.
This applies to all information you gather. Do not just file it. Learn from it and then
store it. Know where it is kept and devise systems for accessing it that are easy for all to
understand. Anyone taking over from you, for whatever reason, must be able to find what
information you have without any problem.
If finances allow, begin to build a library. Simple general works of reference such as a
dictionary and thesaurus, along with an encyclopaedia and copies of relevant material pro-
duced by the museum itself would make a good starting-point. You might also want to
include specialist reference material as it relates to the work you do (for example, a Latin
dictionary if Latin crops up a great deal). If a museum is large enough, it may have its own
central reference library, as well as specialist departmental libraries. If it does, locate them
and find out what they contain. You will also need to start gathering specialist material that
relates to education, museum education and so on – especially recent research material.
Persuade the museum to subscribe to journals and join museum education organiza-
tions, both local and national. Consider joining book clubs that offer remaindered texts.
They often have academic and other titles at reduced prices, some of which may be of rele-
vance to your work. If you bring in personal items (books and other relevant material),
make sure they are clearly identifiable as your personal property so that you can claim them
without any argument if you move to another post.
Read as widely as you can on all aspects of your work. Make use of whatever sources of
material you can, especially the library of your nearest teacher training college – using this
also as a means of making first contact with lecturers. Also, read as many relevant journals
as you can and try to keep up with all major developments in the fields of education and
museology. Keep a comprehensive index of what you read – this is especially important if
finances are limited and you cannot afford to build up your own library. If an article,
chapter, or book is of interest, make a note of the main points, the author, the title (and
volume if it is a journal), as well as precisely where the book or journal can be found.

Ancillary services
Finally, you should find out about the ancillary services that you will need to call on. These
are many and varied but certain basic ones can be determined straight away.
Of primary concern is the need to ascertain how the printed material you will undoubt-
edly wish to produce (posters, workbooks, information packs and the like) is to be handled.
Unless printed materials are produced in-house or specific contractors are used, you will
need to find out about printers. Printed materials must be of a high standard. Most museums
now have sufficiently powerful desktop computers on which to produce text and graphics
that are ready to be reproduced by a printer. You will need to become familiar with the
software packages in use within the museum.
40 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Suppliers of other materials such as paint, paper, glue and all the other consumables of
education work need to be found. You should also be conversant with the museum’s proce-
dure for ordering and paying for such material. These materials must be budgeted for and
you should find a reliable supplier at a reasonable price.
Specialist suppliers must also be found for the more unusual items you may wish to use,
for example quills, beeswax and parchment. In addition, you may need to find a producer
and supplier of replicas. If the museum has a shop, these items may already be on display. If
not, there is scope to work together on such purchases.
As well as materials, it will be worth seeking out people with specialist knowledge and
expertise relevant to your needs. These will be people who have a working knowledge of
historical craft techniques, clothing, husbandry, militaria, and so on. They will be helpful
for your demonstrations, working sessions, and for providing knowledge. They may also be
able to advise the museum in more general terms when exhibitions are being mounted.
There are also others who have unusual or specialized roles in society or who have adopted
some way of living that may prove a useful resource to you or to educational user groups.
Not only do such people provide a wealth of information about specific ways of life; they
also offer an insight into the non-material culture of those who created the artefacts on
display in your museum. Such people (monks of whatever religion, tribal medicine men,
authors, explorers, farmers, artists, actors and the like) are well worth approaching.
This may seem a great deal to assimilate before you embark on your job – but it is
extremely important. You should be allowed some time to settle in and become familiar
with your surroundings. Time, therefore, must be allotted to this initial research if you are
to develop as an effective professional and provide a good service. In some ways, this is
more important where you are inheriting an established service, as educational users will
have certain expectations that you will have to meet from the very start, even if you intend
changing things. Whatever the case, time spent laying careful foundations is essential to
creating sound and productive education programmes later on.
 5and
CHAPTER

Producing an Education Policy

Other Constitutional
Documents

Given that a museum has or wishes to offer an education service via the offices of a museum
educator, it is best if this is set out in an official, written education policy supported by a job
description and an action plan. Within the museum, these documents fulfil a number of
important roles. They:

• set out the aims and objectives of an education service;

• provide a context in which that service can operate and develop;
• provide a framework within which it is possible to identify specific tasks and pro-
grammes of work;
• allow an overview from which it is possible to assess the relative importance of projects
and set priorities;
• set guidelines that assist in decision making; and
• codify expectations, available resources and user groups, enabling accurate evaluation
to take place.

Quite aside from the perfectly valid in-house reasons for producing an education policy,
there are also compelling outward reasons. It may be the case, for example, that producing
and implementing an education policy is required by bodies that fund the museum. Increas-
ing demands for public accountability mean that the way money (especially tax revenue) is
allocated and spent is closely monitored. Other funding, especially grants and sponsorship,
is more likely to be allocated to a museum that can demonstrate it has administrative struc-
tures such as policies in place.
Policies, statements, and assessments also have an important role to play in demon-
strating to others (both within and without the museum) that you are a professional, that
what you do is based on sound and formally agreed principles. Educational user groups in
particular are looking for such evidence when deciding whether to make use of the
museum.
Much of the research suggested in the previous chapter will form the basis of what is
required and can be encapsulated in a policy and its appended statements. The jargon used
in such documents changes frequently, usually in accord with the latest trend. Avoid it
where possible (and always explain specialized terms in an appendix). Use plain language.
It makes the documents more accessible and cuts out ambiguity.

41
42 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Primary policy
Although a policy is extremely important for overall planning and guidance, it must be
endorsed by the managing body if it is to be truly effective. Once such documents are
accepted by the managing body of the museum, this sets an official seal of approval on the
idea of an education service. It also means that it is much more difficult for the service to
be interfered with or later disestablished.
The first step in any move to provide a policy for education is to ensure that education
is mentioned specifically in the general policy of the museum. If there is no mention, or the
mention is vague, then it is well worth lobbying to have a mention made or made more
specific. What is more, any statement on education should be so worded that education is
recognized as an essential and integral part of the museum.
The notion of integration is extremely important. Education policy should augment
the aims and objectives of the museum’s research programmes, collection management,
staff training, exhibition and conservation policies, design and fund-raising, as well as
working in its own right. Museum education must, therefore, be planned, developed, and
implemented in conjunction with the clearly defined aims and objectives contained in the
general policy of the museum. If it is not, then there is the danger that education pro-
grammes will conflict with other notions of what the museum is as well as the image it
presents to the world.
As we have noted, creating an education policy, by dint of the fact that it must augment
other areas of museum work, may force a review of the museum’s general policy – some-
thing that may not have been done for decades. This is not necessarily a bad thing. However,
it means that drawing up an education policy must be a cooperative venture, no matter how
strongly led by the museum educator. You must consult others and take heed of what they
say. The more they are involved in the creation of a policy document, the greater their sense
of ownership and willingness to be involved in its application.
Be prepared for a lengthy process, as some managements move exceedingly slowly.
They must be involved, although it is to be hoped that when it comes to largely or wholly
educational matters sufficient trust exists to allow you to hold sway. It is probably better to
canvas ideas, prepare a draft, work on it with senior museum staff, and then present it to
management for discussion and ratification.
Work on producing a policy may offer the ideal opportunity to cement the relation
between education and curatorial staff as well as everyone else in the museum. Discussion
at an early stage – so that everyone is clear about expectations – will help to obviate prob-
lems at a future stage. This is especially so if the policy sets up or recognizes a mechanism
through which disputes can be settled and problems resolved.
The constitutional power of a policy statement is substantial. Although it is vital to
have one in order to protect the position of education, it should never be looked upon or
devised as a weapon with which to hold management to ransom. Devised or used in that
way it will be turned against you. It should be carefully thought out and worded so that it
is well integrated into the general ethos of the museum, provides practical guidance, and
remains neutral in respect of individuals.
When the statement is being drawn up there should be a clear differentiation between
primary policy (an overall statement of principles – which should fit comfortably on a
single sheet of paper), secondary policy (an explication of these principles), and the action
plan (an outline of programmes that derive from policy).
 Producing an Education Policy 43

In essence these differences represent the distinction between aims (the general princi-
ples by which the education service is to be run, as well as the overall desired ends), objec-
tives (the more specific ways by which the aims are to be achieved) and priorities (the best
order in which to devise, research and put into action the programmes that will fulfil the
aims and objectives). The policy documents will need to be backed up by statements about
available resources, user groups, evaluation, liaison, and so on, as well as a job description
for each member of the education staff. These not only provide the basis for the final policy,
but also are the means by which the work of the education staff will be assessed.

DRAFTING PRIMARY POLICY – BACKGROUND

Whilst it is essential that the finished document is clear in its meaning, it is meant to be no
more than a set of guidelines. Make sure there is nothing that need not be there. For the
same reason, do not include anything too specific. Policy documents are not the place for
that.
Everything that goes into a policy document has long-term implications for the work of
the museum educator and the service they will be able to offer. It is important to be aware
of what those implications might be and how they will affect the work of the museum edu-
cator in years to come.
One of the more specific things that should be considered is finance. It is no good
having worthy aims if the money is not there to put them into practice. Education is a long-
term venture and cannot be planned without some notion of finance from year to year.
This needs to be settled at the outset. It is impossible for anyone to predict actual figures,
but it would be wise to negotiate a guaranteed percentage of the overall museum budget to
be allocated to education. That way, at least, the annual fight for money can be avoided.
Other financial matters will also need to be settled and set out in policy. Strenuous
efforts should be made to combat any notion by management that education departments
and staff should be self-financing. Not only does this display a complete lack of understand-
ing of the place of education in museums; it is also ethically dubious (education is a right,
not a privilege) and would set a dangerous precedent in which quantity becomes more
important than quality.
If this argument is raised, find out why and what other departments within the museum
have been asked to become self-financing. If it is replied that they are integral to the
museum, ask if that means that education is not. You must be very firm about this. This is
not to advocate conflict or hostility between yourself and management, but it does point to
a lack of understanding on their part that needs to be corrected.
It may be that in certain circumstances the work of museum education staff generates
an income that exceeds overall education costs. This is all well and good, but linking per-
formance and income generation is a dangerous move. If necessary do a cost analysis
explaining precisely what you would have to charge each student and teacher currently
making use of educational facilities if self-financing is to work. In most museums, it will be
a very high figure per person. Of course, you could point out that everyone who comes
through the door is making use of the educational aspect of the museum and you should
therefore get a proportion of any receipts from them, as well as those of a dedicated nature
(for example, from schools).
This does not preclude charging for your services unless to do so goes against the general
policy or charter of the museum. Many state-funded institutions are meant to provide serv-
44 Museum Educator’s Handbook

ices free of charge. It should be noted, however, that a free service could be taken for granted
and treated with less respect than it should, simply because it is free. Even a nominal charge
can make a difference. It may deter some (although it is always possible to come to special
arrangements with those who are financially disadvantaged), but most people respect the
notion that if a service is good it should be supported – especially if money gained through
charges is put directly back into that service.
Precisely what line you take on this depends on your particular circumstances, but it is
widely accepted that if charges are made they should be set at a level to cover no more than
material costs. If this is to be the case, then charges are dependent on budgetary concerns
and educational user group numbers, and a formula can be worked out for charging that
can then be included in the policy document.
One of the other main determinants of the work that can be done is the physical space
available. Firm commitments need to be obtained that certain areas will be set aside for
educational work. Make it clear that the ability to maintain certain programmes of work is
entirely dependent on the space available.
As space is important, so too is access to teaching material. In some cases, it will be
necessary to make do with artefacts on display in exhibitions. However, much more than
that will be needed for successful work. Guidelines and procedures will need to be negoti-
ated so that time is not taken up with discussion each time an artefact is needed for teach-
ing work. This may involve setting up a teaching collection (to which additions are made
on a regular basis) or it may involve other means by which items are coded as acceptable for
use. Access to teaching material should also include other museum staff who have experi-
ence and expertise in specific areas that can be tapped as an educational resource. Guide-
lines are also needed here to ensure that everyone is aware of the situation and that requests
for their help may be made.
As it is important, for reasons already mentioned, to ensure constant monitoring of the
effectiveness of museum education work, realistic procedures for ongoing assessment and
evaluation need to be identified that will allow for future changes based on hard evidence
rather than whim.
One of the difficulties that will have to be faced in drawing up an education policy and
integrating it into the overall policy of the museum is the matter of definitions. What are
the meanings of ‘education’, ‘museum education’, ‘museum educator’ and so on? This is
extremely important, not just as an exercise in ensuring that these terms are well-defined,
but also in ensuring that the definitions are understood and agreed by the museum man-
agement. It is no good, after all, writing an education policy if those who ratify it have a
completely different idea of what is meant by education to the person who actually puts the
policy into practice.

DRAFTING PRIMARY POLICY – DETAIL

To begin with, there should be a general statement that the museum recognizes it is an
educational resource of enormous wealth and that it will do all within its power to promote
its educational role.
It should be explicitly stated that both education policy and practice relate specifically
to and are in accord with the policy and practice of the museum as a whole. Furthermore,
it needs to be stated that the work of a museum educator or a museum education team is
done in association with other staff in the museum.
 Producing an Education Policy 45

There should be reference to the fact that, to work effectively, museum education staff
need to keep themselves as well informed as possible about subjects that relate to the collec-
tions and core work of the museum. This will vary enormously from museum to museum
depending on the nature of the collections held, although the basic tenets of collection care
are transferable.
In addition to this, staff need to keep themselves as well informed as possible about the
facts, theories, debates and developments in education and related subjects (both locally
and nationally) and make necessary adjustments to the education service offered in accord-
ance with them where that remains compatible with the policy and practice of the museum
education service.
Although day-to-day priorities change, it should be firmly established that sufficient
time is given over to research and preparation, liaison with other museum staff (especially
in the preparation of exhibitions) as well as liaison with other relevant individuals, groups
and organizations.
Then there is the core of museum education work. Staff must devise, research, and
produce educational materials. They must also put into practice educational programmes
that highlight and explore the collections and core work of the museum as well as suggest-
ing ways in which to complement work undertaken by students elsewhere. Although dis-
cussion of the different forms that educational provision can take follows in later chapters,
the detail of this depends very much on specific circumstances, the needs of user groups,
and the ingenuity of museum education staff.
Allied to this is the need to teach and otherwise work with students and teachers in
ways that make best use of museum education staff time, provide the most direct and appro-
priate forms of educational experience of the available resource, and which do not duplicate
(as far as is possible) work that can be done elsewhere. It needs to be made clear that not all
services and programmes should slavishly meet the needs of user groups. Museum educa-
tion should be innovative, taking the initiative as well as reacting to demand.
As well as direct teaching and other forms of education work, there are associated tasks that
fall in the area between education and marketing but which are none the less essential. Museum
education staff need to explain, disseminate information, actively promote their work, and
encourage use of the museum (formally and informally) to as wide an audience as possible.
Involvement with the museum as a whole is essential. Such involvement should also be
enshrined in policy so that it is recognized that museum education staff, in close associa-
tion with curatorial and other senior staff, are involved with all stages of the evolution of
any developments within or of the museum.
All this activity needs to be monitored and kept under review. Methods of record
keeping and assessment need to be devised, targets set, and work closely monitored to
ensure that it evolves in a positive way. This should include a full review of education policy
and practice on a regular cycle that is long enough to allow sensible levels of development
to occur and short enough to prevent any major problems developing. Three years is gener-
ally considered a good length, although constant review should alert museum education
staff to problems long before that.
Museums will usually have a general staffing policy that sets out terms of service, job
descriptions, the qualifications and experience required for the post, as well as training
opportunities and routes for advancement. This should include a statement to the effect
that any staff who will be working with children should undergo checks to ensure they are
safe to do so. In some countries this is a statutory requirement but, whether it is or not, it
46 Museum Educator’s Handbook

should be part of museum policy. If it is not, then the writing of an education policy for the
museum provides an excellent opportunity for its inclusion. This is a delicate subject and
may require legal advice where it is not already law. However, it is essential that such action
is taken. This is for the protection of children and displays a responsible attitude on the part
of the museum.
A sample primary education policy can be found in Appendix 1.

Job description
From a primary policy statement, it should then be possible to draw up a job description (if
one does not already exist). This is not an exercise in pedantry. It is important that the role
of the museum educator is clearly defined within the museum, although in smaller museums
all staff must contribute to keep the place running. Contractual obligations are well worth
defining, to avoid the possibility of conflict at some future date. Most museums will already
have a description of the job they wish to fill. This does not mean that it cannot be renego-
tiated if a sensible case for change can be made.
The purpose of a well-defined job description is twofold. Not only does it provide a set
of guidelines that delineate day-to-day duties and responsibilities; it also provides a clear
statement of the overall scope of the post. It should be made clear that a museum educator
is not the same as a museum teacher. As a museum educator, you are not there just to teach.
You must be allowed to develop a much wider role within the whole museum. This is not to
say that face-to-face teaching should be abandoned; it is after all the main reason why many
go into museum education. However, there is, as has already been stated, a much wider role
to be exercised.
It can be argued that there is no need for a written job description if a written policy
exists, as the job of a museum educator is to implement that policy. However, such an
approach is too vague and open to many problems. Besides, there may be duties required of
a museum educator that are not covered by an education policy – especially one who works
in a smaller museum. There may also be specific administrative duties that are not apparent
within the broad definition to be found in the policy. As an example of this, it may be nec-
essary for the museum educator to make a regular report on their activities to the museum
management. It is this finer detail that is to be found in the job description, a sample of
which is offered in Appendix 2.

Secondary policy
As well as a job description, the primary statement will require a more comprehensive
outline of the objectives derived from the policy, a list of the resources available to carry out
those objectives and a survey of the catchment area and educational user groups. This is the
secondary policy statement.
Drafting this statement is a useful exercise as it provides the opportunity to collate your
setting-up research in a form that will prove useful in several respects (not least in the area
of fund-raising). It also provides an essential tool in monitoring the progress of the educa-
tion service as it lists not only your objectives, but also the means at your disposal to bring
them about and the constituency with which you have to work. Such a document can
 Producing an Education Policy 47

afford to be more specific than the primary policy statement, but must remain sufficiently
flexible to cope with the exigencies of real life.
In drawing up such a document make sure it contains:

• a list of major objectives;

• details of staff available and possible future staffing needs;
• equipment available for education work;
• an outline of the forms of educational provision already available and those that might
be developed;
• details of actual and potential educational user groups;
• details of teaching resources that can be made available from the museum’s collection;
• current and proposed marketing strategies;
• proposed means of evaluation and what is to be evaluated;
• current sources of funding and possible future sources;
• an assessment of training needs and how they might be fulfilled;
• areas of liaison.

The main objectives you wish to achieve need not be too specific, and can be used in some
cases to qualify the main aims set out in the policy statement. They also rely to a great
degree on the status of the education service. If it is a new service, then you will be setting
out to achieve these objectives, rather than assessing what is already done and setting out
what you want to improve, add and see fade away.
This should be followed by a statement of staffing available for educational activities
(including volunteers and those available from other areas of the museum who could be
tapped for their expertise for lectures and demonstrations), as well as a copy of any relevant
job descriptions. Mention whether or not and at what stage it would become necessary to
consider taking on extra paid education staff.
When it comes to recording what space is available, this is not simply to do with floor
space. Everything that is available should be included, as well as information about to what
extent it is shared space (and with whom it is shared). Time restrictions placed on a given
space should also be noted. An assessment of future possible needs and identification of
areas that might meet those needs should be included where appropriate.
When listing what equipment is available for use, group this into capital equipment and
day-to-day consumables. If any of the equipment available is in a common stock and thus to be
shared, this should be made clear, along with an assessment of how much opportunity actually
exists for access. For example, the museum may have a camera but it is no use for education if it
is in use all the time for cataloguing. It is also worth assessing how old equipment is, how reli-
able it is, and how compatible it is with other equipment of a similar nature.
Educational provision should be grouped to differentiate between programmes and
services currently in use, those that could be instituted in the near future, longer-term pros-
pects, and priorities for future developments. As well as simply listing forms of provision,
make it clear what specific forms these take and by whom they are currently used. Future
markets should also be indicated.
Details of educational user groups should list the different categories already using the
museum (if any) along the lines to be discussed in Chapter 6. It would also be helpful if
numbers are supplied, with an indication of how these are spread out over a year, how each
group relates to the others as a proportion of the whole, and how much museum staff time
48 Museum Educator’s Handbook

is required for each group. In addition, areas for future development and their relative prior-
ity should be included.
Teaching resources are all those parts of the museum’s collection of artefacts and docu-
mentation, research material, books, videos, slides, computer hardware and software and
the like that can be used by the museum educator for teaching work of one form or another.
These resources can be grouped together in a number of different ways. Details of each
group should be given, along with an assessment of those groups that need to be strength-
ened.
Effective marketing is a highly refined art. Current strategies should be outlined, along
with an assessment (if possible) of their effectiveness. Other avenues to be tried should also
be mentioned. An outline of approaches can be found in Chapter 7.
The forms of evaluation (both informal and formal) that are currently in use should
also be included, together with details of what is being evaluated and why. This should
indicate precisely for whom the evaluation is being done (and in what forms) as well as what
steps are in place to ensure that information derived is put to good use.
Statements on the source of funding help to clarify what is dedicated to education and
what may have to be negotiated for on a regular basis. This should include:

• the source of museum education staff salaries, to what degree they are secure and who
has ultimate control over continuity;
• the source of day-to-day running costs (whether these come from a general fund for
which constant permission has to be sought or whether there is a specific education
budget managed by the museum educator);
• whether grants and sponsorship form part of the normal running costs and who is
responsible for raising this money;
• whether charges can or should be made for any of the educational services.

Training falls into two categories. The first is that provided by the museum educator for
other people. This includes museum staff and may range from basic introductions to the
education work offered by the museum and updates to keep staff fully informed, to training
sessions run in association with the managing body and outside professional organizations
to improve the qualifications and professional standards of the museum as a whole. This, if
expertise is available, can extend to other museums. Training may also be provided for
teachers in the use of museums, school students on general work experience placements,
older students undertaking museum studies, and so on. The second category is training that
museum educators should be able to undergo on their own account. An indication of how
much time and funding is available should be given, along with changes to salary scale if
recognized professional qualifications are achieved.
Finally, there should be an outline of the different networks (informal and formal)
available to the museum educator in order to liaise with other professionals. This should
include those that exist internally (staff structures, lines of formal communication and
complaints and disciplinary procedures), as well as those that exist outwith the museum to
enable the free gathering of relevant information and ideas. A sample secondary education
policy document can be found in Appendix 3.
It is probably apparent by this stage that in producing a policy it is far easier to compile
the secondary policy statement first (as it is, in essence, a summary of the preliminary
research suggested in Chapter 4) and, from that, derive the primary policy statement.
 Producing an Education Policy 49

Action plan
Having established primary and secondary policy documents, along with a job description,
you should draw up an action plan that prioritizes what actions you will take to implement
your policy. The content will depend entirely on a combination of what services you can
offer your target user groups and the resources that are available to you. These things take
time and you must be able to work from the security of an open framework grounded in
accepted policy. Get your list properly ordered, but do not tie yourself to anything more
than a general timetable. Priorities are more important than deadlines. Quality is more
important than quantity.
Be prepared to rewrite as you go along, constantly assessing what you are doing and
why. An action plan is intended as a working guideline only and should not be regarded as
ineluctable. Although the first year of development is mostly fixed by the specific need to
establish the scope and nature of the museum resource, basic working and administrative
practices, and a formal education policy along with some basic levels of educational provi-
sion, the order and nature of the suggested developments in the years ahead can be fixed
less easily. This may seem far in the future, but you will be working to timescales set by
others whilst you also have to deal with day-to-day demands.
Where a given project is mentioned, its development should be seen as long-term. Each
project has to go through several stages, including research, development and consultation
before it can be put into effective practice. Once launched, it should be reviewed and
updated at regular intervals, as well as being further developed to greater levels of sophisti-
cation. It is also important that all relevant members of staff are consulted about and kept
informed of developments as they take place.
Proposed developments will have to run concurrently with the normal day-to-day edu-
cational use of a museum and the concomitant day-to-day administration. In addition, of
course, you cannot rule out any developments that arise in fulfilment of needs identified by
user groups of the resource.
The education service (whatever its form) must be allowed to develop in such a way as
to concentrate primarily on providing a quality service, even if that means relatively low
user numbers in the first few years. A quality service (which, among other things, means
value for money), when well established, will attract an increasing number of users. If you
aim for quantity first, you will be unable to provide the quality that will ensure that educa-
tional users will wish to make continued use of the service in the future.
Important as it is to produce a policy and other constitutional documents, this aspect
should not become dominant; otherwise, it becomes an exercise in bureaucracy. Nor should
it be restrictive. What you want is a solid foundation on which to base your efforts, but one
that allows for change in circumstances so that you can alter the emphasis of your work,
expand into new areas, and wind down other activities as necessary. As with any good foun-
dation, care in its production is vital, and once you have built upon it, you do not want to
be altering it all the time.
Producing a formal education policy does not guarantee that it will be translated into
practical action, although that is the intention. However, it does yield a tangible plan of
action that will give a better chance for education to be provided on more than an ad hoc
basis. Moreover, once it has been accepted by the management body of the museum, it is
incumbent upon them to make sure the resources are available for you to put it into prac-
tice. Having fought for it, you must use it.
This page intentionally left blank
 6User Groups
CHAPTER

Most people assume that a museum education service exists for the single purpose of dealing
with children. It is a perception that every museum educator will encounter and which they
will have to work hard to dispel. Whilst it is true that the bulk of the work of an education
service will be with children of school age, museums contribute to every stage of educa-
tional development and support lifelong learning. There are, therefore, a large number of
other educational groups that can and do make use of museum education services.
These groups come in all sizes, ages, and abilities. Each has their own dynamic and
their own agenda. Some groups are from the formal education sector, others will be non-
formal groupings, and still more will be informal. Each will be used to working in a par-
ticular way and will adapt to the museum environment with varying degrees of success and
enthusiasm.
The way in which students learn varies according to age and previous experience. Chil-
dren, in particular, have apparently random ways of approaching museums, which are, in
fact, full of purpose. Adults want to learn, and enjoy doing so, but prefer to have a greater
degree of control over their learning experience than would be afforded younger students.
You, as museum educator, must consider all this, even if user group teachers do not.
The chances of coping with these different groupings using a single approach are zero.
The differences between them are too extreme – differences of kind rather than differences
of degree. That is why it is far more productive to encourage the teachers to teach them,
once you have equipped them with the necessary skills.
Whoever they are and whatever reason they might have for visiting, it is important to
remember that any form of categorization of educational user groups is for convenience
only. Each group will be different, even the same group visiting on different occasions will
be possessed of a different dynamic. In whatever way you categorize a group, it should only
be in order to provide yourself with a basic set of facts from which to work. Information
about specific groups comes from talking with their teachers and from your own experi-
ence. Indeed, one of the great skills to be learned by any museum educator is how to ‘read’
a group and, within a few minutes of first encountering them, have a good general idea of
their temperament.

Children up to five years old

Children up to the age of five will enter the museum for a variety of reasons, but they will
not visit as often as one would like. In general, however, they come with organized play or
nursery groups or they come with their parents. Neither group will normally appreciate the
full value of visits for such young children, and that is because museums are not geared, on
the whole, for such young minds. There are, however, good reasons for encouraging young-

51
52 Museum Educator’s Handbook

sters into the museum environment, where they have the opportunity to become familiar
with museums as part of their everyday life and encounter interesting objects, respond to
such objects and generally enjoy themselves. It is also worth remembering that most leaders
of organized pre-school groups would not normally consider museums as places worth visit-
ing.
Children of this age are full of wonder, and for them all things are possible. The envi-
ronment of the museum may be somewhat awe-inspiring, but that is no bad thing as long
as they feel welcome and secure at all stages. Never assume that they can get nothing from
a visit to a museum or that they are not to be taken seriously. Observers of children at this
age will know just how insatiably inquisitive they can be. Nor should it be assumed that
childish inquisitiveness is easily dealt with. Young children ponder on the deepest of philo-
sophical questions, ones that have outwitted the profoundest of thinkers. They also notice
a great deal that we miss. Moreover, they have an almost frightening ability to ask questions
about the world around them that we have learned to accept as ‘just one of those things’.
Family groups can be offered playtime sessions in which the children (accompanied at
all times and not just dumped while parents go shopping) are given the chance to explore
objects and ideas at their level. Story sessions using artefacts also work well. There is an
opportunity here to work in conjunction with other agencies that offer support and train-
ing to parents. This should be kept separate from organized events for playgroups and the
like, but arranged in conjunction with providers of playgroups. They will know what sort of
activities are suitable for children of this age and you can then offer what you have that fits
their requirements.
This is one of the few times when it is better to try to keep the environment of the
museum as similar as possible to the home environment of the playgroup. Activities, too,
should be of the sort with which the children are familiar. It is far better to keep to a pattern
with which the children are acquainted. Be guided in this by their teaching staff. Working
with young children can also be messy, so you need special areas where they can get sticky
to their hearts’ content.
It is not possible with children of such a young age to introduce the more rarefied
aspects of artefacts or concepts such as continuity, progress and the like (although you have
to start somewhere and handling old things can help), but it does give them a chance to
handle objects. When they first begin, it might be useful to choose themes that relate to
their everyday experience and work with artefacts that are familiar to them in form if not
in detail. If your museum only has a specialist collection that has little to commend itself
to the very young it may still be possible to arrange sessions for groups even if it is only to
get the children used to the idea of going into museums.
Do not short-change the children just because they are young. We learn more in our
first five years than during the rest of our lives. All the basic patterns of behaviour and all
the really difficult stuff (learning language, for example) happens in that time; hence the
need to get young children into museums and introduce them to material culture. Find
their level and expand it. You will be surprised at how long they can work at a particular
task, even if their patterns of concentration are not constant. They can return to ideas and
discussion a number of times over a lengthy period.
Never try to teach facts beyond the basic. Children of this age have plenty of time to do
that later on. Although the world is largely concrete to them, their emotional development
goes on apace and they are more likely to respond to things on an emotional level. Nor is
 User Groups 53

the aim of their visit just to handle objects and see the working of a museum. There are a
number of other objectives to which you can aspire, including helping the children to:

• mix with others in unusual surroundings and circumstances;

• learn appropriate behaviours for museums;
• develop listening and cognitive skills;
• expand their vocabulary; and
• develop their ability to discriminate between objects that occur naturally and those that
are made by people.

Make sure they have some art- or craftwork to take away with them, as this will help to keep
the visit alive in their minds and give them something to use as follow-up in the playgroup
or nursery or when talking with their parents.

Five- to sixteen-year-olds in state-funded education

In educational terms, this is a vast age range. It is considered a single grouping by virtue of
the fact that students in schools provided by the state will be following a reasonably well
defined curriculum that is delivered in ways that are well known and which vary little from
school to school. This background, coupled with the organizational set-up, makes this a
coherent group.
It is relatively easy to make contact and develop working relationships with teachers. It
is also relatively easy for the museum educator to develop programmes of work and make
artefacts and collections available in such a way that many schools can use them on a
regular basis. This means that courses can be run for teachers in the use of museums, max-
imizing the use of the museum educator’s time. This is particularly useful because this
group is normally the largest.
At the younger end of this age range students will be starting their formal education
and learning the basic skills they require for later work. This usually includes familiariza-
tion visits to various parts of their local communities. As they go through their first years
of education they are invariably introduced to libraries – their personnel, how they work,
and how to find and borrow books. Most libraries cater well for this. Many commercial
enterprises such as supermarkets and department stores also provide familiarization and
behind-the-scenes visits. Museums should offer the same service with short sessions in
which students progress from the play sessions of pre-school activities to learning more
about museums – what they are, how they work, who works in them and the jobs they do,
and how and when they can visit. Such programmes are essential for the success of a long-
term approach to encouraging wider educational and social use of museums.
Once students have progressed through this stage, they are ready to tackle in-depth
work with material culture, augmenting text-based classroom study. It is now possible to
begin introducing the skills that enable objects to be read as fluently as text. Students can
then begin to study for themselves (rather than absorb a received wisdom) and devise means
of investigating and constructing their own programmes of study.
By the time students are between nine and thirteen, they are in the group that is
brought most frequently to museums. If they are used to it, and have acquired the basic
skills of working with material culture, they will be able to make in-depth studies based on
54 Museum Educator’s Handbook

a series of visits. Even if they lack the basic skills, it is reasonably easy to devise programmes
of work that introduce such skills at the same time as they are working toward fulfilling the
specific objectives of a visit.
Although it depends on the structure of the education system, nine-, ten- and eleven-
year-old students are likely to be involved in cross-curricular project-based studies. Older
students will have begun to specialize and museum visits generally (though not exclusively)
become the preserve of history classes.
This is one of the challenges that you will have to face. Artefacts are inherently cross-
curricular in their nature and can be studied from a number of different viewpoints. The
tendency to do cross-curricular work with younger children stems from a project-based
approach that goes in and out of favour depending on prevailing political and educational
ideologies. However, it will always be a feature of work with younger children and allows
plenty of scope within museum-based work, not only for different forms of investigation
but also for the directions that can be taken from the starting-point of a single object or
collection.
As specialism takes over, this type of work becomes more difficult, and artefacts and
collections have to be used in a different way that is subordinate to the subject under study.
That is, they move from being a focus and stimulus to being illustrative. There is nothing
wrong with either approach; nor is one better than the other. What is important is that
students have many opportunities to experience both ways of working, regardless of their
age.
Another challenge is to ensure that as students get older and begin to concentrate on
gaining qualifications, they continue to use the museum as frequently as they did at an
earlier age. Forms of use may differ yet again, as students grow older. When they are first
introduced to the museum environment, everything will be very much teacher-led. As they
become more experienced at working with material culture, they become able to instigate
their own programmes of work as well as use the museum as a form of reference, much as
they would books in a library. Confidence building, familiarity, and the provision of
working skills will all help to ensure that, as students progress through the system, using
the museum is a natural option.
Finally, and most difficult of all, is engaging the interest of specialist teachers who
would not normally consider visiting a museum with students as a natural part of their
work. There is, for example, a great deal of opportunity here for encouraging the study of
mathematics and science as well as design and technology, language and literature, quite
aside from the normal applications of history, social studies, and the arts. Chapter 13
explores this in detail.
The ideal that you should work towards is that students become as familiar and comfort-
able with museums as they are with text-based learning in the school environment and the
library. In reality, to begin with at least, most students will not have the necessary background
to carry out independent study based on material culture, so that the museum educator will
be more involved with direct teaching. As time goes by, however, this should ease.

Five- to sixteen-year-olds in privately funded education

Although much of the above applies to this group as well, there are certain additional con-
siderations that need to be taken into account. To begin with, students within this group
 User Groups 55

will not necessarily be following the same curriculum as equivalent students in the state-
funded sector. Nor will privately funded schools have the same degree of administrative
back-up and support that you can tap into to get an understanding of what might be required
of the museum. Most, however, do belong to organizations that offer equivalent services.
This situation is further complicated by the fact that some privately run schools follow
specific educational philosophies that lie outside the mainstream. Some of these are secular
and some are religious. All have specific ways of working and specific approaches to certain
subjects. These include Steiner and Montessori schools, Christian schools of various denom-
inations, Muslim schools, Jewish schools, Free schools, Small schools, and so on. You must
be sensitive to the ideologies that are being put into educational practice. And to do that
you must know something about those ideologies and respond appropriately. This is not the
same as acquiescence.

Five- to sixteen-year-olds formally educated at home

A growing number of people are choosing to educate their children at home. There are
many reasons for this. For some it is a commitment to a particular lifestyle, believing they
can best educate their children in a way in keeping with their own general metaphysical
stance. Others believe they can simply do it better than the state system. There may also be
specific reasons of an ideological nature – be they political, philosophical, or religious. For
others, there is little choice involved. People who move about a great deal (for whatever
reason) may educate their own children, as it is the only practical way to ensure a decent
and continuous education. Other children have tried the state system and been withdrawn
because they cannot cope. Bullying, health problems, learning problems, behavioural prob-
lems... all these and more have prompted parents to become home educators.
Methods of working are equally varied. Whilst some home educators organize their
children’s education along similar lines to a school (with a timetable, pre-set curriculum,
and so on), many do not. Children are more often than not encouraged to pursue fully areas
of study that are of current interest to them. Moreover, the student-teacher relationship and
thus the whole educational dynamic is markedly different from that found in schools, even
small private schools that offer unconventional modes of education.
It is clear, then, that working with children being educated at home throws up a number
of interesting challenges not found with other groups and individuals of a comparable age.
To begin with, such students do not normally arrive in class-sized groups. Where groups are
organized by local associations of home educators, the students are unlikely to be following
the same topics of study or even to be following similar curricula (unless studying for exter-
nal examinations). The age range within a group will also vary enormously. There may be
babies and toddlers in attendance, not to mention the larger number of adults than is
usual.
The different reasons for home education taking place coupled with the variety of
approaches and the different educational dynamic mean that you cannot make a general
assessment of academic ability based on a student’s age. This is compounded by the fact that
some students may now be educated at home after having worked in a school environment.
Children educated at home are also likely to be less formal and regimented and more
inclined to pursue their own lines of enquiry rather than those demanded by a curriculum
or a museum educator.
56 Museum Educator’s Handbook

All this has to be kept in mind if you wish to attract this important group of students
to the museum. However, you cannot hope to cater for them properly without a great deal
of liaison and adaptation. To begin with, though, you must start with what you have. Make
it clear through whatever means is available to you, as well as by contacting home educator
associations, that you are happy to offer sessions for students in this user group. Start with
introductory sessions so that you can get to know the various members of this group and
the different approaches that will be required. These sessions also give them the chance to
get to know you and what you can offer. Once this initial ground is broken, you can start to
develop programmes and services that will best suit the particular needs of this user
group.
One of the keys to success, as elsewhere, is to teach the teachers how to make full use of
the museum and its services. This will not be as easy as these teachers are parents and
cannot easily release themselves from their responsibilities for training sessions. Working
with and through home educator associations is vital. They may be able to make the neces-
sary arrangements that release parents for training and familiarization.
Although the process will take time, you will eventually be able to add sessions to your
repertoire that suit home educators’ direct needs (those students who are studying) along
with their indirect needs (babies, toddlers, other family members, differing pressures of
time, and so on). What is more, it will provide you with the opportunity to innovate,
dealing with subjects and using approaches that would not otherwise normally occur in the
work you do. Not only does this prevent you from becoming stale, but it also allows you to
assess your more conventional endeavours from a new perspective and enhance what you
do in all your fields of work.

Five- to sixteen-year-olds in non-formal groups

A non-formal group can be defined as an organized group that has educational aims, but
which is not a school. This includes groups such as Scouts, Guides, Woodcraft Folk, Sunday
School groups, holiday clubs, museum clubs, Young Archaeologists and so on.
Catering for non-formal groups presents a completely new set of challenges for the
museum educator. To begin with, it is possible that the individuals within the groups will
have visited the museum with the formal institute of education that they attend. It is, there-
fore, not good enough simply to use work that would be used with formal groups. In the
second instance, as a non-formal grouping, they will not be following a normal curriculum.
They may be following an educational programme but it will be related to an end specific
to the group and it will not be compulsory in the sense that ordinary schooling is. What is
more, the dynamic of the group, in most cases, will be far more relaxed.
Groups of this nature, though requiring input from the museum educator, need to be
treated differently from formal groupings. Materials should be provided and work should be
done, but overall the students in this situation should be treated much more as an adult
group. Part of the joy of going into a museum with such a group is the feeling of entering
an adult world and being allowed to do so on equal terms. This is especially so with groups
that have strong natural links with the museum, such as archaeological groups, natural
history clubs, museum clubs and the like.
 User Groups 57

Five- to sixteen-year-olds in informal family groups

Family groups usually follow agendas in which social interaction is a key element. There is
rarely any specific purpose to these visits. They certainly are not intended to follow a pro-
gramme of learning. They are also rarely planned more than a few days in advance, reflect-
ing nothing more than an impulse to visit the museum. What is more, such groups will
most probably wish to have a largely unstructured experience. That does not mean, however,
that they would not appreciate the chance to participate in activities that can be done on a
family basis. Sadly, however, this tends to be the group most neglected when it comes to
catering for visitors to museums. It is a surprising and lamentable oversight, as many surveys
over the years have shown that family groups comprise the largest single element of visitors
to museums, consistently around two-thirds of all visitors.
The emphasis here is on the idea of family. This does not mean catering for the children
while the adults do something else, or simply providing things for the children to do and
for the parents to help. What is important is to provide an environment as well as events
and packages in which family units can participate as such. This approach caters not only
for present-day needs, but also for the future. Surveys show that nearly two-thirds of adults
who visit museums do so because they visited as children with their families. Less than 5
per cent claim that school visits led them directly to continue the habit.
Museums that simply display objects are going to be a turn-off. Museums that offer
effective communication of ideas, even if they are based on objects, are more likely to
attract. If that communication is especially designed with families in mind, then all the
better. As they are the mainstay of visitor numbers, it would seem sensible for the whole
museum to be designed to cater for the family. This is especially important as family involve-
ment is voluntary and any learning involved is informal. They do not have to come and
they are not looking to have a structured learning experience when they do. At the same
time they come because the visit is seen as educational and a place where the family can be
together and learn together.
Of course, it is all too easy to fall into the stereotypical view of the family. Before trying
to provide for them, you must look very carefully at present-day trends, especially as they
relate to your local community. What is more, it is not just family composition that has
changed. The roles of family members have also undergone a change, as have their expecta-
tions of what a day out together should be like.

Sixteen- to nineteen-year-olds in Further Education

A large number of students need to extend their formal education in order to reach certain
basic levels of understanding or qualification. There are three main groups here, each of
which needs to be catered for in different ways.
To begin with, there is the group containing students of average intelligence who are,
for whatever reason, intent on broadening the attainments they made at school. This may
well reflect a change of heart about their career and the need to gain the required qualifica-
tions. It may be that examination results were poorer than expected and subjects have to be
taken again. On the other hand, perhaps someone is undecided about what they want to do
but acknowledges the need for a wider base from which to launch themselves.
58 Museum Educator’s Handbook

This first group will be covering much the same sort of ground as the top-end students
in the formal education grouping already discussed. However, they are older, generally more
mature, and they are now in a situation that has a slightly more relaxed dynamic. All these
things have to be considered when working with such a group.
The second group consists of what one might call late developers – students for whom
education only begins to make sense once they are a bit older. The challenge here is to
provide a content that is suitable for the older student but which is presented in a way that
acknowledges their particular educational level. This is not just a matter of taking material
normally used with adults and presenting it with methods used for children. That would be
laziness on your part and an insult to the students. Consult closely with their teachers to
find the correct levels.
The third group consists of those students who have special educational needs. These
may derive from a number of physical, social, or mental causes. With this group of students,
it is usually social skills that will be the main part of their education. Often it has been the
lack of developed social skills that has prevented their education from advancing at the rate
of other students. Indeed, the content of the museum, in some cases, may be incidental to
the aims of any visit made by such a group (although never irrelevant, as social skills cannot
be learned without a social context). Visiting a museum is a social skill – a museum that is
aware of this and that can offer differing opportunities and environments for such visitors,
as well as something of relevance to interest and educate them while they are there, will be
attractive to their teachers.

Sixteen- to nineteen-year-olds in Higher Education

This group comprises those who have successfully completed their education to age sixteen
and are now studying for advanced and slightly more specialized qualifications. These may
be as a prelude for entry into college or university, or may simply be required for the sort of
work students are seeking. There may also be students on day release from work, studying
specific work-related subjects.
It is rare that the teacher of such students, visiting as a group, will ask for the assistance
of a museum educator. In many cases, this is quite reasonable. They will be coming to look
at specific things (often a temporary exhibition will attract the attention of a teacher) for
very specific reasons and the teacher may feel there is no need for further input. However,
there is plenty of scope to elaborate on such work and to involve teachers much more
actively in using museums to assist with their programmes of study.
Most of the contact with students in this category is likely to be orientation within the
museum and assisting individuals with project work. Whilst this has traditionally been
confined to the occasional archaeology student, there is plenty of scope for students of
technology and design, tourism, history, art and so on.
Such students will have no problems with or qualms about using a library and are, in
the main, very sensible and trustworthy. There is no reason why they should not also be
making use of the research resources in a museum, once they have been inducted in their
use and a means is established to keep a record of these students.
 User Groups 59

College and university students

Undergraduate and postgraduate students as well as those studying for various certificates
and diplomas are likely to be attracted to museums as groups and as individuals. This will
depend largely on the subjects they are studying and the interest of their lecturers, but
enormous scope exists. However, at this level of education you may encounter the problem
of academic acceptance. That is, some lecturers believe, quite unjustifiably, that a museum
educator does not have sufficient academic qualifications to work with undergraduates, let
alone postgraduates.
Do not be intimidated by this. Perhaps there are staff in the museum who know more
about a given subject than you do, and it will be your task to persuade them to spend time
with the students. However, you will invariably come to know more about the educational
use and the content of your museum than anyone else.
As well as straightforward fields of study that may bring students into the museum,
there are a number of other areas that may be worth investigating and instigating. Students
working at an advanced level may well have skills and ideas to contribute that would
improve the museum and its resource at the same time as benefiting their education. It may
be part of their coursework to do practical projects. For example, students who are working
on computer-generated graphics might be encouraged to produce animated images of arte-
facts or of the processes used to produce those artefacts. Students studying design might use
the museum itself as a design problem and be asked to consider ways in which the internal
design of the building or of individual collections might be altered and improved. Students
studying jewellery or pottery or some other craft-based subject might be persuaded to study
ancient methods of their craft and produce replicas that the museum can then use for
teaching. Students doing media studies may be able to produce a promotional video. Lan-
guage students could undertake the translation of museum leaflets into other languages.
The opportunities are enormous.

Students taking Initial Teacher Training

This is a key target group. Not every museum will have a teacher training facility within
working proximity, but those that do must begin to create links with it as a matter of
urgency. One of the main reasons why many teachers do not use museums in their teaching
is that they lack the skills and confidence to do so. The best time to teach them these skills
is while they are doing their initial training. The best person to teach them these skills is a
museum educator.
It is extremely important that teachers are trained in the use of museums. Not only
does it mean that museums are then used more productively; it also means they are used
more frequently. In addition, it broadens the scope of a teacher’s work, as they have an extra
(and extremely rich) resource they can exploit.
Practising teachers can be taught these skills (see the next section), but it is much easier
to do this when they are students, and immersed in the whole culture of learning about
their profession. In that situation, they can more easily assimilate what they learn and inte-
grate it with other aspects of their work. They also come to regard museum work as a natural
part of teaching.
60 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Important as this approach is, it will take time to get teacher training institutes to
accept it as a permanent part of their curriculum. You will inevitably start work with those
lecturers who are sympathetic to your cause. They can then help to lobby for a more com-
prehensive approach. Indeed, pilot schemes with smaller groups of students may well
provide sufficient evidence of success to persuade the relevant authorities of a more wide-
scale approach. It is also easier from your point of view, as there is time to explore the pos-
sibilities, evaluate what has been done, and develop packages of work that best suit the
needs of students and the demands of their lecturers.

Practising teachers taking in-service training

This is also a key target group. Many teachers seek to improve their skills throughout their
careers. Not only is time usually allocated by their employing authorities, but also many
teachers are willing to give up their own time to follow courses of work that will enhance
their teaching abilities and their understanding of education.
Whatever the case, time is of the essence. Any courses you offer must be concentrated
and worth the time given up by the teachers. Arrangements can be made with individual
schools so that any training days they have are based in the museum. Twilight sessions and
weekend sessions can also be used. Moreover, there are the long vacations to consider.
The range of courses can vary enormously. Many different one-off sessions can be
devised that will allow teachers to become familiar with the museum, its collections, and
the services it offers. Specific items and ideas can be explored in connection with the cur-
riculum.
Longer-term programmes of work may be more attractive if they lead to specific goals.
Even if these are simple certificates issued by the museum and endorsed by curatorial staff,
they are of value to teachers. These programmes might offer the opportunity to learn more
about the workings of the museum and the special skills required to use museums in teach-
ing. They can include sessions on using research resources, how to handle artefacts and so
on. All this not only enhances the ability of teachers to use the museum as an effective
resource, but it also reduces the chances of mishaps and mishandling destroying the
resource.
Indeed, if a museum is particularly popular, it may be necessary to ration time and
access. This is best done by running programmes that lead to certificates of competence,
priority for educational use then being given to teachers who have successfully completed a
training course. You will eventually reach saturation point again, but it will be at a higher
level, as the need for concentrated input from the museum educator is lessened.

Adult education
Adult education can be considered in three distinct ways. The first way is tapping into estab-
lished adult education programmes and working in concert with those groups and their
tutors. This can mean a great deal of work in establishing contacts but it is generally fruitful
once set up. One of the drawbacks is that many adult education classes take place in the
evening and it may be necessary to consider ways of allowing access to the museum at times
when it is normally closed to the public.
 User Groups 61

The second way is establishing adult education in your own right, offering lectures and
courses. This can be a simple, museum-led lecture programme given by staff members on
their work, on the collections, and on other areas of expertise. Guest speakers can be brought
in. However, it can go further than that, with seminars and workshops based around the
collections. There is as much scope here as there is for younger students – adults enjoy the
sort of activities on offer to schoolchildren and there is no reason why similar things should
not be mounted for them, giving those who run the workshops the bonus of working with
adults as well as children. This is in addition to the family sessions that may also be run.
The third way is to cater for individuals who are seriously interested (for whatever
reason and of whatever age or ability) in your collections. They may be researching family
history, local history, or have an interest in specific items within the collections held by the
museum. There are as many interests as people, and some of the people can be quite young
(and therefore not strictly adults). Catering for individuals must be done on an ad hoc basis,
but an administrative framework for you and sets of ground rules for students (perhaps even
a signed contract) can be put in place to avoid the situation becoming anarchic.
It may be possible to set aside a room for students to work in. It is, however, a sad fact
that there are unscrupulous persons who think nothing of stealing or damaging material to
which they are given privileged access. Supervision is one answer but is expensive unless
there are staff members permanently researching projects who can be on hand to keep an
eye on things. Otherwise, it may be necessary to ask for references and keep records of who
uses your facilities.

Remote researchers
A relatively new, but fast-growing group of users is comprised of those who utilize the Inter-
net to conduct their researches. This group has an extremely wide age and ability range
with an equally broad spread of interests and commitment. Its members may live next door
to the museum or on the other side of the world. Those that live within the catchment area
of the museum are likely to be members of other user groups as well. The only thing they
really have in common is access to a computer and a desire to make use of any resource the
museum has made available via the Internet.
Even the specific demands made on the museum will vary. Many people simply want
to know basic details of what is on display, opening times, admission charges, other facili-
ties, and so on. Likewise, teachers will be interested in finding out about educational serv-
ices. In that respect, such users will be looking for the electronic equivalent of an information
leaflet. Other remote researchers will be looking for access to documentary and graphic
material held in the museum’s archive.
This has presented museums with an enormous challenge in recent years, especially
smaller and poorly funded institutions. Setting up a website containing basic information
about the museum is one thing. Making material from the collection available in quality
digital form is time-consuming and expensive. Digitizing fragile and light-sensitive mate-
rial, as well as objects of unusual size and shape, requires care and professional expertise.
The same is also true of presenting this material in a way that is clear and easy to access.
Any educational input into serving remote researchers will need to address two distinct
needs. The first is for information about educational services. This can be kept up to date on
a regular basis and, if properly managed, will help to relieve some of the pressures of the
62 Museum Educator’s Handbook

museum educator’s work. If, for example, you have a loan service, it is possible to set up a
system whereby the catalogue is available in a downloadable form and in which it is possi-
ble to see whether items are available or currently on loan.
The second need that can be met is for material pertinent to students’ needs. This can
include information packs for students and teachers as well as direct access to digitized ver-
sions of source material. Students can be guided to specific material or areas with the use of
introductory pages that relate to specific topics or projects that you have discussed with
teachers. This has the added bonus of making such material widely and constantly available
without ever putting the originals at risk.
The important thing, however, with both aspects mentioned above is to avoid making
online access a substitute for direct contact – with students and teachers. You should be
available to discuss bookings, as there will always be issues arising that are not covered by
any information you have published. Students may also have enquiries that are best dealt
with directly. Nor should online access be allowed to become a replacement for visits to the
museum by those who live within the catchment area. Looking at a computer screen and
pressing keys cannot provide any of the important lessons that can be learned and experi-
ences that can be gained by exploring the museum and by being in the presence of physical
objects and other source material.

Miscellaneous groupings
There are many other educational groupings and self-help networks at work within the
catchment area of a museum that may ask, at some time or other, to visit or make use of the
museum’s resources. Many of these groupings, although not educational providers them-
selves, offer the opportunity, via networks, to reach providers not covered by the categories
already mentioned. These include one-parent family groups, carer groups, cooperative edu-
cation networks, exchange students (looking to improve their foreign language skills) and
many more.
It may also be possible, if the facilities exist, to play host to reputable groups whose
interests coincide (if only loosely) with those of the museum and whose expertise can be
drawn upon. Calligraphy groups, re-enactment societies, historical societies, art groups,
literary societies, music groups, and the like could be encouraged where their presence is
likely to enhance the museum’s reputation as well as provide more friends for the museum
and increase its revenue, from the hire of rooms to extra spending in the shop.
Finally, and depending on whether the museum has the facilities, there are other edu-
cational groupings which may not have any particular connection with the museum but
which would be grateful for space for their meetings. Where the museum has a shop and
café, this is a particularly good way of guaranteeing their use throughout the year. These
may include university extra-mural groups, adult education groups, Open University groups,
locally run evening classes, and so on. Such a use has a low priority compared with accom-
modating other educational users who have direct need of the museum resource, but if the
museum wishes to build a reputation as an educational centre of excellence, such uses
should be considered.
 User Groups 63

Casual visitors
Finally, there is the broader remit of ensuring that casual visitors are catered for educationally
– especially the transient tourist audience who have a limited amount of time but are still
open to education rather than mere spectacle. Individuals who come in because they have
nothing else to do are also a challenge because if they can be interested from the moment
they enter, they may well return. This is especially so for the first-time visitor. It may even be
their first museum ever! Do not let them get away without wanting to come back and see
more. Included in this group are the ever elusive 16- to 19-year-olds who are not in the educa-
tion system. When was the last time you saw someone in this age group in your museum?
Do not assume that such visitors are self-motivated and have some conscious idea of
why they are there. They might just be in need of an afternoon out of the cold or the rain,
but that is no reason to neglect them. The ideal is to make the museum so stimulating that
they just have to come back. This may work with the literate person who is used to museums,
but it will probably fail with many other such visitors who may, for example, have problems
with reading, let alone ‘reading’ a museum. Even if they do have some motive for entering
the museum that is more positive than keeping warm and dry, it is their agenda that is
important and not the one set by the museum.
One important strand of work that can be done with any exhibition is that, in addition
to information about what is displayed, there should be information about different ways
of ‘reading’ it. That is, the museum should be intent on teaching all visitors how to use
museums. After all, if you cannot read, you do not go to the library. If you cannot ‘read’
objects, you do not go to museums. This analogy can be explored a little further because in
libraries, even if you cannot read, it is accepted practice that you can ask staff for informa-
tion. They are a living reference section. Museum educators would do well to consider how
this could be made possible in museums. In many cases of this nature, personal contact is
the key. In a library, it is natural to make contact with a librarian, even if it is only to hand
in a book or get it issued. Museums lack such a tradition. Some are working to change this,
but many still come across as temples dedicated to objects in which people must keep their
distance and act reverentially.

The disabled
Within all of the groups mentioned above will be those who have disabilities. Never fall
into the trap of thinking of ‘the disabled’ as if they were a single, cohesive group. They are
not. Not only is there a vast range of disabilities, but also the identity of disabled people has
been transformed significantly in recent decades. It is now recognized that one of the great-
est disabilities faced by any person is the thoughtlessness and negative attitude of those who
consider themselves ‘abled’.
Disabled people are valuable citizens with equal rights. They are part of society and
contribute to it at all levels. At one time, the disabled were identified as having an illness or
condition that affected the individual. This outmoded ‘medical model’ of disability isolated
the person, considered them to be the problem, and placed the onus of coping with the
problem on them. These days, a ‘social model’ identifies the barriers in society that create
disability for individuals. The responsibility for removing those barriers, be they physical,
cultural, organizational, or attitudinal, is shared by all involved in a situation.
64 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Along with this change in perception of disability, it is important that we do not make
assumptions about specific disabilities. For example, the majority of blind people do not
read Braille. There is more than one sign language. Not all deaf people are profoundly deaf
any more than all blind people are totally blind. Only five per cent of disabled people make
use of a wheelchair. Not all disabilities are permanent.
Specific physical disabilities need to be catered for by the museum as a whole in a
physical sense, making access easier and exhibitions clearer. Learning disabilities need
special consideration by the education service, and this is best done in concert with special-
ist teachers. However, there are also those who lack social skills, for whom a visit to a
museum may be an adventure in itself, let alone trying to make sense of what the museum
contains. What is more, there are those for whom visual and tactile stimulation may be
extremely beneficial.
What all museums should be working towards, however, is a total environment that is
available to all people. Important though it is to provide special sessions, most disabled
people would much rather be integrated into society and have museums as accessible for
them as for others.
The whole museum should work towards becoming as open, accessible, and inclusive as
possible. In the meantime, the education service can make a start. First, talk to people who
find the museum disabling, as well as support groups and charities. Speak also with the
teachers of disabled students. Explain the museum’s position and what you want to do as a
start. In most cases, you will find that quite simple, inexpensive, and common-sense changes
to design and to working practices will make a world of difference. Carers, too, need consid-
eration. You can talk to carers’ groups and offer an opportunity for carers to visit on the rare
occasions that they get time away from those they care for. They may not want specific
educational input, but they will appreciate being remembered and catered for.

Common approach
There are many other ways of making distinctions between educational user groups, and
you will need to identify those groups and divisions that are unique to your situation or
locale. Yet, no matter how much you come to know about the background of any of the
groups and the group dynamics that exist when they are on their home ground, such
dynamics change when they visit a different environment. Changes in social context and
structure, the disciplinary set-up, routine, physical set-up and the hierarchy of the group all
contribute to changes in the way a group behaves and the individuals learn. These changes
are quite subtle in most cases and are as likely to be positive as negative. It is worth bearing
in mind that this is so, especially if you have had the opportunity to work with the group
in their own environment. If nothing else, the diversity mentioned above shows that a
museum educator must be infinitely flexible.
In addition, there are problems associated with working in public. As a museum educa-
tor, you will find yourself working with groups in public galleries, sometimes with an audi-
ence. It can be uncomfortable at first, but you soon get used to it. It is less easy for students
and their teachers to cope with, as they are used to the security and privacy of their normal
place of study.
Although you must work in different ways with different groups in order to accommo-
date their particular academic and social needs, a common approach to them all is essen-
 User Groups 65

tial. Basic courtesies such as politeness and promptness should go without saying but need
emphasizing. There should also be a wider common approach based on policy about access,
time, costs, quality of service, and so on. That is why it is so important to have constitu-
tional frameworks – not to hide behind and say you cannot do something because the rules
will not allow it – but to remind people that you and they are subject to certain constraints
and that you will do your best to accommodate them within those constraints.
In all this, liaison with the teacher is the key to successful work and the creation of
long-term working relationships. Teachers know precisely what they want of a visit. They
know their students. Despite all the changes that may result from working in a different
environment with different personnel, teachers know these things best. And the best teach-
ers know that the best person to conduct work in the museum is the museum educator.
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 7User
CHAPTER

Marketing, Networks and the

Relationship

Marketing
Marketing, by very use of the word, can cause a great deal of anxiety and even hostility.
There is certainly a feeling among some that marketing is part of a commercial world that
has little or nothing to do with museum education and museum educators. Yet all museum
educators market themselves and their services every time they talk to someone in a profes-
sional capacity, every time they produce educational material, every time they teach. They
all do it. They all need it. It is best, therefore, if it is approached systematically and with
some understanding of how it works – even if your museum has its own marketing
section.
Three major misconceptions about marketing lead to unease. The first is that it is all
about commercial activity, the second that it is selling, and the third that it involves com-
petition. It can be these things to the exclusion of all others but, if it is, it is neither good
marketing nor particularly relevant to museums and education.
There is a commercial element in any form of undertaking, for, at the very least, it must
be able to pay for itself – otherwise it is a wasted venture. And not just in financial terms. It
takes time to sort out a marketing strategy and keep it under review, let alone put the strat-
egy into operation. The time spent must also be worth it.
Beyond that, there is a world of difference between marketing a manufactured product
and marketing a service, just as there is a world of difference between marketing a commer-
cial service and an educational one. Most of the basics are the same but application and
approach can and do vary.
Remember that marketing is not synonymous with selling. Opportunities to sell your
service (whether this is a financial transaction or not) should be the outcome of your mar-
keting. Your service should be such (unique and of high quality) that it sells itself once your
market has been made aware of it.
Marketing in the museum context is that process which identifies educational users
and analyses what they need of what your resource can supply. It lets teachers know that
you have a service to offer. It explains what that service consists of and provides opportuni-
ties to find out how good it is. It also allows you to consider ways in which to maximize your
income (if you charge) without putting off users.
Is all the effort involved worth it? In the end, only you can answer that – and it is one
of the questions you will have to answer, as it is fundamental to any marketing process.
Remember, marketing must pay for itself. However, given that you will have to raise aware-
ness of your existence and of the specific services you offer, some degree of marketing will
be necessary. If you do not market, you will have no takers. Moreover, it will not be long

67
68 Museum Educator’s Handbook

before museum management begins to question whether you are worth the space and
resources you take up.
Not all marketing is or need be costly or time-consuming. Indeed, a great deal of it lies
in the quality and relevance of the service you offer as well as in the way you present both
it and yourself. Nevertheless, you still have to make that initial contact with potential users,
which should not be seen as a chore but as a marvellous opportunity to exercise control
over the development of the services you offer and of the educational groups that use
them.
Before attempting any marketing, you must do the necessary preparatory work. The
accepted practice is to undertake a SWOT analysis. That is, you need to identify your
Strengths (what you are good at and can do for yourself), your Weaknesses (the things you
are not good at or in which you have no experience or expertise), your Opportunities (an
assessment of the gaps in the market that you can realistically fill), and Threats (anything
that could put your services at risk). If you have done the research suggested in Chapter 4,
then much of your basic market research will already be complete and you can use the
information gathered to assess and understand your market.
Understanding yourself and your market, and then tailoring what you can offer to meet
its needs is essential. Without doing this you can advertise your services all you want but
you will get no takers. It is a financially prudent market, and teachers will not undertake
any extra-mural activity unless it suits their needs exactly. Even if your service is free, teach-
ers still have to find money for transport costs and do a great deal of work to ensure that
taking students out of school does not unduly disrupt other elements of their education.
Of course, you should not compromise your integrity as an educator. You can provide
for the market and take a lead at the same time. A great deal of innovative education work
has been done by museum educators and they are in an excellent position to continue
broadening the horizons of students and their teachers alike.
However, that still leaves you with the task of deciding what approaches to take. There
are some basic precepts worth bearing in mind. Good marketing means making sure you
approach the right person with the right message at the right time. This works on two levels.
The first is raising a general awareness of your existence that is intended to whet the appe-
tite and prompt more in-depth enquiries. The second is ensuring that specific information
about particular services reaches those who require it. This means that information goes
where it is wanted with minimum cost and fuss to you.
You should also stress, in all marketing material, what benefits the teachers and their
students will gain by using your services. By all means tell them about what you do and the
services you offer, but always give priority to the benefit to student and teacher. Interested
as they may be in what you do, what will persuade them is whether what you offer is of use
to them.
To achieve this, advertising is a necessity. It is a rare institution that has more educa-
tional users than it can cope with simply through word of mouth. It is feasible, given the
nature of your customer base, that you could direct mail at all those teachers most likely to
use the museum, but unless you have free access to internal mail systems (be they electronic
or traditional) and can also produce an advertising shot that will stand out from all the rest,
you may be wasting time and money.
All advertising needs to be carefully targeted at those who can influence others and at
those who make the decisions. Do not target history teachers; target the heads of history
departments and the secretaries of history teachers’ organizations. Let them do some of
 Marketing, Networks and the User Relationship 69

your work for you – though to do that, they have to be convinced. Once convinced, they
can influence many others. Even a mention from such people can elicit enquiries that lead
to regular use of your services.
It is good to have a raised awareness of education in museums, but that will not, of
itself, sell your specific services. Quite often, it is better to raise general awareness on the
back of the success of specific services. If you run a successful schools programme, for
example, word of this will spread by a number of avenues. This in turn can lead to further
bookings. Unfortunately, it has all the makings of a ‘Catch 22’ situation. Awareness raised
on the back of success can only be achieved if awareness is first raised sufficiently to have
allowed you to achieve that success.
This is one reason why marketing a service can be more difficult than marketing a
product. The simple fact is that your customer is not sure what they are getting until they
have bought it. All promotional material must be sufficiently revealing, perhaps even con-
taining endorsements from teachers, to make it clear what sort of service a teacher can
expect. Close and particular attention must be paid to creating and maintaining a strong
image of your service.
There are two approaches to image. The first is a form of wish-fulfilment, spinning it
out of thin air into a glossy and attractive façade. This is a waste of time and is dishonest. It
simply will not stand up to scrutiny, and using this approach will do you great damage. The
second is to allow the image to grow out of the work you do and the way you do it. If you
are courteous and professional, if you fulfil needs and expectations, always follow up, and
always do what you promise, you will soon gain a reputation that does much to sell you.
Even if you allow your image to evolve naturally, you must still nurture it. You must
create an environment that will allow the evolution that gives the best rewards without
having to compromise your own ideals. This is not an easy balance to strike, but experience
will make it easier.
As a service, you work primarily and directly with people. Their impression of you is
crucial, especially during your first contact. Trite as it may sound, it is none the less true that
you never get a second chance to make a first impression. If teachers come to meet you, the
way they are dealt with will sway their judgement. For example, if you have an office and
invite teachers in, at least make sure there is a comfortable place for them to sit. If you
cannot help but reduce your working space to absolute chaos, meet teachers elsewhere.
Make sure your meeting-place is calm. You may be much in demand but while you are with
someone, you must give them your undivided attention. Someone else can take urgent mes-
sages for you, to be dealt with later. Check that everything you need is easily to hand – diary,
booking forms, leaflets, information. Moreover, if you tell someone you will do something,
do it! There is nothing worse than promising what you cannot fulfil. If you are uncertain,
ask for time to investigate possibilities and get into detailed talks with the teacher con-
cerned. Together you should be able to come up with adjusted and workable ideas.
There are many other such aspects that need to be considered. They all help to create
an overall impression – and if that impression is of competence and willingness to engage
in solving educational problems to provide useful teaching solutions, then you are market-
ing yourself and winning custom. None of this costs anything more than a little time, but
it is worth a small fortune.
Timing is important in marketing. Speculative material sent to teachers must catch
them at the right time of the week, the right time of the term, and the right time of the
financial year. It is no use mailing teachers during vacations, as your material accumulates
70 Museum Educator’s Handbook

with other stuff and tends to end up in the bin. If you are offering a regular, year-round
service, you still need to make maximum impact when teachers are planning the work that
best ties in with what you offer. Nor is it just for the sake of the teacher that you need to
consider timing. Popular services may be booked well in advance, filling your own diary. If
a service is fully booked for one, two, or even three years in advance, and that is not
unknown, it might be time to withdraw any advertising.
Special events (tied, for example, to temporary exhibitions) need to be advertised well
enough in advance to fit in with teachers’ planning. You must get access to the general
museum diary for such events far enough in advance to plan and produce educational mate-
rial, as well as promote it. It would be wise to negotiate a period of notice within which you
will not undertake work. It is not fair of museum management to expect you to produce
educational material and promote it at very short notice. It is disruptive of your other work
(as you will probably have to put that to one side to complete such material in time and to
a proper standard), and there is little guarantee that teachers will be able to fit it into their
schedules at short notice.
General awareness of the fact that you are offering educational services can be raised
through the media. If you have not already done so, make contact with local newspapers,
radio, and television. Get the name of someone who will be your contact and invite them
to the museum so that you can explain what you do and show them where you do it. This
is very useful if you are new to the post as it makes a good story for local interest. Find out
about and always observe your museum’s protocols for media coverage and clearing press
releases.
Advertising is best done in more specific media such as professional journals, newslet-
ters, and the like. Adverts should be catchy, and contain clear, basic information and a
contact address or number for those who want detailed information. It is worth taking pro-
fessional advice on this.
If the museum has a website, make sure that information about education services is
there as well. Keep it regularly updated. Spend some time setting up links with other rele-
vant sites so that traffic is directed to you. Try to avoid using your website (or section thereof)
for anything but the provision of basic information and contact details. Your aim is to meet
people face to face.
Any item that you loan or sell, as well as all letters, pamphlets and publications, should
be branded. An easily identifiable and relevant logo is invaluable, even if you have to pay an
expert to design it. The museum may already have a logo that can be used in conjunction
with the word ‘education’. It is a simple way of asserting your identity while remaining part
of the overall picture.
Any mailings, leaflets, or brochures you produce should be concise, informative, and
relevant. If you have special requirements of teachers (for example, you will only take book-
ings from those who have attended your training courses), you must make this clear. You
must also make it clear how they go about meeting this or any other requirements you
have.
Remember that each leaflet and brochure costs money. Save your follow-up material for
people who are genuinely interested. Make sure this sort of material contains details of how
to book your services. And no matter how complicated it may be for you, make the process
of booking as straightforward as possible for teachers.
No doubt, the museum will have general leaflets, guidebooks and other publications, as
well as entries in guides and directories. Make sure that all of them mention that there is a
 Marketing, Networks and the User Relationship 71

museum educator on the staff who can provide a variety of educational services. If the
museum has had large print runs made without mention of education, produce high-quality
flyers that can be inserted.
Get into the habit of writing short pieces and articles detailing your ideas, experiences,
calamities, and triumphs. These can be homely in style or they can be academic. Try to get
them published. Not all of them will be suitable or acceptable, but it is still worth the effort
and provides material for talks and lectures. Your own professional organization will prob-
ably have local and national newsletters and journals that will at least want to see material
like this. If these journals do not exist, get together with like-minded professionals and start
them. They are an excellent source of information, a useful place to exchange ideas and
another means of marketing your services.
Word of mouth, already mentioned briefly, should not be denigrated, although it is
largely out of your control. If you offer a good service, word will begin to spread that this is
so. Equally, your failures will be broadcast in the same manner. It would be a good idea to
impress on educational users that if they are satisfied with your service, they should tell
others, and that if they are not satisfied they should tell you. However, there is only value
in this if you act on what you are told. In some cases, the dissatisfaction will not be any fault
of yours. However, there is always room for improvement and you should be willing to
listen and then do something about making an improvement. Then let the person whose
comment led to it know what you have done.
Aside from word of mouth and providing teachers with the opportunity to observe
your education services at work, one of the best methods of marketing is the way you present
your services to teachers. That is, make use of yourself as your best and most flexible market-
ing resource. Lectures, presentations, seminars, and training courses to appropriate audi-
ences make a big impact. Not only can you get detailed information across and impress
everyone with how accomplished you are; your audience also has the opportunity (and
must always be given this) to ask questions of you to clarify anything they do not quite
understand or which you may have missed. This face-to-face approach (considered in more
detail below) is extremely important.
If the museum has space, offer it to teachers as a venue for meetings (other than those
meetings you would already have in the course of your work with them). Not only can you
surround them with information about education services and be nearby to answer queries;
it also gets them used to thinking of the museum as a place to go.
Small exhibitions in staff rooms with personal appearances at times when teaching
staff are present can also work well. This should be extended with a positive campaign of
visiting schools, teachers’ centres, head teachers’ meetings and so on with a portfolio con-
sisting of a static display, a promotional video or multimedia display (if you have the facili-
ties to produce and present one), information packages, and a prepared talk to help explain
exactly what the museum education service can offer.
This approach is infinitely more flexible than simply relying on written material. To
begin with, you can take things with you. If you have loan materials, workbooks, or other
kinds of educational material, you can show them to the staff. You can tell them what your
job involves, how the museum can help them, how you cope with visits, the sort of things
they can do, and you can answer specific questions on topics and points that simply may
not have occurred to you. Most importantly, by visiting the school, you have established a
link. The staff of that school now know you; they know with whom they are talking on the
telephone. Once you have made this sort of contact you can leave as many bits of paper as
72 Museum Educator’s Handbook

you are asked for, containing basic information about yourself, because you know it is in the
hands of those who want it and who are likely to use it for future reference.
If you cannot get out to schools, you can invite teachers to come to you by holding
special open days, twilight sessions, or open evenings for teachers. These are best linked to
special events such as the opening of a new exhibition or the launch of a new educational
service. Provide refreshments and pamper your guests. This is an effective ploy as it means
that teachers not only have the advantage of face-to-face contact, but they can also look at
the resource you are offering. In addition, they can experience the environment in which
they would be working with their students.
Teachers can also be reached through other people. This can be done by talking with
head teachers or heads of department, but by far the best way is by getting to know advisory
and support teachers and so on. It is their job to be aware of all that is available for teachers
to use in the education of students. Moreover, one of the great advantages of this group is
that you can concentrate on specialist areas.
In the first instance, you need advisory staff to be aware of what your museum consists
in and the sort of educational programmes you can offer. They are on the lookout for this
information. But the contact can go further than that because as advisers – forgive such an
obvious statement – it is their job to advise. Suitably convinced of your worth, they can
advise teachers to use your museum. In addition, they can advise you of a particular need
felt by schools that you have the potential to fulfil.
These are just some of the many ploys that are open to you. There is one, however, that
you should avoid – competition. Not only are you unlikely ever to be given a marketing
budget sufficient to mount that sort of campaign, but also competition is highly destruc-
tive. If there are other museums offering education services within your catchment area, it
is far better to liaise with them to avoid conflict and use that as a common marketing ploy.
Your pooled resources and cooperative approach are likely to strengthen your work.
With all this marketing going on, you should keep two final points in mind. Never
advertise a service without having it in place and without the ability to respond to any
interest your adverts may provoke. This amounts to keeping any promises you make. Failure
to do so is highly damaging to your reputation. And never rest on your laurels. Not only
must you constantly upgrade your successes; you should always be looking to develop new
services to broaden your appeal. There is no need to be frenetic about this but it is inevitable
that the needs of educational user groups will change as time goes by. Look at these needs
and make them the centre of your work.
Marketing is a complex business. Once you are well-established and have built up a
good reputation, a great deal of your marketing is done for you. However, you have to start
somewhere. There are many books available that explore the intricacies of marketing. There
are even some that are specifically aimed at museums. The purpose of this part of the
chapter has been to show its importance through looking at some of the basics. Marketing,
however, is only a part of the story; its aim is to get the ball rolling. Once you have made
initial contact with teachers, there is a great deal more to be done.

Liaison and networks

No educational service provided by a museum will survive for very long if there is no dia-
logue between the provider and the user. There are a number of ways in which museum
 Marketing, Networks and the User Relationship 73

educators can forge links with schools and other educational user groups, keep those links
going, and develop them for the benefit of all involved. The emphasis in all of them is on
forging personal links and bringing together several people in order to spread workloads
and increase the level of information flow.
To begin with, it is important to realize that there is a difference between persuading
educational user groups to make use of the educational resource that is your museum and
creating links with them. The difference between the two in terms of the effort involved is
not so very great. The difference in the results, however, can be enormous. Indeed, this dif-
ference is likely to determine the failure or success of educational work in a museum. More-
over, the degree of success itself depends on how you maintain those links once they are
established. This sounds alarming. But it really is a matter of success or failure. However, the
ways of obviating failure and making the success superlative are reasonably straightfor-
ward.
Some strategies for attracting the attention of teachers have already been discussed. Try
these and others in all their combinations to see which are the most effective, and adjust
your overall approach accordingly. Once you have established links with schools and they
are making use of you, it might be worth trying to find one teacher in an educational estab-
lishment who is willing to act as a liaison with the museum. Then, if you do send out mail-
ings or have information to pass on, it goes to a named individual who you know will make
what effort they can to pass that information on to other staff.
Once you have started to make links with educational user groups, you must maintain
them. In essence, that means having some form of dialogue with the teachers who use your
services. Again, a whole range of strategies can be brought to bear. The most obvious is pro-
viding teachers with such a good day out that they will want to come back. Precisely how
you do that depends on what sort of resource you are working with.
When a teacher is considering bringing a group, it pays to ask them to be very specific
about what they want. Narrowing a teacher’s needs down to specifics will ensure that the
day goes smoothly, but it is also an excellent way of forging and maintaining links. The flow
of information is useful to both sides; it also lets the teacher know that you are interested
and care about what they are doing.
The follow-up work an educational user group does should also be of interest to you. If
you have time, visit a group after they have visited your museum. If you do not have time,
encourage them to write to you or send artwork or a report that you can display. Perhaps if
their school has an open evening in the near future you might suggest being there. Personal
appearances are good for the educational user group because they can say to their visitors
(parents, students, teachers and education managers) that they have a good relationship
with the museum. It is good for you because those visitors might decide that your museum
is worth a visit.
Even so, a good day out is not enough. To keep those links between educational user
groups you must resort to other strategies as well. While the educational user group is with
you, spend a few minutes chatting informally with the teachers and other helpers. It might
have nothing to do with the visit but it does help to create an atmosphere that is welcoming
and establishes the fact that you are approachable. After all, that teacher may have an idea
to use your resource in some other way. If they know that you will at least listen, then they
will approach you – possibly opening up a completely new area of work.
Another aspect of maintaining links is that you must be organized. Your booking pro-
cedure must be foolproof. Times and durations must be kept to, especially if you are juggling
74 Museum Educator’s Handbook

several groups at once. Once an educational user group is booked, make a point of confirm-
ing the booking and the details of their visit by letter. Include a leaflet or booklet in which
there are maps of how to get to the museum, where to park or where there are drop-off
points, where the toilets are, general rules of conduct and so on. Appendix 4 contains a
sample booking form, confirmation, conditions, and a sample booking chart.
This attention to detail establishes your competence and your professionalism, as well
as showing that you care about those who are visiting you. Within this sort of structure, you
must also make the most of opportunities for feedback from teachers. A simple question-
naire, sent with the confirmation and filled in at the end of the visit and left with you, will
give you a great deal of basic information. Not everyone will complete a questionnaire, but
you will have enough replies to give a good outline picture. Detailed information can be
gathered with surveys that are more comprehensive. All of which helps to maintain the
links you have established.
Once you have expressed interest in hearing what teachers want, you must be prepared
to act on it. This is where the developing of links comes in. At a local level you should con-
sider, through whatever agency is best suited (advisory teachers, professional organizations
and the like), setting up working parties of interested teachers who have subject and student
age group in common. With you as a facilitator, they can work out how they would like to
use your museum and what sort of follow-up material they would need. Having established
that, each individual within the party can be given a small task to complete. When the
parts are brought together and compiled, you and the teachers have a significant package of
material that can be used in conjunction with a visit to the museum without individuals
having had to do all the work themselves. By using working parties in this way, you can get
much more work done, safe in the knowledge that you are providing a service that is wanted
by educational user groups.
The real challenge, however, is to involve teachers whose subjects do not normally lead
them to consider a visit to a museum as a viable option. Why not, for example, try to
involve mathematics teachers? They may not seem to be obvious candidates for museum
work (along with a number of other subject specialists), but most museums have something
of mathematical (and other) interest.
As well as producing educational materials relevant to specific sections of the education
system, working groups can be a mine of information on other educational topics as well as
becoming the hub of an extensive network of contacts. And through them you have further
strengthened links between yourself and user groups.
Do not confine these initiatives to teachers. There are other specialists working in the
field of complementary education as well as in areas associated with the museum’s collec-
tions whose skills and expertise could be drawn on to produce and provide materials and
programmes for the museum. The trick is to persuade such people (teachers and others
alike) that the work they put in will be of benefit to them as well as to you.
From such working parties, it should be possible to build up a database of personnel and
groups who would be willing to work with the museum. This could contain craftspeople,
re-enactment societies, theatre-in-education groups, puppet theatres and so on. This is an
especially useful approach if you are working within a tight budget, have little or no staff
and little or no resources. Many people will be willing to help as long as they are approached
in the right way and as long as they benefit from the activity.
Your links with groups can also be maintained and developed by making the logistics
of their visit simpler. Legislation and policy can vary from place to place. Moreover, teachers
 Marketing, Networks and the User Relationship 75

are sometimes so inundated with various rules that they find it difficult to be certain that
they are allowed to do certain things. It is up to you to become an expert in this so that you
can advise teachers and assure them that their visit and your museum comply with all rel-
evant legislation.
Visiting could also be made smoother if teachers could buy into a package rather than
making individual arrangements each time they want to visit. This could mean setting up
a club with an annual subscription, to be paid for out of the educational user group’s budget
at the beginning of the financial year. Joining would give members certain entitlements
and make visiting easier. For example, details of each member would be to hand so that the
process of booking would be easier. Pre-payment would allow them to bring a certain
number of students each year free of charge (perhaps with a reduction for numbers over
that limit). This would mean that the process of paying and collecting money was also
made less complex. Precisely what entitlements membership brings would be up to you and
the circumstances in which you work. If you have a large number of regular visitors, it is
certainly worth considering, but will need very careful thought.
There are, however, a number of pitfalls. The whole business of creating and developing
links can be time-consuming. It is important, but it is just as important to keep a sense of
proportion – otherwise you will end up spending more time on the exercise than it war-
rants. Differing geographical locations, content and style of museums, and the availability
of staff and resources will make some of the above options more or less viable. There are
many other options you could also explore. For all that, such approaches are worth repeated
consideration because the whole question of your relationship with user groups can some-
times disappear under the sheer pressure of all the other work you have to cope with.
The foregoing concentrates on teachers and presupposes a certain level of resourcing.
One of the great problems faced by many museums trying to run an education service is the
lack of staff with a specialist education background. Most small museums simply cannot
afford that luxury. How, then, can a museum in that position hope to keep abreast of the
many and varied developments (legal and otherwise) that continually take place in the
world of education, let alone set up a series of relevant programmes? Even specialist staff
sometimes have problems keeping up with it all.
As usual, the best thing to do is go to those who do have specialist knowledge. They are
likely to be busy people, but in every sector that you need to contact, there will usually be
someone whose job it is to act as liaison with other interested groups, or simply to dissemi-
nate information. The crucial thing is to tap into these sources of information in the most
effective way and ensure that while you are getting information from them, you pass infor-
mation back about your work and concerns, so that your museum begins to figure in other
people’s thinking.
There are a number of ways in which these contacts can be made, but all of them
involve spending a little time meeting and talking and exchanging information. A degree
of formality is required, with an agenda (even if this is fairly loose) so that people can come
to meetings prepared for discussion about specific issues.
To begin with, make contact with other museums and the members of staff responsible
for education. It is highly likely that such networks have already been set up by professional
organizations in one form or another. This contact need not be limited to occasional meet-
ings, but can be arranged as a regular round in order to exchange ideas and advice, hold
in-service training sessions, coordinate programmes of work and provide a united front on
relevant issues. In particular, you should be attempting to identify new developments in
76 Museum Educator’s Handbook

education, considering how these will affect the delivery of education, and working out
ways in which museums can best respond.
You should also examine ways of making regular contact with the authorities responsi-
ble for providing education. You will need to find an appropriate level for this. Contact with
national bodies is useful to gain information, but local bodies are better suited for dialogue.
If you can persuade such authorities that museums offering education should be classed as
schools, for example, you may be able to get hold of all sorts of material. This is more likely
in the case of museums funded by local or national government than it is for private institu-
tions, but even a group of those may be able to exert some pressure in this direction. The
importance of this sort of contact is to ensure that you keep abreast of all developments,
whether in education or administration.
If there are teacher training institutions in your locale, you will probably already have
made contact with lecturers in order to invite students to attend courses of work at the
museum. It is worth trying to go beyond an ad hoc system whereby only interested lecturers
make use of you and work to persuade the authorities that using museums should become
a compulsory element of student teacher education. Not only does this provide you with a
steady flow of students; it will also equip whole generations of teachers with the skills
needed to make proper use of museums. This is a long-term project and you will have to
work very hard to convince the appropriate authorities of the standards of work involved.
Many groups outside of mainstream formal education will make use of the museum and
may have organizations and groupings of their own with which it is worth developing links.
These include local community groups, professional associations, social institutions, charities,
and the like. You may not wish to involve yourself with them full-time but the opportunity to
appear occasionally and explain what you can offer, as well as take on board their needs and
concerns, is of vital importance if you are to create a role of educator rather than teacher.
You should also look closer to home and make provision for strengthening what links
you might have with the museum’s management body. They may well take a keen interest
in all that goes on, but you should give them the opportunity to learn more from direct
experience. An open invitation for them to observe you at work, as well as special sessions
in which they can participate in events, could be a revelation – for you and for them. Do not
use this to try to lobby for extra money, but simply as an opportunity to explain the work
you do and the plans you have for the future.
If you do not already belong to any professional organizations, then you should find
out which of these will best suit your needs. Join as many as you can afford, including a
professional organization for teachers (if you qualify). These generally have national and
local levels of organization and provide a great deal of useful information, as well as arrang-
ing networks that offer training, workshops, conferences, legal representation and an effec-
tive and united voice to argue in your favour and to lobby relevant groups for better
standards and recognition.
As forums for the exchange of information and ideas, all the above have tremendous
potential because there is usually a specific person to whom you can go to talk about a spe-
cific subject, someone who has their own contacts. This is a matter of plugging yourself into
a set of networks and staying plugged in. This does not produce anything spectacular, but
the more lines of communication you have and keep open, the better will be your chances
of reaching the people you want to reach and getting the information you need.
What is more, these contacts are the means by which information about you and your
services reaches those who need and want to know about them. For these reasons, they are
 Marketing, Networks and the User Relationship 77

well worth the time required to maintain them. However, they also serve another impor-
tant function. It has already been mentioned that working as a museum educator can be
lonely. Developing these links gives you contact with people on more than just a superficial
level. You have time to build up professional relationships that add a great deal of depth to
your working life, helping to make it a little less daunting.
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 8Educational
CHAPTER

Provision – The
Basics

There are, as we shall see in the next few chapters, many different forms of educational
provision that can be offered by a museum. Because of that, it is of the greatest importance
that development of services and programmes of work should be in accordance with a
single, sensible, holistic, and comprehensive structure. This is to ensure not only that devel-
opments occur in a logical sequence, but also that everything adheres to a set of principles
designed to protect the resource while maximizing its educational use.
If you are starting from scratch, you will need to consider very carefully the best ways
to proceed – ways that will leave you sufficient time to devote to the heavy developmental
work you will need to do over the first few years. Even if you inherit a long-running service,
it is by no means certain that it will be perfect. There is always room for improvement and
you will be bringing new skills and new perspectives that will inevitably lead to change.
However, if you intend to develop a comprehensive set of services you need to be aware
of certain prerequisites – have a good idea of the range of services you might be able to offer
and the physical areas in which you wish to offer them; and have some general idea of how
the main subject areas of most curricula can be served by the use of museums.

Assessing the resource

Before deciding on what specific forms of provision you wish to make, assess the museum.
That will be your starting-point, and whatever you do thereafter must relate to it. You should
already have an idea of the museum’s collections, what it keeps in store, and the resources
available to you both in terms of artefacts and the expertise of other staff members. However,
you will need to assess what sort of museum you are working with in both physical terms
and in terms of its ethos.
There are many physical forms of museum. You may be working in a well-established
and traditional building – a large, stately looking edifice with separate galleries filled with
large glass-fronted cases and polished floors. On the other hand it may be an open-air
museum whose exhibits are mainly large-scale and with no barrier between them and the
visitor. There are many other forms as well – large and small, high-tech and low-tech, formal
and informal.
In terms of ethos, there is a large range of attitudes with which to contend. It may be
that the museum wishes to present a serious and studious air, which would be at odds with
large parties of students wandering around making a great deal of noise. Although you may
be aiming to relax such an atmosphere (if that is what you have inherited), you will have to
start with that situation. On the other hand, you may have an extremely relaxed museum

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80 Museum Educator’s Handbook

and have to contend with user groups that feel uncomfortable with such informality. What-
ever the case, remember that a museum is a place of the muses, and learning to work quietly
at appropriate times is no bad thing.
Visitors and students learn as much, if not more, from how they are treated and how
the museum presents itself than from the content of any programme of work. After all,
programmes of work, exhibitions, and the like change from day to day and year to year. The
constant is to be found in the way you approach things. Method, therefore, is extremely
important.
The way you work in a traditional glass-case museum is likely to be different from the
way you work in an open-air environment or any other type of museum. This is not just a
matter of personal style and ethos, but also of the constraints (or otherwise) of the environ-
ment. Not only is the physical aspect important here, so too are visitor expectations. User
groups and other visitors will have preconceived ideas of what behaviours match given
environments.
The way in which individual artefacts are displayed also dictates the form and extent of
educational work. Displays sealed in cases with little or no context will have little or no rela-
tion to other displays or, for that matter, the average visitor. These will require an approach
that, in the first instance, concentrates on the artefact alone in order to gather sufficient
information to begin building a context for it.
It is becoming increasingly unusual to find this form of display. Things have moved
towards the other extreme and in some cases, artefacts have become so over-contextualized
that it is difficult to distinguish them from their background. Such displays may be socio-
ecologically sound, but they require students to work from a very different perspective to
make sense of what they see, beginning with a context and then working toward the ways
in which single items might relate to it.
Either way of presenting artefacts can be as baffling to the student (and teacher) as the
other. Very often, however, it is the non-contextualized items that are ignored by teachers
– they are perceived as hard work and perhaps a little politically incorrect. The very fact that
they are isolated gives the impression that some statement about their worth is being made.
Whether that is so or not, it is one of the many factors to consider when drawing up educa-
tional materials and programmes of work.
You will also need to bear in mind very basic factors of display that are often forgotten
about. That is, can students see the artefacts? Most displays are designed by able-bodied
adults for able-bodied adults. This is changing, and new displays are usually much better
designed, but the majority of museum displays are not new or even recent. When looking
at a display, go down on your knees and look at it from a child’s height. See how much that
changes the perspective, blocks items from view, and alters the lighting.
Another factor you will have to take into account is the fact that objects are often pre-
sented with accompanying text. You will have to work with this, rather than against it.
Artefacts are often presented with text that offers closed statements rather than more open,
questioning statements. This can stifle curiosity and focuses attention on the text rather
than the artefact. If the text is particularly bad, you should perhaps try to persuade curato-
rial staff to make changes. The question of appropriate language is discussed in Chapter 9,
but no matter how good your own use of the written and spoken word, you must remain
conscious of its use elsewhere in the museum.
Museums are places for non-rational and intuitive as well as logical and analytical
approaches. Each informs the other. Museums have a responsibility to help people acquire
 Educational Provision – The Basics 81

the skills to read such distinctive sites as museums, as well as the artefacts they contain.
Perception, feeling, and imagination should be fostered just as much as analysis, critical
evaluation, and communication. Thinking historically and aesthetically should be encour-
aged just as much as thinking scientifically. Museums should work to develop these comple-
mentary skills in their visitors; in addition, the development of skills should be given
precedence over the acquisition of facts. We all know too much. We feel too little. We
understand even less.
One of the great lessons to be learned from artefacts is that we can appreciate them
without the need to verbalize. It is possible to interact with them on a personal and emo-
tional level. We can understand them by meditating on them and being content with that
experience. The experience must be verbalized if it is to be shaped for sharing, but that need
not be a prime target of any work, any more than it needs to be the product. After all, one
of the journeys we make in a museum is from material culture to non-material culture and
a deeper understanding of ourselves, others, and the world in which we live.

Working space
In order to put educational programmes into practise, you will need space. This does not
mean a dank room no one else wants where children can hang their coats and eat their
lunch. It means a properly devised strategy that makes best educational use of all available
space within the museum. This is especially important in small museums where there is no
spare capacity to set aside a room or section of a gallery specifically for educational use.
Many museums have either no dedicated education space or areas that are wholly inad-
equate. They are often too small, ill-equipped, and poorly located – all of which reflect the
importance accorded education by management. In older buildings the problem is histori-
cal, resulting from the fact that education was not originally designed into the system. In
new or recently refurbished buildings, there is no excuse.
Whatever the case may be, you have to assess all available space. Your first task then is
to make the best use of what you have, even if this means using tactics such as timing visits
to start before the doors open to the rest of the public. Your second task is to draw up an
ideal scenario so that if the situation ever arises, your case is ready made and incorporated
into your secondary policy document. This should include a brief statement about the mate-
rial and non-material value of an education space to museum users and the museum.
In making your case, either for present or future development, you will need to make a
careful assessment and consider a number of aspects. To begin with, an education space
must be presented as the focus of education work that must take place throughout the
museum. It cannot be used as an excuse for keeping education groups out of the way. The
space must be flexible. It will be used by all ages for a wide variety of activities and has to
be able to accommodate six-year-olds doing artwork as readily and as comfortably as it does
senior citizens listening to a talk.
Access is also important. Ideally, large groups should be able to reach an education
space without having to traipse through the whole of the museum first. At the same time,
it should have direct access to the exhibition space, toilets, shops, and other facilities. Access
should not be disabling. Avoid stairs, narrow corridors and doors, and complicated routes to
and from other parts of the museum. Issues of access also need to consider security (belong-
ings must be protected) and safety, especially where children are concerned. Adults not
82 Museum Educator’s Handbook

associated with school groups may need to be segregated – and would probably feel happier
that this is so, especially if they are undertaking research.
Fittings and fixtures are equally important. It is no use having an ideal space if it is
badly equipped. Visit other museum education spaces as well as schools, and similar venues.
Talk with the people who use them and find out what does and does not work. Aim to get
the basics right, even if it means spending more and waiting a bit longer for the extras.
Quality flooring, easily maintained sinks, robust storage, plenty of hanging space for coats
and bags, and comfortable chairs are essential.
Of course, all this pre-supposes that you have a choice and some spending power. If you
do not, there are still many things that you can do to improve the situation through tidying,
re-arranging furniture, and buying some tins of emulsion paint. Sometimes, though, you
will find yourself confronted with a golden opportunity when the museum decides it is
time for (and can afford) a major refurbishment.
If this happens it is vital that you are part of the decision-making process. This cannot
be emphasized enough. You are the expert in this field and may well be responsible for a
sizeable proportion of visitor numbers. You cannot be expected to accept major changes to
the physical structure of the museum without having input into the design and allocation
of space. Having ensured you have an input, you must live up to it. The brief you present to
the architects and developers must be comprehensive, but you must be prepared to compro-
mise as there will be many other demands to be met. Make sure you have a set of minimum
requirements over which you will not give way. If you show commitment to the process and
are willing to listen to the designers, they will be willing to listen to you.
After all that, be it two coats of paint on the store cupboard wall or a brand new museum
with a state-of-the-art education centre, you need strategies for its management and integra-
tion with the rest of the museum. Simple things such as user group flow, along with strategies
for keeping the area tidy (and thus easier to clean) are as important as the initial planning.

Why groups visit

As well as assessing the working environment of the museum, you will need to consider
why it is visited by educational user groups. The primary answer (which is all too often
overlooked or denigrated) is that they do so because specific demands of the curriculum or
course they are following are best fulfilled by working in the museum. However, there is a
great deal more to museum work than the acquisition of knowledge (which is a tertiary
function of education), as we have already discussed. There is the acquisition of educational
skills – learning how to learn (a secondary function of education). There is the primary
function, which is to equip students with the basic skills such as literacy and numeracy
needed to achieve the other functions. And there is the opportunity to introduce and
explore wider social skills and issues.
In addition, there are a number of other reasons, perhaps subordinate to these, but per-
fectly valid in their own right. Amongst these are that museums allow students to break
away from working with text-based information and to see that there is a wealth of material
culture for study from many different temporal and geographical locations. Museums also
present the opportunity to get away from the standard curriculum and explore the vast
world beyond, enriching the understanding of what must be studied as well as showing that
there is a great deal more.
 Educational Provision – The Basics 83

Students come to museums to be shown the real thing. The psychological impact of
proximity to or contact with genuine artefacts reaches deep and cannot be reproduced
using text or pictures. This impact is achieved through a better appreciation of an artefact’s
scale, shape, texture, colour, even odour. There is also a less tangible quality to such items
that is extremely potent, especially if they can be handled. This is their human connection
– the fact that a student can handle and examine an artefact that was made and used by a
real person hundreds, thousands, or even hundreds of thousands of years ago. It is a con-
nection that can be made intellectually without too much difficulty or too much impact.
However, once it is made emotionally, work with artefacts and collections takes on a com-
pletely new dimension.
Students can use museums to test hypotheses that they are studying or have formulated
themselves. Despite the abundance of physical material to work with, many academic
studies (be they made by young children or by university professors) rarely bother to check
whether what they speculate upon is supported by the physical evidence. Quite often erro-
neous assumptions are promulgated and perpetuated when a little practical exercise would
show them to be false. Controversial and disregarded statements might be given the irrefu-
table support they need by the same method.
As well as testing hypotheses, students will want to study artefacts in order to come to
some sort of understanding about certain processes. The most common are those of manu-
facture, changes in style due to social pressures, wear and tear from use, what happens to
things once they are lost or discarded and, of course, the processes involved in finding,
conserving, storing, and displaying artefacts in a museum. Work with material culture also
aids in the development of concepts such as chronology, change, continuity, progress and
value as well as the whole idea of non-material culture.
In addition to these more pragmatic reasons, there are others that are sometimes given
lip-service, but which deserve genuine commitment. They are of great importance in an
increasingly material world – aesthetic appreciation, philosophical practice, the chance to
muse, meditate, and speculate on the non-material imperatives that give rise to various
forms of material culture. Students rarely have time for this sort of activity in overcrowded
curricula, yet it is extremely important to personal and social development. Museums can
create a space for this, alongside other demands.
There are other reasons why students come to museums, but most of them will fall into
these broad categories. These, therefore, play an important part in the process of producing
materials and programmes for students to work with.

Basic approaches
With such considerations in mind, it then becomes important to decide how the materials
and programmes of work are to be delivered. Presentation and style is a very personal matter
and we are not concerned with that here. The concern is much more basic. When you
produce, for example, an information pack on a particular collection, you have to know at
the outset who its audience will be – the student or the teacher. In either case, it must
contain material relevant to the students being taught. An information pack for under-
graduates is of no use to six-year-olds. An information pack for the teacher of undergradu-
ates might be usable by the teacher of six-year-olds but would be unlikely to contain enough
of the sort of material they would want to use.
84 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Therefore, to begin with, you must decide whether materials and programmes are to be
directed at the teacher or the student. You need to consider whether they are to be designed
to be transmitted to students by you (through direct teaching in the museum); by their
teachers (by providing them with training and resource materials to construct their own
programmes and so on); or whether you wish to provide materials that students can use
largely unsupported (workbooks and the like).
In reality, what you will opt for is likely to be a mix of these things, but it should not be
a muddle. Decide very clearly for each project you undertake precisely who it is aimed at
and who is to lead it. It is all right if it contains various elements, as long as each element is
clearly defined in its approach, its audience, and its method.
You then need to recognize that within each of these forms of provision, there are dif-
ferent levels of complexity and approach depending on the user groups aimed at and any
specific courses or curricula they may be following. For each of these variations there are
many services and types of material that can be offered. These, as we have noted, depend
on a number of variants, including the size of the museum, the nature of its collections,
resources available for the education service, and so on. The number of permutations is
enormous and might leave you wondering where to begin and how you will find the time
to do it all.
The best way forward when faced with such an apparently overwhelming mass of work
is, of course, to set priorities. In this case, it is best to consider generally the forms of provi-
sion and the individual programmes you wish to make available in terms of the amount of
time they are likely to require from you once they are up and running. It is then a matter of
beginning with those that will, when running, involve you least. This means that while you
have services to offer, you still have plenty of time to develop more.
This management of time works on three levels of involvement. The first level relates to
visits to museums by educational user groups that have minimal input from the museum
educator. This does not mean that such groups are completely on their own. You can provide
them with a whole range of information from very basic details such as opening times,
layout of the museum and so on to very sophisticated packages of resource material. The
important thing is that once the resource material has been produced, you are free to con-
tinue developing more.
Once you have built up a good selection of resource materials, it will be possible to
consider moving to the second level. This involves some direct contact with visiting educa-
tional user groups, but which is restricted to orientation, giving introductory talks, or
leading introductory sessions on given topics and then leaving the groups to their own
devices for the rest of their time on site. Teachers, therefore, will have to provide much of
the input for the visit. This may require a back-up programme of preliminary visits and will
doubtless require a great deal of resource material. Whilst this still leaves you free to pursue
the many other duties you have, it gives you the opportunity to work directly with students
and thus directly assess the worth of the material you are providing.
The third level involves a great deal of direct teaching work with students. This can
only be achieved where there is a sufficient quantity of resource material already in place or
sufficient education staff to implement this level of involvement. In many ways, it is
extremely satisfying for museum educators to be directly involved with all the education
work that goes on in the museum. It is, however, extremely time-consuming and it can give
the impression that museum teaching is the be-all and end-all of museum education work.
 Educational Provision – The Basics 85

It may be best to confine this level of involvement to groups from which there will be a
good return – with courses for student and practising teachers a priority.
In any event, the first level needs to be established first, and working successfully, before
the second and then the third levels can be introduced. All of this requires tight administra-
tive control, a foolproof booking system, and a great deal of cooperation from teachers,
especially if some user groups are working at the first level and others at the third on the
same day. It would certainly be necessary to provide a great deal of comprehensive resource
material to support this system so that it works properly.
This depends on your situation. If you are working in a small museum with other calls
on your time, educational activity may have to remain at the first level. Always make sure
you do not involve yourself so much in one project that you have no time to develop others.
Finally, try to avoid programmes of work that will leave you open to constant repetition (no
matter how many subtle variations are introduced by different groups). It is extremely easy
to become fatigued, lose interest, and convey your boredom to those you work with.

Some basic rules

It is worth adopting some basic principles by which to work. You can use those suggested
below or adapt them to suit your specific needs. They may well be worth incorporating into
a policy document under the heading ‘Principles of development’ so that they are recog-
nized as fundamental to your work.

1 No educational development of a resource should threaten its integrity or existence.

There is little point in degrading, damaging, or destroying that which represents your
capital. Once the capital is gone, you have nothing to develop, nothing with which to
teach. This is as true of museums as it is, for example, of forests. The prime concern,
therefore, must be with the protection of that resource.
2 No educational development of a resource should be made for the sake of mere develop-
ment. There already exists a strong and genuine need for development of and access to
the educational potential of museums. It is this genuine need that should be sought out
and used to guide development.
3 All educational development should act to instil in teachers and students an appropriate
reverence for the resource, the requisite skills for using the resource to its fullest extent,
and the confidence to do so. It is no use offering access to the resource unless teachers,
students and other visitors are first taught how to use it correctly. This is the museum’s
safeguard that their resource will not be damaged, while ensuring that all visitors gain
maximum benefit from its use.
4 Education is a condition of human existence. It does not take place only in formal,
guided sessions. Therefore, every aspect of a visit to a museum has educational potential
– from finding the building to the visit to the souvenir shop before leaving. In that case,
every aspect of a visit should be given careful scrutiny to ensure that where educational
potential exists, it is fully realized in accordance with genuine need.
5 The educational development of the resource should not be done in an aggressive or
competitive manner. At all times there should be maintained an environment of highly
informed dedication with an atmosphere of openness. Learned reserve and the mainte-
nance of a mystique is what keeps people away from museums. The intention must be to
86 Museum Educator’s Handbook

draw visitors and students in, make them feel comfortable, and send them away feeling
enhanced by their visit. This will enable interest to bud or, where interest already exists,
to bloom. A visitor or student should always leave a museum with the feeling that they
want to return and, just as important, that they will be welcome to do so.
6 Whatever form of provision you decide to develop, it must have relevance to visitors,
teachers and students, and it must avoid replicating anything they can do in their
normal environment. That is, use what is unique about your resource and present it in
a unique way. If the work can be done in school, then that is where teachers will opt to
do it. Museums are not three-dimensional textbooks. What you offer must complement
what is done in schools. One of the most important things you can teach is how to look
at objects in a sustained and useful way, ‘reading’ what you can from them, rather than
just glancing at them and then getting all the answers from a piece of text (be it museum
label or school textbook).
7 Make all programmes of work enjoyable. This works at two levels. On the surface, all
work should be interactive and engaging – challenging both physical and mental
attributes. However, this must be combined with activities that aim to ensure that those
who engage in them learn or acquire something new. A new fact. A new skill. A new
understanding. It does not matter how small these might be, as long as they have
meaning and relevance to the individual. If a visitor or student has such an experience,
they leave the museum with a sense of achievement and that, for some, can have a pro-
found affect on their lives.
 9Services
CHAPTER

Information and Indirect

From basic principles, we now move on to look at the major forms of service that a museum
educator can provide. These fall into three main categories: information, indirect services,
and direct services. Although these are categorized and discussed as distinct forms, in reality
they often combine and are certainly interdependent. Information and indirect services
will be dealt with below. Direct services are discussed in Chapter 10.

Information
In many cases, the giving of information will be the first moment of contact between your-
self and any potential educational user. It is essential, therefore, that this is well organized,
clear, and with any follow-up taking place as quickly as possible.
In the first instance, information required of you will usually relate to the logistics of
educational visits. Teachers and other group leaders will want to know what services and
facilities are available, costs, booking procedures, and the like. All this information can be
included on the education section of the museum’s website (if it has one) along with your
contact details. Do not assume that having this information on a website is enough. Not
everybody has access to the Internet or the desire to use it.
Compile all this logistical information into a booklet or loose-leaf folder that can be
used in-house. Keep the master file for your own reference and give copies to anyone likely
to deal with enquiries when you are not available. Whoever gives out information should
take the name and contact details of the enquirer so that you can follow up, either with
printed material or with a return call.
It is imperative that all information is readily to hand and that it is kept up to date
(which goes for your website as well). Where printed matter is concerned, it will be cheaper
if you provide a general leaflet outlining all your services and separate, more detailed leaf-
lets with information about each of the services you have on offer.
You will also be kept busy providing information on artefacts, collections, archives and
other aspects of the museum to students and teachers. Many of these will be one-off requests
for snippets of information to resolve specific problems. However, there will be other ques-
tions that become frequent, prompted by the needs of a particular course or curriculum.
With these you will need to research the scope of information required and compile an
appropriate resource pack (if it is for teachers) or project pack (if it is for students). See pages
93 and 94 below for details of these. Copies of this material can then be kept to hand for use
in-house or for distribution to those who require them.

87
88 Museum Educator’s Handbook

You will probably be consulted on various matters by other groups and individuals as
well, especially if you establish a successful education service. Teachers may well require
information that will allow them to integrate any visits they make with the work they are
doing with students. Other museums may wish to work in concert with you over a number
of matters and may even want your advice on how to set up and run education programmes
of their own. These will have to be dealt with on an ad hoc basis, as it is impossible to
anticipate what the queries might be. However, patterns will emerge (just as they will with
enquiries from students and teachers), and it should be possible to prepare material for the
most frequently asked questions and rewrite existing leaflets and information booklets to
take account of them.
You may also be called upon to provide information about museum education in
general, as well as the educational role of museums and the place of museums in society.
This sort of information will be less frequently called for. However, when it is, it will need
to be of a high level of sophistication and convincingly argued as it will sometimes be
required by those who (a) hold the purse strings, (b) make policy and (c) are influential in
society.
Finally, you will be providing information for the media. Primarily this will be infor-
mation about the educational activities that go on at the museum as well as all the outreach
services that you provide. However, you may also have a broader remit to publicize the
museum in general terms. Here, rather than reacting to requests and making sure you keep
the information to hand, you are acting to promote the museum and its activities. Talk to
journalists to find out what sort of information they prefer and how best they like it pre-
sented.

Indirect services
Indirect services are best defined as those in which you use some intermediary to provide
them. In reality, this usually means printed material although there are a number of other
ways of presenting services indirectly. Several of these come under the general term of ‘out-
reach’ and will be dealt with in detail in Chapters 11 and 12. Those that are used in-house
fall within three areas.

OVERALL EDUCATIONAL INPUT

First, there is the general input you make as an education specialist to the design and con-
struction of displays and exhibitions. In this, you also act as liaison between the museum
and its educational users who may have a number of ideas of their own about what they
would like to see done. Exhibitions and displays do not change very often. It is an expensive
business. It is vital, therefore, that when such a change is planned, you have as much say in
the process as possible.
If you work within an enlightened regime, you will be included automatically in deci-
sion-making. If not, you may have to argue the case. Do not wait until you hear of impend-
ing changes. Ascertain the position when you first arrive and make your case for inclusion
as soon as possible.
If your input is included from the earliest stages, education becomes part of any design
brief. The impact you make in terms of cost will be minimal. The impact you make in edu-
 Information and Indirect Services 89

cational terms could be immense. However, this is not a one-way street. You are not there
to dictate, but to cooperate. Careful study and understanding of design techniques, along
with all the other disciplines that are brought to bear, will assist you in the production of
better programmes of educational work.
The general layout of an exhibition, if correctly planned, should make it easier to follow
certain themes and concepts. It should also make it easier to do gallery work with groups
without impeding the general flow of other visitors. Colour coding and a number of other
devices can be employed, with individual artefacts made visually accessible to children as
well as adults and to disabled people as well as the able-bodied.
High levels of interactivity are also desirable. This does not imply expensive, computer-
ized machinery. Whilst there is no doubt that the judicious use of technology can enhance
the museum experience for visitors, there are drawbacks that have to be taken into account.
Computers and associated hardware, along with the software required to run them, are
expensive to buy. Such systems will come in for heavy use and will require frequent main-
tenance and replacement. The software may have to be specially written and will require
debugging and upgrading. This method of providing information is inflexible and delimit-
ing – set answers to questions set by the museum. The computer technology often becomes
the focus of attention, rather than the museum and its artefacts. Finally, if the technology
is a key component in the distribution of information and then breaks down, you are in
serious trouble.
Expensive high-tech solutions are not necessary. Much can be done through design to
involve the visitor more with the artefact or the collection. Much, too, can be done with
text. All the text used – be it information panels, labels, leaflets, guidebooks and so on –
needs to be considered carefully (see the general notes on language in the section on written
material, page 90). Finally, any events that are to take place in concert with exhibitions
(whether new or existing ones) should also come under the scrutiny of the education spe-
cialist to maximize their educational appeal and their use to educational user groups both
at the time of display and later as possible travelling mini-exhibitions for outreach work.
Your input does not guarantee success. Some designers (even in-house museum special-
ists) are notorious for ignoring the specific needs of clients in favour of their grand con-
cepts. However, the opportunity to influence decisions must not be missed. When things
are done correctly it does much to enhance the museum as a place of education.
Not all museums will present the opportunity to influence design. This is especially so
where there is no money to upgrade or create exhibitions. Yet there is still a great deal that
can be done with simple and inexpensive changes. Colour coding, for example, can allow a
number of themed trails to be created through the museum that cut across the pre-set dis-
plays. In a museum that has galleries devoted to specific periods, it would be possible to pick
out domestic implements, tools, materials or any other such category and colour-code the
labels so that students can work through the entire museum following a chosen theme.
Used carefully, this device makes it possible to present a number of concepts without the
need to mount new or special displays.

AUDIO-VISUAL DISPLAYS
Audio-visual displays and audio-visual material also come under the heading of indirect
educational services. As with exhibitions and displays, audio-visual presentations are not
the sole preserve of the museum educator, but the opportunity should be taken to influence
90 Museum Educator’s Handbook

any new ventures. For some, mention of an audio-visual display conjures up images (if not
memories) of clanking projectors, dirty slides, breaking sound tapes, and constant problems
with synchronization. Thankfully, technology in this area has moved forward rapidly.
These days, every home computer can produce an audio-visual display of some sophistica-
tion with a great deal of ease. Specialist editing software coupled with digital photography
(still and video) and audio allow for the relatively rapid production or alteration of audio-
visual displays.
Two forms of audio-visual display are found in museums. First are those that are inte-
grated with exhibitions and which are usually specific to certain items or concepts. The
second form is the showing of material, usually in a room or space of its own, to provide
background and contextual information about whole collections. Always seek to have input
into the design and content of new displays. If you have the time and aptitude, try to famil-
iarize yourself with the technology and software used to produce them.

WRITTEN MATERIAL
By far the most abundant form of indirect educational service is the production of written
material and associated media. Now that desktop publishing is commonplace, publications
are far easier to produce. You have control over most of the process and with simpler prod-
ucts you can probably do it all yourself. However, you will still need to work to an extremely
high standard and be aware of what happens during any process, like printing, that is done
by others. The other advantage of using desktop publishing is that it gives you a great deal
of flexibility. If print runs of material are relatively small, it is possible to keep material up
to date.
The big advantage of written material is that once it has been produced it can meet a
large and constant demand for information without any further call on your time. It is
therefore a prudent move to concentrate, for a while, on producing a good selection of
materials to which you can refer when you feel ready to develop other forms of service.
The most important aspect of any material you produce, no matter at whom it is aimed,
is the use of language. This applies not only to any written material produced for teachers
and students, but should also include a review of all information panels and text associated
with displays as well as guidebooks and other general publications. If museum text and
other visitor information could be improved upon, discuss this with curatorial staff. If the
museum fails at this level, it will be losing a large number of repeat visitors.
Museum text is not an add-on, but an integral part of an exhibition and should be
worded and presented accordingly. Most museums are conscious of this and make every
effort to improve text as displays and exhibitions are updated. Make sure you are involved
in this, as you can advise on a number of issues. Language and educational content are
important, but so too is the overall design. Panels of text do not have to look like enlarged
pages of a book pasted to the wall.
The relation of text to artefacts also has to be considered. Text must supplement the
artefact or collection rather than using them as illustrations for a piece of writing aimed at
a postgraduate level of understanding. There is growing evidence that traditional labels of
more than 150–200 words are seldom read. Longer and more complex text is better saved
for guidebooks and other supplementary publications.
Remember that you are writing as a stimulus. You want visitors and students to study
the artefact or collection, not the text. They should come away with a better understanding
 Information and Indirect Services 91

of what they have seen because any text they have read has helped them to look more
closely and explore for themselves. Everything should be related to the artefacts and collec-
tions as directly as possible.
Remember, also, that you are writing for an audience that is on its feet and exploring,
not one that is sitting in a comfortable chair with all the normal reference texts to hand.
Therefore, any text must be brief and not require students to refer to anything else except
the artefacts and collections they have come to see and work with.
Try to avoid using a formal, impersonal, academic style. This does not mean ‘dumbing
down’, just that language should be as simple and as straightforward as possible. Use famil-
iar words and concepts without being too simple or patronizing. At the same time, whatever
you write has to last (unless you want to update every year). To that end, you must try to be
timeless. There is nothing worse than a reference to some popular figure, icon, or idea that
has gone out of fashion and been largely forgotten. Not only does it show that your text is
outdated, but it may also mean that you become involved in explaining your references
when you should be working with the artefacts and collections.
Vocabulary is extremely important. Do not use technical terms where you can avoid
them. If you do use them, define them as simply as possible. If a text is overloaded with
technical terms, even if they are all defined, it becomes turgid. On the other hand, one of
the long-term objectives of museum education should be to make such terms more familiar.
Understanding them increases understanding of the workings of museums themselves;
they act as a shorthand, bringing great swathes of knowledge to bear in an instant. However,
the mission to educate about museological terms and the processes behind them should be
kept separate from text about specific artefacts. The workings of the museum would make
an interesting exhibition around which educational programmes could be based.
Avoid long sentences and complex constructions that include subordinate clauses. This,
however, has to be balanced with language sufficiently interesting to achieve its purpose.
This is not a particularly easy balance to keep. Test the text on a number of audiences and
take their comments into account before settling on a final version.
Do not include too many abstract concepts but, at the same time, do not shy away from
communicating ideas and asking open questions. You are trying to educate and this cannot
be done without guiding people into unfamiliar territory and encouraging them to explore
it once they are there. As a rule of thumb, restrict one idea to a sentence and one subject to
a paragraph.
Limit the use of evaluative language and closed statements. They have their place, but
can be misleading. Where there is uncertainty over facts or controversy over ideas, make a
feature of it in order to provoke thought and discussion.
Study newspaper articles for a useful format, especially in the case of museum text.
They begin with a headline, which has the dual task of catching attention and letting the
reader know immediately what is contained in the following text. The first paragraph gives
an outline of the whole story. This is then followed by paragraphs that tell the story in
detail. Progressively smaller print size points this up and allows people to choose how much
detail they want.
The newspaper format is not the only way of presenting information, but it has worked
successfully for newspapers for a long time. Remember that you should not overload a piece
of text with too much information. Go for the key points, state them clearly, and then rein-
force them. These will be remembered. Further information can be gleaned from other
sources when it is more convenient for students to do so. While they are in the museum,
92 Museum Educator’s Handbook

they should be using the artefacts and collections. References can be given at the end of a
session or passed to the teacher who can then make sure that they are available for their
students. If you refer constantly to books and other media, make sure they are available for
sale in the museum shop.
There are several different basic formats of written material that you should consider.
In all cases, everything you produce should be dated. This is especially relevant to material
containing reference to temporary exhibitions or information about the content, times and
prices of any services. However, as a general policy it makes sense to keep people informed
about when materials were produced.
Establish a house style for all educational materials that makes their source and the
connection between them apparent without restricting you to particular paper sizes or
formats. An easily identifiable logo that is as effective small as it is large is a useful asset. The
museum may already have one. Assess and rewrite any existing materials to bring them in
line with educational developments.

LEAFLETS AND PUBLICITY MATERIAL

Leaflets, posters, booklets, and the like all come under the heading of publicity material and
general information about education services. A leaflet, A4 folded in thirds, is a well-tried
and successful format. They stack easily, can provide a series of spaces for different forms of
information, and fit readily into a DL size envelope. Design of leaflets is important. The
front cover should be attractive and identify where it comes from and what it contains. This
still leaves nearly two sides of A4 to provide other information. Do not try to cram too much
into the space. It is far better to give basic information and refer to further leaflets and book-
lets.
If you have a limited budget to spend on professional print design, it should be spent on
this material. Teachers are often inundated with publicity and marketing material and
unless it is eye-catching, it will suffer the fate of most – the waste bin. It is far better to use
your money to catch their interest. Once that is done, the quality of your follow-up will
keep the interest alive.

NEWSLETTERS
Newsletters are also a useful way of providing up-to-date information on the educational
services and activities of the museum. They also offer the opportunity to reach a wider audi-
ence than information leaflets, using a more relaxed and personal style. If the museum has
its own newsletter, an education page or supplement may be the answer, giving you the
opportunity to explain the work of a museum educator and talk about the specific services
you offer. However, be careful. If you institute a newsletter, it must be regular. This ties you
to a deadline. This in itself is not a bad thing, but it is an extra commitment, especially if
you are responsible not just for the writing but for the full production process.

BIBLIOGRAPHIES
One of the problems faced by teachers is finding quality material for reference and research.
In your work, you will doubtless come across a large number of publications relating to the
museum and its contents. Compiling critical bibliographies of these publications is a service
 Information and Indirect Services 93

for which many teachers would be grateful. This may mean a degree of initial research, but
that would be a useful project for you as well and would be an excellent way to establish
links with your local library services.

GALLERY NOTES
Everyone is familiar with museum guidebooks, and knows that the majority of them are
written for adult visitors of quite a high level of education. They are often produced with
very high print runs to keep production costs as low as possible and some of them have not
dated well.
Part of the problem is that many museums have small budgets and try to make such
guides do too many things. From an educational point of view, wanting people to engage
with the artefacts rather than the written word, written guides should contain no more
than is necessary to ensure that visitors know where everything is.
Sufficient information about artefacts to stimulate interest in them can be supplied in
museum text and labelling. If visitors want detailed information, then booklets and books
can be made available in a shop that visitors come to at the end of their visit. This is just as
true for teachers, who should always be encouraged to visit the museum before they bring
students. Their preliminary visit should allow them the chance to explore the museum and
come to know the physical space and its contents. Any text-based experience they might be
looking for should be there at the end.
Gallery notes containing detailed information on the contents of galleries and exhibi-
tions should concentrate on those artefacts. Aim at producing a series that covers the entire
museum. These, along with other basic forms of information, should also be provided in a
number of languages. Not only are visitors likely to be from many different parts of the
world, but educational user groups may also be from abroad – not to mention local students
who are studying foreign languages. This material will also be of use to teachers who teach
languages and they may even be induced to help produce translations. It would be easy
enough to find out which languages are most common and start with those.

TEACHERS’ PACKS (RESOURCE PACKS)

Teachers’ resource packs are related to the permanent exhibitions, education collections (for
example, handling collections), and loan materials. However, they have a broader approach
than gallery notes so that teachers can use them for general teaching as well as for prepara-
tory and follow-up work on museum visits.
These packs can be produced in various formats, but A4 loose-leaf is the most useful
and flexible. This material can be produced and sold a sheet at a time if necessary, so that
you do not have the extra costs associated with binding the material. Sheets can be kept
together in ring binders and added to without the need to reproduce material that is still
valid. They fit readily on to photocopiers and computer scanners.
The loose-leaf format is very attractive to teachers. If a museum produces work packs,
or any sort of resource material that is too fixed or contains large amounts of irrelevant
material, then teachers will be less interested in buying and using it. This is partly because
it does not and cannot meet their particular needs. However, it is also because it becomes
like any other resource book. Teachers, like the rest of us, have to be careful about how they
spend their money. If they come across a resource that is flexible, full of information and
94 Museum Educator’s Handbook

illustrations, which can be organized as they want and to which they can add other mate-
rial, they are more likely to buy it. This is especially so if they can follow up with visits to
the place where the material was produced, talk with the person who produced it, and make
use of the resource on which it is based. The best way to ensure that you produce what
teachers want is to involve them in its production. The mechanics of this has been dis-
cussed and the advantages are obvious, especially if teachers at all levels of education are
involved and the finished product is, wherever possible, free of copyright.
Always include illustrations where relevant. The younger the student, the more illustra-
tions (although older students appreciate them as well). Make sure they are of good quality.
If photographs are used, make sure that the reproductions of them are clear. If the illustra-
tions are hand-drawn, try to use a professional artist. Excellent text can be made to look
poor if the accompanying illustrations (which attract the eye first) are of poor quality.
Teachers also like plenty of illustrations that they can copy and use in their teaching. All
illustrations should be accompanied by a scale, so that the true size of the artefact is readily
apparent.
The actual content of the resource packs will depend on the content of a museum’s col-
lections and the subjects that are being taught by teachers. These need not be tightly restricted
to subject areas but can take a thematic approach and include a number of different subjects.
For example, museums with extensive historical collections covering a lengthy time-span
might produce a series of packs on life in the local area during a given historical period,
looking at domestic life, politics, clothing, food, technology, leisure, work, and so on.
Topics related to museums can be looked at as well. One of the most obvious of these is
archaeology. An understanding of the principles of archaeology is helpful in understanding
artefacts when they are being studied (why some survive and others do not, how they are
found, recorded, cleaned, interpreted, and so on). This also relates to an understanding of
the archaeology of the area local to the museum. If the museum contains geological or
natural history materials, these too can be looked at in similar fashion. The range is limited
only by the imagination of the museum educator and the teachers who become involved.

STUDENTS’ PACKS (PROJECT PACKS)

Project packs for students have much in common with resource packs for teachers. Like
resource packs, they can be compiled with the aid of teachers, who can indicate the sort of
material they believe should be included. This should be, primarily, material drawn from
the museum resource and clearly replicated.
One of the best features about project packs is that they present an opportunity for
students to make use of primary source material in a controlled way. You can easily include
replicated copies of documentary material, references to artefacts in the museum, and refer-
ences to books to be found in local libraries. Illustrations and text derived from a number
of other sources can also be included with appropriate permissions. At no time should you
attempt to produce a textbook. The aim is to provide access to primary material without the
need to go through lengthy search procedures. It also protects a resource that is in demand
from degradation through overuse.
Students are provided with the opportunity to work with source material, assess it, and
extract information from it that is relevant to their work. As with all other such material, it
should be of high quality. There is a case for such packs being kept within the museum so
that students get used to working in a particular environment. However, excessive demand
 Information and Indirect Services 95

may mean that such packs need to be reproduced in quantity so that they become available
for schools to use.
For older students who have experience of working with primary material that is fragile,
you can still set up resource packs which have to be used in the museum and which contain
the genuine article. This could be seen as a next step in training students to make use of the
full resource and undertake their own search and research programmes.

ACTIVITY PACKS
Museum-produced activity packs, containing information and instructions for a whole host
of activities to be pursued by students, can be produced for formal education groups.
However, they have many drawbacks in that situation. Foremost amongst these is that their
target audience is narrow and a whole series of such packs would need to be produced to suit
all age and ability groups. It is far better to work in concert with teachers of formal and non-
formal groups, providing them with the resources they need to produce their own material.
This will then be targeted at the correct age and ability group, and even more narrowly
tailored to the particular group that the teacher is working with.
Any activity pack and programme that you devise should be aimed at informal group-
ings, especially family groups. Activities can also be built into exhibitions. Such packs
should aim to put fun to the fore (although all activity within the museum should be enjoy-
able) and should contain work that family groups can do together. This is difficult to
achieve, especially as it will be necessary to produce new material of this nature on a regular
basis.
At a very simple level, an activity pack may consist of colouring books filled with line
drawings of artefacts on display. There can be word searches that require those doing them
to have looked at artefacts closely, and crosswords that require the same. Further activities
can be included that allow visitors to interact with exhibitions. These will need to have
clear and simple instructions so that time is spent doing rather than trying to understand
how to do.

WORKSHEETS
Although worksheets come within the general category of activity packs, they are consid-
ered separately here, as they are controversial. Some people think they are wonderful.
Others believe that they destroy the purpose of visiting museums and should never be used.
They are certainly problematical simply because they are extremely difficult to devise well.
To be successful they often require more time spent on them than they are worth. Unless
you have the time and the skill, they should be avoided.
There are logistical problems associated with the use of worksheets. Younger students
may be unused to working with clipboards and find the process unduly clumsy and stress-
ful. Giving the same sheet to a large group means a travelling bottleneck that inconven-
iences other visitors as well as making it difficult for the students to see anything properly.
There are also educational problems associated with worksheets. They have a tendency
to induce competition amongst students to see who can finish first, resulting in short cuts
being taken to find relevant text in the museum. Museum-produced worksheets are rarely
completely relevant to the work students are doing. They get in the way of the unique ways
of working in the museum, focusing instead on the written word in a largely unnecessary
96 Museum Educator’s Handbook

exercise. Students of all ages can remember astonishing amounts of information as well as
complex ideas after long periods without the need to write anything down.
Worksheets can be useful in the correct context. For example, they can be used as an
initial follow-up back at school in order to fix certain facts and ideas in a given order in
preparation for long-term follow-up work. In that respect, they are the responsibility of the
teacher, although there is no reason why you should not be involved in their design (espe-
cially by supplying pictures and factual terms).
Worksheets can also be used for very specific tasks that lead to other things or bridge
one part of a student’s work with another. They should never be used as the sole or major
part of any museum work you produce or offer, simply because the focus will be on the
worksheet and not on the museum and what it contains. If over-used they reduce the
museum to a three-dimensional reference book and that violates one of the basic principles
of museum work: it should be something that can only be done in a museum.
If worksheets are unavoidable, then great care needs to be taken with them. They should
be designed so that large groups of children do not congregate in one place at one time.
They should refer to those things relevant to the group using them and which are readily
accessible. It is no good, for example, setting work on an artefact in a case that only adults
(by dint of their height) can see clearly.
Make the sheet place-specific – especially useful in large museums, otherwise children
will spend the rest of their visit wandering around trying to find what they are looking for.
Be specific about what sort of answer is needed (notes, text, drawing, several answers).
Provide a clear space for answers – boxes for drawings, lines for written answers (with
numbers if there are several pieces of information to be found). Make the language and
vocabulary suitable to the group.

MATERIAL SUPPORTING OR SUPPLEMENTARY TO MUSEUM COURSES

If you run courses for older students, especially those training to teach or already in the
profession, it is well worth providing the content of each session in note form for those who
attend. This means that students do not have to worry about taking notes and can thus
concentrate on what is going on. It gives you the opportunity to expand on certain points
that time limits may preclude from the session itself. It also allows you to provide supple-
mentary information in the form of bibliographies and the like.
Such material is not difficult to produce, as it is merely a formalized extension of any
preparation you will have made for the session or course. Whilst this is not essential, it is an
extra that students attending such courses will much appreciate. This is one of the many
small touches that helps to build your reputation.

SPECIALIST MATERIAL ON SUBJECTS RELATING TO MUSEUM COLLECTIONS

Other members of museum staff may be persuaded to produce monographs or more gener-
alized but learned pieces relating to the museum’s collections and its concerns. These should
be aimed at the public but with the aim of increasing their knowledge and understanding
of museums. Booklets that explain the work of members of the museum staff (including the
front-of-house staff) would also be an attractive feature. It would surprise many people to
learn what goes on in museums.
 Information and Indirect Services 97

MATERIAL RELATING TO LOCAL HISTORY AND LOCAL ARCHAEOLOGY

Museums cannot contain material relating to every aspect of local history, archaeology,
geology, natural history and so on. However, such things are of interest to museum staff as
they are the context from which much material is extracted (unless the museum is highly
specialized). It would make sense, therefore, to produce information on such contexts that
will be of interest to visitors, teachers, and students who have an interest in local history
and the locale in general. This could include material on notable local people, places, build-
ings, and events. If the museum is in an urban setting, then town trails can be arranged
which use the context of a walk through the streets in order to point out interesting features
and tie them in with the history of the place. If good relations exist between museums
within the locality, there is ample opportunity for them to pool their resources in this
respect and take visitors from museum to museum.

PRINTING
If you are going to be producing printed material in any quantity, it is well worth taking the
time to learn something of desktop publishing and of the printing process. Being able to lay
out a page of material, choose appropriate fonts and sizes, and discuss such issues with
whoever is doing the printing will lead to a high quality of production.
You will also need to decide which printing process is most appropriate. A short run can
be managed by the printer attached to your computer. Longer runs can be achieved using
photocopying equipment. In both cases, you need machines designed to withstand con-
stant use. Bear in mind that although you can achieve good quality results with such tech-
nology, you are restricted in what you can produce – leaflets, loose-leaf packs, and so on.
If you want professional, properly bound, permanent products of high quality such as
books, you will have to use an established printing company. With modern print-on-
demand technology, there is no need for cupboards filled with unsold stock and financial
limits on the number of publications a museum can produce. Setting up texts and designing
covers is relatively easy and inexpensive (although you may need to make a one-off payment
for necessary software). These can be transferred electronically, stored for a modest fee,
priced realistically, and printed in small quantities as and when they are needed. Print costs
per unit tend to be marginally higher, but this is offset by the ability to keep a large list of
items (including highly specialized material) in print.

COMPUTER SOFTWARE AND CD ROMS

Computers feature ever more widely in our lives. They provide a number of opportunities
for the production of material from software that enables useful research databases to be set
up through to the production of CD ROMs. Even with advances in the sophistication of
desktop computers, this is still a specialized area and in order to produce material of any
value you will probably need to consult specialists.
CD ROMs offer an excellent opportunity for sharing large collections of visual material
that might otherwise be difficult for large groups of students to access. Photographic collec-
tions and documentary material can be processed on to disks along with paintings and
drawings. This is especially valuable if your museum has large reserve collections of material
that rarely see the light of day and need special protection. Initial outlay is likely to be
expensive but the finished product has excellent sales potential.
98 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Producing some or all of the materials discussed above will provide any museum educa-
tor with a secondary resource of immense importance. In the case of small museums or
museums where the museum educator has other duties, or where the person charged with
providing such a service has no teaching experience, it is the main way of providing an
education service. With a little imagination, it can be an education service of which to be
proud.
 10 Direct Services
CHAPTER

Direct educational services are the most time-consuming that a museum educator can
provide. However, they can also be the most satisfying as they offer the opportunity to
interact with educational users and obtain immediate feedback. It is not just feedback on
your approach that is important, but the fact that you have the opportunity to learn from
others. You will be surprised, if you are prepared to listen and learn, how astute students
can be – especially younger ones who have yet to pick up certain academic prejudices. Their
questions are searching and their eyes are sharp. They will ask things for which you have no
answer – and one of the lessons that any student must learn is that answers cannot always
be found. Younger students will see things that everyone else has missed, literally and met-
aphorically.
There are a number of approaches you can take, from the formal to the informal and
from the static to the active. They all require a great deal of planning and preparation. Pro-
viding these services should not be allowed to dominate your time to the extent that you
have no room for anything else in your working life. It can easily happen and you must set
aside time for other activities.

Static presentations
Static presentations are the least active forms of direct service and are quite often used in
outreach work. They will be dealt with here as they apply in the museum context and will
be considered again in Chapter 11 as they apply outwith the museum. In essence static
presentations mean giving some form of talk, be it a formal lecture, a more informal talk or
a seminar. These will work with all ages and abilities of student as long as they are appropri-
ately worded and presented.
To present something as a lecture raises an expectation that it will be both formal and
of a certain academic level. The setting, if possible within your museum, should match this
expectation. If you do not have a lecture theatre or similar facilities, there is no reason why
an appropriate gallery should not be used. However, you must be able to provide adequate
seating that meets safety regulations. You must also be prepared to compete with the dis-
tractions of what is displayed there (although it may be that the lecture is about or related
to the exhibition).
Such formal events need careful organization. They present one of the public faces of
the museum and you should be aware of this at all times. A great deal of prestige can be
attached to lecture series or annual lectures, with high-profile guest lecturers and promi-
nent persons being invited to attend. However, the lecture should be relevant to the museum
in some way. Speakers, be they in-house or guests, should be chosen for their ability to
lecture well.

99
100 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Advertising and invitations need to be prepared in good time. Sometimes catering is

required for a general buffet or for selected guests. Unless you have a restaurant in-house,
find a good caterer who will provide appetising food to suit many tastes and dietary needs.
All other facilities need to be well signed, and decisions must be made about access to other
parts of the museum. This will depend largely on the reason for the lecture. If it is part of a
series of general lectures, then restricted access will probably be the best option. If the
lecture is given to launch a new exhibition, that, at least, will have to be open for view.
There is also the question of whether those attending are to be invited or whether the
lecture is open to all. A mix is possible, but invited guests must be given some privilege not
available to others such as supper or a guided tour.
Do not forget that the museum will need to be tidied up after such an event. This
should be done immediately. Never leave it until the morning after, as that brings you too
close to the deadline to open the museum to the public.
Informal talks, although more casual and more likely to be open to all, need just as
much planning. Advertising is again important, as are all the other arrangements. It is their
content and the presentation that differs. Less academic talks, with the aim of bringing in
the whole of the community, should be lively and informative. They can also be tailored to
suit specific audiences; even twenty-minute talks at lunchtime can attract people in large
urban areas.
Seminars, too, can take on a number of forms, but remember that discussions can go on
for a long time and this must be allowed for. Seminars are more likely to be part of courses
offered by the museum rather than one-off affairs, although talks and lectures should
provide opportunities for the audience to ask questions.
Storytelling is also an excellent way of conveying ideas and information while having
a great deal of fun, passing on local myths, legends, and history. It is certainly likely to be a
bit livelier than a formal lecture. This is an art form worth developing or, if you do not feel
comfortable with the idea, professional storytellers can be employed. Storytelling has a long
and venerable history throughout the world and is still popular today in many countries.
Do not make the mistake of assuming it is for young people only. Adults also enjoy listening
to tales, and if the storyteller is good, you should have no trouble in attracting audiences.
Of course, your material must relate to the museum, and its collections and artefacts can be
used to help illustrate the tale. In a sense, all teaching is a form of storytelling and it is
invaluable in any direct work you do.

Ambulant lectures
Moving on from static presentations, the next area to consider is ambulant lectures. These
fall into three main categories. To begin with, there are those that can be used to familiarize
visitors and students with the layout of the museum. All visitors – but especially children
– require orientation. Even a brief explanation of what they will be doing during a visit can
be very useful. Telling students what they might learn actually increases the likelihood that
they will learn it. Orientation sessions are also useful for students who are likely to make
repeat visits or who will be spending some time in the museum. They can spare a few
moments to learn where galleries are and where other facilities such as toilets, eating areas,
shops and the like are situated. These sessions need not take long and are worthwhile, even
if you also produce leaflets with plans of the building’s layout. All this can save you from
 Direct Services 101

answering the same questions repeatedly later. Students benefit as well, as it allows them
time to become familiar with the feel and style of the museum without the fear of getting
lost or missing anything.
Next is the category that most springs to mind when ambulant lectures are considered
– guided tours. Guided tours may sound a little old-fashioned these days but they still serve
an extremely useful function. As with familiarization tours, they offer the opportunity to
explore a particular gallery or collection in detail so that students have a basic framework
for later work. Such tours, however, should not consist simply of the museum educator
moving from artefact to artefact and from display to display, lecturing as they go. That
method is what has brought guided tours into disrepute. Involve the students in what they
are seeing, turn it into a story, relate it to other work, and get them to do all the interpreting.
If students are made to work for their information in a structured and enjoyable way, they
will learn more.
Try to avoid using guided tours, no matter how interactive, as the sole aspect of a visit.
Other work needs to be done with them. Such an approach may be limited, in any case, by
the size and design of the museum. If the museum is closed to all but students, there is no
problem. In normal circumstances, however, other visitors will be in the museum and the
interface between them and educational groups can be an uncomfortable one if visitors feel
they are being excluded from certain parts of the museum by the presence of large numbers
of students at work. Some do not mind the presence of students. It is not unknown for such
visitors to ask if they can join in or at least stand at the back and listen. Others, however, are
put off by educational groups, uncertain about sharing space with them or even hostile to
their presence. Balancing the educational role of the museums against the sensibilities of
others is difficult. It is partly a matter of presentation. If the museum has a reputation for
its educational work and notices are posted that visitors may encounter groups at work,
problems are less likely.
One thing you, and anyone else who conducts tours, should be aware of is visitors who
stray into the area you are using. If they seem hesitant, do not be afraid to break off what
you are doing and address them. Welcome them, explain briefly what you are doing, how
long you will be there and invite them to stay. They may do so or, knowing that the place
will be free in ten minutes’ time, they may elect to return.
Finally, there are ‘backstage tours’ in which groups are given the opportunity to see
those parts of the museum not normally open to the public. For obvious reasons these work
better with smaller groups and even then need to be tightly controlled. You should also
ensure that all relevant health and safety standards can be met before taking non-staff
members into areas not normally open to the public. Furthermore, these tours must take
into account the fact that you are disrupting the working lives of colleagues. Even if they are
all enthusiastic, you need to keep disruption to an absolute minimum and should perhaps
confine this sort of work to students who are studying relevant courses, such as museum
studies or archaeology.

Activity-based sessions
Options that are more active will require rooms and spaces away from the galleries, as they
would otherwise be highly disruptive for other visitors. You may also need specialist equip-
ment that can only be placed in situ, such as benches, sinks, messy work areas and so on.
102 Museum Educator’s Handbook

This does not preclude some activities taking place in the public part of the museum, but it
should be based elsewhere.
To begin with, you can arrange and offer demonstrations of varying kinds. The richest
area is in demonstrating the techniques that were used in the past to produce the various
types of artefact to be found in the museum. Pottery, metalworking, stonemasonry, weaving
and the like can be shown in action and provide a valuable insight into construction and
form that may not be evident from a study of the finished product. What is more, demon-
strations provide an excellent forum for craft workers using traditional methods, as they
can show their skills to a wider audience.
From watching others work, one can move on to activities involving varying levels of
participation. For example, there are handling sessions in which genuine artefacts and rep-
licas (although the genuine thing should be used where at all possible) are made available
for students to pick up, handle, touch, feel the weight of, and examine in detail. The psy-
chological impact of touching the real thing, even if it is an old bit of broken pottery, is
immense. This is especially relevant for younger children, for students with visual impair-
ments and for those with other difficulties. Often, tactile experiences have more meaning
for them and make a greater impact.
Handling sessions presuppose the existence of a handling collection. There will always
be caution from curatorial staff about the use of artefacts for handling. Some of these arise
from genuine concerns, but should never be accepted as an excuse to offer substandard
material. Handling collections are essential to a first-class education service, and there are
strong educational arguments that you can use to persuade curators of their value.
Despite the many debates and disagreements about the exact nature of the benefits of
touching and handling, psychologists are in broad agreement that such activity is benefi-
cial. Some, like Piaget, argue that it is only relevant at a particular (and early) stage of devel-
opment. Others, like Bruner, argue that handling is beneficial at all levels of development,
but for different reasons. One thing is certain: in most westernized cultures, language as a
mode of learning has come to outweigh any other form of experience of the world and has
led to an unbalanced development of the human being.
John Dewey (1963) has argued convincingly that education should be based on direct
experience. One of the most direct forms of experience is touching. When the objects we
touch are from cultures distant and sometimes alien to our own, there is a great psycho-
logical impact that cannot be achieved even by looking at the same object from close
quarters.
One of the facts to be taught through handling is that some objects are too fragile or
precious to be allowed this sort of treatment. This can lead to discussions and work on what
makes something fragile and what makes something precious. This in turn will lead to areas
of work on the nature of museums, what they are for, and all the work that goes on within
them.
Do not put a handling collection together on an ad hoc basis. Try to work towards some
specific aims. Themed collections that relate to programmes of work or pieces that are con-
nected with artefacts on display are just two examples. Nor is it always necessary to use old
objects. Contemporary material can be purchased or commissioned, especially if it is the
process that needs demonstrating as much as the finished piece.
When teaching people how to read objects, it is essential that they are able to handle
them. Detail only becomes apparent on close examination. You can probably find one or
two unusual-looking artefacts in the museum’s collection whose original use is obscure. A
 Direct Services 103

careful examination of the artefact should eventually lead students to working out its
function.
The logical progression from watching and handling is participation in activity-based
workshops. As with all the approaches mentioned here, there are a number of basic forms
that such workshops can take – the age and ability of students being major determining
factors. Learning through doing and making leads to a far higher level of understanding
than any other method, as long as it is part of an integrated approach that involves other
methods. All such activity should derive from the museum’s collections and should be
concerned with exploring the creation and use of the artefacts, as well as coming to an
understanding of the social and historical environments in which they existed and which
helped to form them. Remember, these workshops can be costly to mount and require a
high degree of preparation and clearing up. Weigh up the inconveniences against the ben-
efits and decide how often you want to offer such activities. If they rely on materials that
are largely reusable and small-scale, they can be offered on a regular basis.
Some of these activity workshops can grow out of other activity-based approaches.
Where demonstrations lend themselves, students can participate and create objects for
themselves using the techniques demonstrated. For example, paper-making, although
messy, is immense fun. It leads not only to an understanding of paper, but also of the source
materials that can be used in its production, and thus its value. Moreover, students have
something to take home at the end of the day. Such concrete end products are particularly
suited to younger students, but are often appreciated by older students as well.
Differing crafts can also be gathered together at one time in order to demonstrate living
in a particular historical period. This may involve wood- and metalworking, weaving,
cooking, clothes-making, shoe-making, making cosmetics and medicines, playing games
and so on. A whole host of skills brought together in this way and suitably demonstrated
can help to create a sense of how people lived at a given time in history.
Organizing such workshops is time-consuming and none too easy, as it means coordi-
nating the activities of a number of people. Indeed, it needs to be done a long way in
advance, as many craftspeople travel widely to promote and sell their wares. This commer-
cial aspect needs to be taken into account, and time and space should be created for people
to promote their craft and sell the things they make. This is a very good opportunity to
market the museum education service. An increasing number of re-enactment societies can
also offer a similar service as a ready-made package.
Much simpler single activities such as drawing can take place throughout the museum
without too much disruption. It is also possible to build activities into exhibitions so that
they become a natural feature of the museum experience. As always, it is a matter of research-
ing your market and providing what is needed within the limits of your resource.
Another form of active involvement that makes use of students’ informed imagination
is re-enactment and role play. These are slightly different activities but invariably work
together. Role play involves taking on a role and living through a variety of experiences
common to that role. A student might, for example, dress in a representative costume of an
eighteenth-century villager and perform a number of everyday activities associated with
village life of that period. Re-enactment may involve those same students acting out a
specific event in village history with students taking on specific roles, as in a play.
The setting for such work is very important. A purpose-built museum is a less effective
setting than an old house with a history of its own or a ruin or reconstructed site to which
104 Museum Educator’s Handbook

the museum is attached. The essential thing is to make the most of the environment and to
devise the best methods of doing so.
There is a role here, too, for museum staff to dress in period clothing and become living
repositories of information and skills. Some museums already do this on a permanent basis
and to great effect. Other museums do not lend themselves to this approach, although there
is no reason why education staff should not adopt specific roles to lead particular types of
education session.
Games and simulations are also an important active form of work, although they are
often neglected by museums. Indeed, games are still looked on with suspicion in many
quarters despite the great degree of sophistication they have reached. These range from
simple observation games that can be played by individuals throughout the museum to
more sophisticated detective games for individuals and for groups. Much more sophisti-
cated simulation games can also be devised and played, making use of artefacts and collec-
tions.
The form of such games depends on the content of the museum’s collections, but situ-
ations can be created for students to resolve using knowledge gleaned from a study of arte-
facts and information within the museum. Such games can develop through a number of
stages. Social and historical issues can be explored and resolved through the playing of
games of ‘what if’ based on historical information and understanding. There are many
excellent books on the subject. Like many other such activities, games take a great deal of
thinking out and time to create, especially as they are very open-ended, but the rewards are
far-reaching. They are certainly an extremely creative way to make use of the museum
resource. Students who have played such games could be encouraged to consider devising
their own, a further activity for them to undertake within the museum.

Teacher training
Of all the direct services you can offer, the most far-reaching and the most important are
training courses for student teachers and practising teachers. The aims of such courses are
twofold and quite simple. The first is to ensure that teachers are aware of the best ways in
which to make use of the educational resource that museums represent. The second is to
make your work as a museum educator easier. These aims are two sides of the same coin, as
they are both achieved by equipping teachers with the skills and experience they need to
use museums well and with confidence.
Whilst the organization of such courses of work for initial teacher training (ITT) stu-
dents will differ from that for practising teachers on in-service training (InSeT), their
content will cover much the same ground. Students following ITT courses can, when their
other commitments allow, attend the museum during the day and spend prolonged amounts
of time working within the museum environment. Intensive courses taking place over a
five-day period work just as well as half-day sessions spread over a full term. For practising
teachers, the demands of their work mean that training sessions would have to be offered at
other times. Official training days can be made use of, but the demands on these to update
teachers on administrative and curricular matters mean that available days are too infre-
quent to mount any but one-off sessions. Whilst these should be used, longer courses (which
are of greater benefit) need other approaches. Short twilight sessions, weekend courses and
vacation courses should all be considered.
 Direct Services 105

However, if you are going to attract teachers into these, remember that you are asking
them to give up valuable time. Many will do so willingly. Teachers are extremely committed
people. Their work is a vocation and they will do much to improve their skills and under-
standing. To make your courses more attractive, make sure you provide some recognition of
attendance at the end of it. A certificate of course completion is one answer, but it should be
something they have had to work for and which guarantees that they have reached a
minimum level of competence and knowledge.
Certification is pointless unless it confers a real benefit. It might be worth setting up an
accreditation scheme, in which you offer a training course to teachers on how to use your
museum. If they pass, they are awarded privileged access to the museum and its educational
services (including follow-up courses). This is especially useful if you are oversubscribed, as
priority can be given to certificate holders. If such a scheme were run in concert with a
group of museums, with practical and orientating work in each, the certificate would give
the teachers access to several museums and those museums would have a guarantee that
certificate holders are competent to be let loose on the resource.
The content of such courses should include, as a minimum, certain essential areas of
study. To begin with, candidates would need to understand the educational role of museums
and the reasons why teachers should use them. Teachers would also need to appreciate that
museums are unique places of education, different from the schools and colleges they work
in. Special methods and approaches are necessary for successful work.
It would also be useful for teachers to understand what is done by museums and
museum staff. A behind-the-scenes look at the various areas of activity would not only
accomplish this, but also introduce some of the basic concepts that are vital to an under-
standing of working with material culture.
This should be supplemented with some of the basic skills involved. In particular,
teachers should learn how to handle artefacts – especially fragile and delicate ones. You also
need to cover the use of cotton gloves, acid-free storage mediums, humidity and tempera-
ture control, ultraviolet light levels, and so on.
Having gained this background in the nature of the resource they are going to be using,
teachers would then be encouraged to think how they should plan and prepare for bringing
groups of students to a museum. Teachers should appreciate the need to integrate museum
work with what they do and to prepare both themselves and their students for the work.
They will all be working in an environment and with a medium with which they are largely
unfamiliar. Preparation is, therefore, crucial.
A number of sessions should be devoted to working with artefacts. Single objects, groups
of objects, buildings, sites, pictorial material, and documentary material all need different
approaches to yield information. Each of these can also provide different types of informa-
tion depending on the sort of questions asked of them. In addition, teachers should be
introduced to the various forms of service that will be available and appropriate within dif-
ferent museum environments.
Finally, think how to follow up visits both in terms of the students’ work and in terms
of the teacher’s assessment of the visit. Feedback to the museum is important, and assess-
ment is easier if teachers know what sort of information museum educators are likely to
want. There are other things that can be done in conjunction with teachers relating to spe-
cific coursework. These are discussed in Chapter 13.
By giving such courses, you are not trying to do yourself out of a job. There are many
other things a museum educator must do. However, those tasks are made easier if you have
106 Museum Educator’s Handbook

more time and are confident that teachers are working in the museum with the necessary
skills, experience, and confidence. Not the least of these many other tasks is running courses
for education staff from other museums and other professionals who have an interest in the
museum. Some of these people will be using outreach material and wish to use it compe-
tently. This may be especially important if some of the outreach projects you run depend
on other people to maintain them, such as in prison or hospital education units, or in the
case of school museums.
Work with ITT students brings its own particular problems, not least of which is the
fact that ITT courses rarely (if ever) include the use of museums, libraries, art galleries, and
other such complementary resources. This means that any work you do with students must
be done under the auspices of lecturers who recognize the value of museums and galleries.
Perhaps the most important thing you can do (besides working on an ad hoc basis with
students) is to join with like-minded museum educators and ITT lecturers to lobby for the
use of museums as an educational resource to be formally included in ITT curricula.

Fieldwork and site work

If you work in a museum that is attached in some way to a site of archaeological or historical
importance, or if your museum is home to a field archaeology unit, or if it houses artefacts
and collections connected with local history, you may consider that you have the right to
develop education programmes and services that make use of this extended resource.
If this is the case, you could be offering guided tours and activity workshops in places
other than the museum. These involve extra complications, not least of which are the legally
binding health and safety issues that may apply. These vary according to place and circum-
stance and need to be gone into very carefully – especially if any external site you work on
has hazards that students are not used to coping with.
You should also bear in mind other aspects of such work. Weather is an all-important
factor that can make or mar outside work. You could point out that in the past the weather
had a great impact on people’s lives and that to experience its effects is part of the learning
process. However, you will need to guard against prolonged exposure to adverse conditions,
especially with younger students.
Special skills are also required and can be taught; for example, surveying can provide
groups with invaluable and copious amounts of data to take away and work on elsewhere.
Recording of such data (a skill used indoors as well, but with special problems in the open)
also needs to be taught and practised.
Notwithstanding all the problems and special needs involved in outdoor work, the
rewards are enormous – especially where such work can be linked with materials held in the
museum’s collections. Cold and damp as it can sometimes be, it is an adventure to explore
such places under guidance. Students are offered an equivalent experience to the one gained
from handling artefacts. Here they tread the very ground where their ancestors walked,
worked, and lived out their lives. They can see how material culture extends to buildings
and landscapes. They can learn to interpret these and connect them with the artefacts kept
elsewhere. They can also come to appreciate something of the working conditions of those
who painstakingly win these artefacts from the places they were lost, and consider some of
the ethical arguments that surround such work.
 Direct Services 107

Precisely what sort of activities you plan and carry through in such situations depends
on the specific resource and location (be it urban, suburban, rural or wilderness), as well as
its place within our culture. Some activities acceptable on some sites are not acceptable on
others. The final form of activities depends on you and the ingenuity you bring to bear.

Museum staff training

Apart from all the services you offer to groups outwith the museum, you should seek to set
up internal training programmes as well. Even museums with a small staff can benefit
greatly from formal training, especially where people are expected to take on a number of
roles or be involved in decision-making.
Such training sessions can range from familiarization with internal structures and pro-
cedures to learning about what everyone does within the museum, where everything is
kept, and what sort of things are on display and which kept in store. New members of staff
should certainly have induction sessions, as this will increase their confidence and bring
them up to peak working efficiency much more quickly than if they were left to learn
things in a haphazard way. Personnel departments may already offer such training but not
many museums have personnel departments.
This sort of training regime should be accompanied by a handbook of structures and
procedures that sets out in clear language everything that is expected of staff and how they
should do things, down to filling in expenses claim forms and annual visitor figure returns.
It should also include maps and plans that locate everything in the museum, a note of dead-
lines for the presentation of various forms and reports, and a calendar of fixed events. This
is vital for new staff who may have a great deal of new information and procedures to
assimilate, especially if the museum is tied to the bureaucracy of local or national govern-
ment. Such a document should be cross-referenced and well indexed, with both official
terminology and the in-house slang that is used to refer to things. Above all, it must be kept
up to date.
In addition to basic working procedure and general familiarization, all museum staff
should be kept abreast of developments in education so that they understand what is going
on when students visit and appear to be doing quite bizarre things. Greater understanding
means that staff can play their part in what is happening – a sound management strategy
that leads to greater commitment.
It could be argued that larger museums that have education departments should be
using them for more formal staff development. This will have to be done in conjunction
with specialists within the museum so that, between you, you can draw up detailed pro-
grammes of work for the training of staff that outline, step by step, what should be learnt
and in what order. This makes it easier for the museum educator to set the programme in
place and find the requisite teaching staff.
There are also nationally recognized qualification courses that will benefit museum
staff. These can be overseen by appropriately qualified museum educators. Many of these
are arranged by professional organizations and are well worth investigating, as you may be
able to establish your museum as a training centre.
These, then, are the main types of service that you can offer. Each type has a myriad of
forms and, as you develop one, others will suggest themselves. If you are starting from
scratch, it would be wise to talk with other museum educators and see what their approach
108 Museum Educator’s Handbook

has been. You will not be able to copy them exactly as what they have done will probably
not suit your situation or the demands that are likely to be made on you, but you will always
be able to find inspiration from the work of others and, when the time comes, others will
be able to find inspiration from you.
 11Outreach
CHAPTER

Not all the work you do as a museum educator can, or should be, confined to the museum.
It is preferable, for all the reasons discussed earlier, that educational user groups come to the
museum – the visit itself is an important part of the experience of working with material
culture. However, a number of factors militate against this. Some are legitimate, but others
that are put forward are fallacious.
In general, there seems to be a growing reluctance to take students out of their schools
to experience the wider world and its educational potential. One of the main reasons put
forward is finance. Emphasis on ‘basic skills’ means that less money is available for what
some would consider the ‘luxuries’. It is a false economy and rather ignores the fact that
many of the basic skills can easily and, sometimes, more readily be taught in a non-school
environment such as a museum.
Another reason given is lack of time. Constant changes to the content of various cur-
ricula are a major cause. Teachers have to spend time assimilating these changes. This leaves
them little enough time to consider how they might relate to or be enhanced by visits to
museums and galleries, even less actually to plan and implement such visits.
Working practices are also changing in schools more rapidly than once they did. Moves
toward personalized learning programmes, for example, are often cited. Although, in them-
selves, such programmes do not preclude museum visits (indeed, they offer greater oppor-
tunities for students to make use of a wider educational resource than can be provided by
their school), they are time-consuming for teachers to supervise and make group work
much more difficult to coordinate.
Personalized learning programmes rely heavily on computers and the Internet, both in
schools and at home. Whilst museums can be providers of information via this medium,
the increased use of computers is antithetical to the exploration of material culture. Reli-
ance on computers also degrades the ability of students who use them constantly to devise
their own solutions to or make their own readings of the world about them.
These ‘problems’ are further compounded by social changes. A perception of increased
dangers in the world (nationally and locally), a rise in litigation following a number of acci-
dents involving students, the need to carry out risk assessments and comply with a growing
burden of health and safety regulations, all contribute to the belief that visits are more
trouble than they are worth.
None of the aforementioned are legitimate reasons for not visiting museums. They are
merely perceived as such and sometimes used as excuses. They are, however, a reality that
erodes confidence in the worth of visits and informs an increasing reluctance to leave the
classroom. As such, you need to be aware of these factors and of ways in which to counter
them. Where that fails, you need to be able to work round them to provide a museum expe-
rience outside the museum.

109
110 Museum Educator’s Handbook

It is also important to remember that there are many legitimate reasons why visits are
not and cannot be made. Problems with cost, travel arrangements, curricular and other
needs are not always an excuse. Those most disadvantaged by society rarely have access to
what so many of us take for granted. If you do not address their needs, they will find them-
selves without access to yet one more part of their community, one that has the potential to
widen their horizons in so many ways.
Besides that, groups that can and do visit also have legitimate need of outreach services,
which can extend the effectiveness of their visit in a number of ways, principally through
preparation and follow-up work. Groups are also limited by finance and logistical consid-
erations to the number of visits they can make to a museum in a given year. If they can only
visit once, they can still make frequent use of the resource through your outreach services.
In order to accommodate those who cannot (or will not) visit the museum, it is essen-
tial that you have educational services and programmes of work that can be offered outside
the museum. In essence, this means taking artefacts and expertise out into the community.
Not only does this fulfil certain educational and social needs, but it also acts as an effective
form of marketing. Circumstances change. Teachers well served by your outreach pro-
grammes will think of you first when visiting a museum with their students becomes a
realistic option.
Important as they are, however, outreach services can be time-consuming for a museum
to administer. The condition of materials has to be monitored on a regular basis, adminis-
trative records have to be kept up to date, and, where museum staff are involved, time
outside the museum has to be regulated. Materials also have to be prepared, repaired, and
renewed. New materials have to be put together to meet changing demands. All this can
easily tie up a member of staff full-time. You need to think long and hard before venturing
into this area, balancing the needs of educational user groups and the wider community
against your available resources.
If you decide to go ahead with the planning and development of outreach, several
options are open to you, falling into the two broad categories of indirect and direct services.
Indirect services are those you set up and administer but which involve minimal levels of
contact between you and those using them. It is worth concentrating on these to begin with
as they are less time-consuming. Direct outreach services involve you (and possibly other
members of the museum’s staff) in working outside the museum in direct contact (to a
greater or lesser degree) with educational users.

Indirect outreach work

TRAVELLING EXHIBITIONS
Temporary exhibitions come in many sizes and degrees of complexity. If your museum pro-
duces an in-house programme of temporary exhibitions, based on artefacts in its reserve
collection, it should be possible to design them so that all or part (depending on the size
and educational relevance of the exhibition) can be reused when the exhibition is finished.
This will require careful planning from the outset, but once the principle is established, the
museum can produce a resource that can be loaned to other museums, to community
groups, and to schools.
The content and construction need to be carefully designed in order to incorporate two
aspects. The first is that if the exhibition is relatively large, it can be scaled down physically
 Outreach 111

to a useful size without the need to add new elements (or keep this to an absolute minimum).
The second is that the content can be similarly reduced if necessary. Ideally, the exhibition
should also be flexible enough to cater for the needs of different user groups.
There are also practical considerations. The travelling element of the exhibition has to
be taken apart, packed into a small space, easily stored, transported, and re-erected. If pos-
sible, it should be designed so that one person can transport it and set it up in half a day or
less.
Basic, modular units including secure display cases, along with detachable text and
clear instructions for layout are essential. The sections should be designed so that they can
withstand movement and continual dismantling and reconstruction. They should also be
able to be stored in the smallest possible space. Once in place, all artefacts on display must
be secure and the whole structure must be safe enough to comply with health and safety
standards. At the same time, it is important to avoid each exhibition looking like a row of
notice boards with a few artefacts attached.
Travelling exhibitions can, of course, be designed and constructed in their own right.
You do not have to make use of the material from temporary exhibitions. However, it is clear
that producing them specifically and only as travelling exhibitions is an expensive option.
In whatever way you approach them, if they are sturdy, vibrant, and of sufficient relevant
interest, they will greatly increase the presence of the museum within the community. They
can be offered not only to schools, which will undoubtedly benefit, but also to groups who
may not normally visit. Old people’s homes, community centres of varying kinds, and
other public places can all be enhanced along with the museum’s reputation and profile.

MOBILE MUSEUMS
Mobile museums are akin to travelling exhibitions. They are small, mobile, and can be
altered regularly. Their advantage over conventional travelling exhibitions is that, once set
up in whatever vehicle you use, they do not need to be unpacked and packed at every venue.
This makes them ideal for short-term displays. They are, of course, something of a luxury,
but may be worth considering, especially if you operate in a large but sparsely populated
area. However, that is not the only criterion for their use. They can operate just as well in
crowded urban areas.
The remit of a mobile museum can be extremely broad. The content need not be dic-
tated by narrower educational needs. It can be parked in popular tourist spots to give people
a taste of what they will find in the museum itself. It can be taken to or hired out for com-
munity events, fêtes, and fairs. It can also be taken to places where people, through what-
ever circumstance, have little opportunity to visit museums – peripheral housing estates
that are badly served by public transport, factories or industrial estates where they operate
night shifts, remote villages, prisons, and so on. One of the main destinations, however,
must be schools.
The beauty of a mobile museum is that it can give an idea of the atmosphere of a
museum, something a box of materials cannot do. Varying in size from a small caravan to
an articulated lorry, mobile museums provide a blank space that can be filled with artefacts
and wall displays specific to particular needs. Once on site, they can be kept for the sole use
of students who can visit in small groups without the worry of travelling back and forth to
the museum itself (which may be some distance away or difficult to get to) and without
worrying about inconveniencing the general public.
112 Museum Educator’s Handbook

There are a number of problems. Buying and maintaining a large, reliable, and safe
vehicle is very expensive. The vehicle must be extremely secure if it is to be left anywhere
overnight; it needs secure parking space at the museum; and the contents must be able to
survive bumpy road journeys, as well as changes in humidity, temperature, and light. There
are also administrative and running costs, especially if the vehicle is used at weekends and
in remote locations. Mobile museums are heavy on staffing if used effectively in school set-
tings, as there needs to be at least one staff member permanently with the exhibition. Such
a project should not be undertaken lightly.

SCHOOL MUSEUMS
A school museum is just that – a museum run in conjunction with or owned by the school.
If you are working with schools, it may be a simple case of maintaining a small, secure
display of artefacts in each school. This can be themed or eclectic depending on the school,
and changed on a regular basis – perhaps once every academic term. If you work with a
number of schools, displays can be rotated. Teachers can have access to the artefacts (as they
would with any other loan material) for use in their teaching whilst the school as a whole
demonstrates that there is a wider educational resource within the community. The museum
benefits in that there is a constant reminder of its existence – not just through the presence
of the artefacts, but also through the regular visits made by the museum education staff.
If you are going to work with schools to help them develop their own museums, you
will need to stress to them that it is a long-term commitment. Running a museum is a time-
consuming and exacting business. It should not be started without first thoroughly explor-
ing the whole project; nor should such an enterprise, if started, be seen as a substitute for
visiting museums. No school will ever be able to compete with the resources at your dis-
posal. In spite of that, if the school is committed to the project and has researched it fully,
there is no reason why it should not start a collection of its own.
Your role will be to guide with, or act as an intermediary for, advice and information.
This can cover the whole range of questions such as insurance, collecting policy, storage,
conservation, environmental control, handling, cataloguing, display, security, disposal,
and so on. If you are involved from the start, you can ensure that good advice is given –
although you can never ensure that it will be heeded.
No matter how small the intended museum, it must be run exactly as if it were a full-
scale operation. Before a school accepts a single item, you must ensure it has a collecting
policy. This should explain the purpose of the collection, what the scope of the collection
would be, the legal position regarding transfer of ownership and rights, how the collection
is to be managed and, if the worst should come to the worst, how they intend to dispose of
the collection. As this will form the basis of any agreement that transfers ownership (tem-
porarily or permanently), it needs to be legally watertight.
Permanent collections need to be catalogued and stored in a way that protects the
objects and makes them accessible to all teachers and students. Thought needs to be given
to student participation in the maintenance of the collection. There are many opportuni-
ties here to enlighten students about the care of objects, the purpose of museums, and
careers within them and associated fields such as archaeology. Student participation is vital.
They are trusted every day in other situations with materials that are as delicate and valu-
able as anything likely to find its way into a school museum. The opportunity to work with
 Outreach 113

material objects that are valued for reasons other than present utility or financial value is of
the greatest importance.
Interesting as school museums may be, you must only act in an advisory capacity. You
simply will not have the time to do any more than that.

UNDERGRADUATE STUDIES AND DISTANCE LEARNING MATERIAL

A number of different courses at undergraduate (and sometimes postgraduate) level have
strong natural connections with museums. The importance of ITT has already been dis-
cussed. Specific subjects such as history and archaeology have varying degrees of connec-
tion. The most obvious, however, are courses in museum studies, which are becoming
increasingly established in institutions of higher education around the world. More than
250 such courses are taught in the United States, a hundred or so in Canada, 30 or more in
Australia, and more than 50 in the United Kingdom.
These courses vary in complexity and intent, but it is worth exploring the possibility of
working in conjunction with course providers to make your museum an integral part of
their work. This may include contributions to course material, lectures, training sessions,
and work placements. Any materials that you do produce or offer should be in tune with
current accepted methods of presentation, which invariably means making them available
via the museum’s website. This is especially the case if material is to be used for distance
learning. There are many books available on this subject and there are probably experts in
any institute of higher education with which you work.
This is an ambitious area with which to become involved. Some institutions are reluc-
tant to involve outsiders, no matter how good their academic credentials and relevant expe-
rience. However, as you build up a resource of material for older and more academically
advanced students, it would be a sensible way of capitalizing on your effort.

Direct outreach work

TALKS, LECTURES, AND WORKSHOPS
It is almost inevitable that, as your museum education work develops, you will be asked to
speak about what you do. To begin with, this is likely to be to other museum professionals
and people closely allied to the museum world such as teachers, students, and parents.
However, if you are doing your job effectively, the net will be cast wider and you will find
the opportunity to talk to a great variety of audiences about museums, their educational
role in society, and the specific work that you do. Lecturing thus fulfils two roles: general
publicity for the museum and education about the specific work that goes on behind the
scenes.
For a general talk, you will need different approaches and different lengths to suit dif-
ferent audiences. However, you will probably be able to devise variations on a single theme.
There is no reason, though, why you should stick to a single talk. Indeed, if you are called
upon to lecture frequently, it would be wise to have a number of different talks to offer. This
not only means you can go back to a particular audience more than once; it prevents you
from becoming stale.
Even if your theme is the same – museum education – it is possible to talk about differ-
ent aspects of the work and, as your experience grows, to regale your audiences with anec-
114 Museum Educator’s Handbook

dotes (both serious and humorous) from your working life. When you have contact with
people, even if only for part of your working day, there are always plenty of those.
If you intend to illustrate your talk with slides, they must be of top quality. Nothing is
worse than dirty, out-of-focus, badly lit shots of obscure items. It is far better to do without
them than to use bad ones. You can always take a few items from your teaching collection
instead – enlivening your talk and demonstrating the importance of contact with the real
thing.
Always leave time at the end of your talk for a question-and-answer session. You may
have covered your subject so comprehensively that everyone is satisfied, but this is rare.
Indeed, it is far better to announce that you will be taking questions and leave certain topics
open-ended enough to prompt questions and discussion. This can be aided by the presence
of artefacts, drawing your audience into the process rather than talking at them.
To avoid confusion and the chance of incompatibility, provide your own projector(s),
stand(s), screen, extension leads, multi-purpose plugs, control leads, lectern with discreet
reading light, notes (forget everything else but never these!), an unbreakable flask of water
(you will get dry and cannot rely on your hosts to provide this), spare bulbs, spare fuses,
screwdrivers, insulating tape, lens cloths and, if you offer a number of different talks, the
right sets of slides. Make a comprehensive checklist and go through it every time you prepare
for a talk. On top of all that you must make sure that the venue has adequate blackout. This
may seem excessive, but lack of any one of these items can turn an entertaining session into
an unmitigated disaster.
Be choosy about who you give talks to. Like all the other services you offer, it must be
for a purpose. The museum must benefit as well as the prospective audience. Set yourself a
strict lower limit of audience size. This will depend on the area you work in – rural areas will
generally provide smaller audiences than urban areas. If a small group desperately wants
you to give a talk, suggest that they join forces with several other small groups. It is no use
travelling for several hours and going through the rigmarole of setting up, only to find that
you are talking to half a dozen people.
Always find out precise details of the venue and make a preliminary visit if you can.
This enables you to see where everything is, find out where you can park, and ask your host
about the precise format of the evening. Make sure your host has a brief curriculum vitae so
that they at least get your name and job title correct. Never fill in for someone else at the
last moment. Such events are likely to be flat as you are not the expected speaker – you are
the substitute, second best. Not ideal circumstances for giving a talk!
Always take promotional literature for the museum and for the education department.
You can even take relevant merchandise to sell. If the talk is to a major group or large audi-
ence, you can send out press releases in conjunction with the organizers.
Whether or not you charge for giving talks depends on museum policy. You can ask, at
the very least, for expenses to cover travel and time. If you have to travel a long distance,
this should include the price of a meal. If you are in demand, then you should consider
charging a fee, at least of those who can afford it.

DIRECT WORK IN SCHOOLS AND OTHER INSTITUTES OF FORMAL

EDUCATION
Rural areas where schools are few and far between and urban areas where schools are too
poor to support much in the way of extra-mural activity are the best places to set up pro-
 Outreach 115

grammes of work in which you have direct contact with students. In essence, this means
taking material from the museum to a particular school and working directly with students
on their home ground. Unless you have a background in classroom teaching, this will be
new territory. You will have to be aware of the ground rules and of the differences from
working in a museum. This is also an option for in-service training sessions with teachers.
It may not be ideal, but it is much better than nothing.
In terms of preparation, travelling and actual contact time, such work is expensive.
Where it is done, it should be organized so that best use of time is made at a given site –
perhaps with several sessions with different groups of students, as well as time spent with
staff in, for example, an after-school training session. Whilst it is preferable, as always, for
students to visit the museum, it certainly does no harm for you to become familiar with the
students’ normal educational environment.

COMMUNITY GROUPS
There are other areas in the community with which links could and should be forged.
Therapeutic work with groups of disabled people goes on all the time and there are a number
of ways in which work with artefacts can provide a useful stimulus. Whilst many disabled
people can actually visit the museum, there will always be those who need the museum to
come to them.
Older people, too, can benefit from the stimulus that work with artefacts can offer,
especially if the museum holds collections of material from the last 150 years. Reminiscence
sessions help to stimulate conversation, which increases levels of intellectual activity. Such
sessions can also provide a wealth of social and historical material for the museum. If people
are willing, their memories and thoughts can be recorded and used to form a sound archive
for which present-day and future historians will be grateful. If you are going to do this,
make sure you work with good quality recording and audio storage equipment.
Some hospitals have education units for long-stay patients, young and old. Young
people who have their formal education interrupted by injury and sickness often have
trouble re-assimilating themselves into educational habits. Their environment and their
condition are not always conducive to learning, but anything that can be used to aid their
education usually also helps to aid their recovery. This is equally true of older patients who
have suffered life-changing illnesses (such as strokes) and major injuries. Whilst much of
their time and effort is given over to recovery and re-learning how to use their brains and
bodies, these activities not only sometimes need a context (which you can provide), but
there are also times when a distraction from them is equally beneficial.
Prisons and secure units for young offenders also have education units with which you
can work to help towards the rehabilitation of those for whom museums are so alien that
they might as well be on another planet. The chance to explore new worlds and participate
in new activities can be very important in rebuilding new patterns of behaviour and expec-
tation.
There are many other ways in which the museum can reach out into the general com-
munity. Exhibitions at community centres and work with various ethnic groups, as well as
involvement with various community forums, all help to increase the integration of
museum and community. There are doubtless many other ways in which this can be
achieved, but they will depend on the specific location of the museum and the community
in which it resides.
116 Museum Educator’s Handbook

In all these cases, you will have to seek out and make contact with the relevant member
of staff or representative. Before you do so, make sure you are prepared to take on what can
be difficult and demanding work. If you take that step, you will be moving into areas that
are probably new to you, and you should allow yourself to be guided by the experts.

CONSULTANCY
Finally, as your skills, experience, and expertise increase, you may find yourself called upon
by other museums and museum professionals to aid them in the establishment and devel-
opment of their own museum education services. When that happens, it will be a wonder-
ful feeling, as you realize that others value the work you have done to the extent of
considering you an expert. If there is a sufficiently large market, it might even be worth
promoting your skills in this way for smaller museums that cannot afford to take on staff of
their own, but who would value guidance in certain areas. This depends largely on the
management of your own museum and the way it is constituted, but it is certainly a prestig-
ious venture that would reflect well on the museum as a whole.
 12 Loan Services
CHAPTER

A loan service is a specific form of outreach programme and should be integrated with any
other educational programmes that you offer – both within and without the museum. They
tend to be popular with teachers and support a range of other activities. They also, in
certain circumstances, represent the major (if not only) form of education service that many
museums can provide. For that reason, they are dealt with here in more detail.
Loan services have much in common with handling collections in that material from
the museum is made available for students to touch and examine, allowing them the expe-
rience of contact with genuine historical and archaeological material. The difference is that
this material can be borrowed by teachers and taken into school for their students to work
with over a longer period. This can be done in conjunction with specific visits or as an
opportunity for students to work with material culture and get to know some of the tech-
niques for reading such artefacts.
Loan services can be expensive to set up and complicated to run, with administration
taking up a great deal of staff time. If you intend to set one up, make sure there is an ade-
quate market for it and that you research thoroughly the actual requirements of the user
groups. It is far better to spend time in extensive research to assess what type of loan mate-
rials would be most appreciated than to waste time marketing something that no one wants.
Your research will give you an idea of the scope of the desired resource, as well as the size of
the market for such a service. It will also give you an idea of priorities, so that the artefacts
likely to be used the most can be put in place first, allowing time to select and prepare other
artefacts once the system is working.
Another great problem in setting up a loan service is that of curatorial suspicion or
hostility. As with handling collections there is a great reluctance to allow artefacts to be
handled by the ‘untutored’, let alone allow them out of the museum unsupervised by
museum staff. There may even be legal and insurance complications that need to be resolved.
A delicate balance has to be reached and maintained here. On the one hand, it would be
unrealistic for education staff to expect high-quality material to be released for use, but it
would be churlish of curatorial staff to lend only that material which they would otherwise
have discarded. That said, there are times when very poor-quality material is of use in edu-
cation. Generally, however, quality should be the criterion, not quantity.
A loan service is not a separate entity from other services you offer – although it may be
the only service you can offer. A package of loan material should be seen as an integral part
of a group of services offered in conjunction with a specific programme of work, whether
that relates to permanent or temporary exhibitions. Not only does this make it easier for
you to put a loan package together; its integrated nature will make it more appealing to
teachers because of its direct relevance to their visit to the museum.

117
118 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Aim to keep the administrative set-up as simple as is compatible with the need to check
the material each time it is returned. You do not want to spend your time on complicated
paperwork and users do not want to spend time waiting for you to complete it.
The aim in providing loans is not just the artefacts per se, but education in the attitude
toward them. Students must be allowed to work with artefacts in order to learn an appropri-
ate respect for them, along with the correct techniques for handling them. Moreover, not
all loan material need be for handling. It is perfectly possible to loan items in sealed cases.
Other options include developing a range of replica artefacts. This might be expensive in
the case of complex pieces, but simple pieces that lend themselves to ‘mass’ production are
always worth considering. Visual material (such as prints, slides, and video) is much easier
to reproduce, although care must always be taken to ensure that colours are matched accu-
rately. The production of CD ROMs has already been mentioned.
Despite the varieties of material available, there are two basic kinds of loan service. The
first might be described as ‘pick-and-mix’, in which teachers are allowed access to the entire
collection of loan material to choose what they want. Whilst this provides a high degree of
flexibility for teachers, it can be an administrative nightmare requiring huge amounts of
paperwork to ensure that everything is properly monitored and accounted for.
The second kind of loan service offers pre-selected collections on certain themes and
topics. This means a great deal of research on your part to find out exactly what teachers
want and then providing packages that satisfy their needs. The advantage, however, is that
you keep a much tighter control over materials that are loaned and the administration is
easier. This does not preclude special loans, but it does leave your loan collection intact for
controlled development.
Nor do loans have to be collections of artefacts. It is possible to put together collections
of material that can be used by teachers for preliminary work or follow-up. These can work
to a theme but contain entirely modern materials like slides (with commentaries), videos,
replicas, workbooks full of relevant activities and suggested lines of research, and so on.
Most often, however, a teacher will want a small collection of related artefacts. They may be
of a common type (for example, writing implements) or connected with a theme (for
example, weaving).

Value of service and artefacts as educational resource

Given that loan services can be time-consuming, it is important to understand their value
to educational users as well as to the museum. Whilst the emphasis throughout has been on
trying to get educational groups to visit the museum, there will always be groups who
cannot do so. Without outreach programmes, they are effectively cut off from a part of their
own heritage and, in some cases, an understanding of the heritage of others. As the central
reason for museums is the preservation and display of material culture, it is essential that
outreach programmes include the opportunity to experience and work with artefacts. In so
doing, the museum is ensuring equality of provision, not just for schools, but also for the
entire community.
Material displayed and worked with in schools is seen by parents and other adult visi-
tors to the school. Indeed, it is not unknown for this material to attract parents, especially
if the material relates to periods that, whilst it may be history to younger students, is within
living memory of parents or grandparents. Likewise, material borrowed by community
 Loan Services 119

groups can also stimulate interest, discussion, and feedback to the museum in terms of
information and the donation of artefacts.
Where formal educational groups are concerned, access to artefacts is an important
element in a teacher’s delivery of the curriculum. Students can only learn so much from
text and pictures. A much greater understanding derives from handling and exploring
objects related to what is being studied. This applies to all areas of the curriculum and is by
no means confined to history. An exploration of this is to be found in Chapter 13.
Artefacts also act as a stimulus for cross-curricular work. No object can be seen solely in
terms of a single subject. A lantern, for example, may come from a particular period in
history and relate to a specific social condition, but its manufacture broadens that aspect of
its existence whilst at the same time being the focus for a study of materials, economics, and
so on. This helps students to relate one subject with another by being applied to or derived
from a particular focus.
In general terms, working with objects opens up the opportunity to explore the whole
of material culture. This allows consideration of the different ways in which we value objects
and how that is tied to a broader understanding of the world and of the society in which we
live. It also provides a way into exploring how different cultures have approached the same
problem and how different cultures value things differently.
This, of course, cannot be achieved without an understanding of the past, as it is
through time that these things develop. Comparison of values and techniques of produc-
tion, along with an attempt to understand the thinking behind solutions to design prob-
lems all help to shed light on what can be a difficult area of understanding, especially for
younger students. Concepts connected with time are not easy to learn, especially today
when we live in a society in which many of our material possessions are considered old after
a year and are replaced.
Handling and working with artefacts has a lasting impact on students. Most education
is text-based, and anything that enriches that is of great importance. This is especially so
for those students who have problems with literary skills and classroom-based study. Such
students derive a great deal from working in a different way. They are able to make use of
skills that are not accessed in using text and can make progress in understanding concepts
that would not be revealed to them via text. The more opportunity students like this have
to work with material culture, the better is their educational and social progress.
The fact that the artefacts in question are genuine, historical artefacts merely enhances
the impact further. What is more, there is a magical element to this from which even older
students are not immune. To have immediate contact with the lives of everyday people
from the past is both exciting and stimulating, even when (or perhaps especially if) the
objects are mundane.
There is a further point here. We have already considered how a question of value is
raised by exploring material culture and handling artefacts. That students are aware of this
and trusted to work with such objects is good for self-esteem. Where students have a par-
ticular problem with self-image (often because they have problems coping with the normal,
text-based approach to learning), this can be of great value to them and to their peers.
120 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Practical matters
In choosing material to include in a loan collection, there are clearly a number of issues to
be taken into consideration, quite aside from those already raised. If you are starting from
scratch, it is important to begin with a small selection of items. Starting small will not only
allow you to develop the collection but also to cope with a new system of administration,
ironing out any problems before they develop into fatal flaws.
Quite aside from popular material, and eventually developing as large a collection as
you can, there is a question of what is appropriate. All artefacts can provide stimulus.
However, other factors have to be taken into account. Objects that are too large or heavy
may be what teachers want, but there are questions about transport, along with safety and
security, which have to be given careful consideration.
There is also the question of whether all artefacts should be the genuine article or
whether replicas are acceptable. Questions of fragility answer themselves. Certain items are
simply not robust enough to be handled and would not be included in a handling collection
of any kind. However, they may be extremely important in respect of education and replicas
are the obvious (if sometimes expensive) answer. Replicas do also remove some of the pres-
sure from teachers who may worry about genuine artefacts being damaged whilst in their
care. They also provide valuable lessons in themselves, with students being asked to see if
they can tell the difference and discuss just why some objects are genuine and others are
not.
A loan collection must be kept separate from items not seemed suitable for loan or han-
dling. Not only does this prevent the possibility of fragile or rare items being loaned by
mistake, it makes it easier to monitor the status of loans. This will undoubtedly create pres-
sure on space and will probably require a major reorganization of storage space within the
museum – which is another good reason for starting small.
Exactly how the artefacts are organized depends largely on the type of items in the col-
lection and the way in which loans are made and administered. If you loan themed boxes
or collections, they can be kept together in those particular collections. If you operate a
supermarket approach and allow teachers to choose whatever they want, other systems will
have to apply. Whatever the case, everything needs to be clearly labelled and treated with
the same care as other artefacts. You have, in essence, a library of objects and they need to
be grouped in categories that make it easy to put collections together.
Loan material should be well presented. Although expensive, boxes containing loan
materials should be sturdy (aluminium carrying-cases are ideal) and prominently and indel-
ibly marked with the museum’s name, address, and telephone number. The contents should
be well packed in shock-absorbent material so that nothing moves in transit. Bear in mind
that some materials, even though deemed safe for such service, will need other forms of
protection against, for example, too much light or extremes of temperature. Be guided in
this by curatorial staff. All items should be readily identifiable and accompanied with notes
on their care as well as teaching materials.
The level of information for teachers depends on the system you use. Whilst it would
be possible, in theory, to have separate sets of notes for each item, the only practical way of
delivering these is to make them available online as downloadable files. It is then up to the
teacher whether they wish to read them online or download and print hard copies. Booklets
accompanying themed boxes or collections are easier to produce. However, these will come
in for wear and tear and should be replaced on a regular basis.
 Loan Services 121

Produce a catalogue of what you have on offer. This should be clearly laid out, compre-
hensive, and indexed. It should also contain full details of how to book loan materials,
general notes on the care of objects, and the responsibilities involved. Make sure that, like
all other publications, it is dated and updated regularly. This should be available online as a
downloadable document as well as a hard copy version for those without access to the Inter-
net. Ideally, each item should be represented by a clear photograph as well as a written
description, along with a unique identity code to make ordering easy.
Your booking system should allow teachers to book well in advance. You also need to
keep a detailed record of who has borrowed material and what they have used it for, as this
will aid your development of the resource. It must also allow you to check for losses, damage,
general wear and tear, and any other problems so that they can be dealt with in the appro-
priate manner immediately they become apparent. Aim to keep the administrative set-up as
simple as possible (and as legal requirements allow – after all, you may be loaning material
that was itself loaned to the museum). Subject the service to constant assessment so that it
always meets the expectations of those who use it.
The administrative system can be based on the Brown Issue system that libraries used
before the advent of computerization and bar codes. Each object has its own issue card that,
when the item is loaned, is placed in the teacher’s ticket. This is then filed in stacks under
the date set for return of the item. The system is simple and rapid. No matter how much
administration you do (entering the information onto a computer, for example), it means
that teachers can borrow and return items quickly. It also means that you can tell at a glance
who is due to return material. Using this system has the advantage of limiting the number
of items that teachers can borrow at any one time. What is more, when first issued with
tickets they can sign a declaration that they will look after the items in their care instead of
having to do it each time they borrow an item.
If you are extremely lucky and work in a museum with a large staff, it may be possible
to appoint someone whose full-time task is the development and administration of a loan
service. Indeed, in museums where the loan service constitutes the whole of the education
programme, this will be essential. Collections of certain items (such as replicas, slide sets,
videos, CD ROMs and the like) can be established at and loaned through teachers’ centres
and community centres.
As with any material borrowed from a library, you will have to set a time limit to the
loan. This will vary, depending on demand and the size of your collection. Four weeks is
good enough if the service is used heavily, but if there is less pressure then half a term or a
full term may be possible. Impose fines for overdue returns and make sure that all borrowers
know that they exist and what they are.
How the loans are conveyed to the school and back to the museum is a question that
will have to be decided at the outset. In widely spread and largely rural areas where the loan
service is the main educational programme, it may be possible to make use of the education
authority’s courier service (if it has one). If such a service does not exist, or its use is imprac-
tical, you will have to decide whether the museum makes deliveries and collections or
whether that will be left up to teachers.
There are cases to be made for both systems. If teachers have to come to the museum,
you have the opportunity to check the material in their presence to ensure that it is all there
and in the same number of pieces as it was when it left the museum. It also brings the
teacher into contact with the staff responsible for the service as the loan collection itself.
Providing your own delivery system, on the other hand, will take pressure off teachers who
122 Museum Educator’s Handbook

already have much to do. In the end, it will come down to how much the museum can
afford.
A decision will also have to be made about whether or not to charge for the service.
Wear and tear on materials means that they will have to be replaced on a regular basis.
Someone has to establish and administer, as well as maintain the artefacts and other mate-
rials. Research and development work has to be carried out. If a charge is made, however, it
is important that it be kept as low as possible to ensure that no one eligible to use the service
is excluded.

Development of the service

Once the system is established and working well, there are two major ways in which it can
be developed. The first of these is in the training of teachers to use the system to fullest
effect. Although loan material is undoubtedly popular with teachers, many do not know
how to use it to its full potential. Most teachers are, after all, text-oriented. Many more do
not bother with a loan service at all because they do not understand the value of three-
dimensional objects, or their relevance to the subjects they teach. Teachers and student
teachers must be shown (a) that examples of material culture can offer a great deal to the
education of their students, (b) how to get the best out of such objects for themselves, and
(c) what your loans collection contains and how they can make best use of it.
A more ambitious form of development is to broaden the loans system to include people.
This means compiling a databank of experts on some of the themes by which loan boxes or
collections are compiled, as well as relevant artists and artisans who can illuminate other
aspects of material culture. These should be people who can be approached to provide talks
and activity sessions. All the usual legal safeguards have to be put into place and it has to be
remembered that these are people and not objects. They cannot be taken off a shelf as and
when a teacher wants. However, building up a resource of local experts such as this is a
worthwhile way in which to connect schools, museums, and their community.
 13 The School Curriculum
CHAPTER

Having considered some of the ways in which you can present programmes of work, it is
worth taking a quick look at the major areas of subject-matter dealt with by teachers – espe-
cially those working with five- to sixteen-year-olds. Most teachers who bring students to
museums are teachers of history. Whilst this is quite natural, it is a great shame that teach-
ers of other subjects do not consider museums as a realistic option. One reason, of course, is
that they are unaware of any relevance that museums might have to what they teach. It is
incumbent upon the museum educator, therefore, to draw any relevance to their attention
and to work in concert with them to develop appropriate programmes of work.
It is not possible to go into detail here about individual subjects. Their characteristics
change from place to place and time to time. However, certain basic principles remain
unchanged. Each of the main subjects to be found in school curricula is treated briefly
below, with just a few examples of their connection with museums to give a flavour of the
work that could be done. With each subject, the aim is to consider those skills and areas of
knowledge that are basic to the subject and that can be taught or practised using museums.
No attempt has been made to cover any other subject matter, as the scope is too broad.

Language
Language work falls into two broad categories – native language and foreign languages (both
classical and modern). Within these categories, there are a number of specific areas of inter-
est in which students can benefit from working in a museum environment. Museums use
language in a number of contexts and forms, from labels to guidebooks, display panels to
visitor information signs. These can be studied and analysed in their environment. Work
can be done with the help of the museum that may not only provide a contextualized study
of language, but also benefit the museum by showing ways in which it could improve its
own use of language.
Communication skills can also be practised. A number of oral and written exercises can be
undertaken within a museum environment. Descriptive and analytical language can be prac-
tised, along with report writing, using signs and symbols, giving clear instructions, and so on.
Special programmes can be devised to help students who have language and learning
difficulties. Language is always best learnt and practised in a context, and a museum can
provide a fresh context that may help to stimulate interest, especially through working with
artefacts and moving away from text-based approaches. Many students who have poor
writing skills and who do not do well in a school situation can use their verbal skills to great
effect in this different environment.
The same applies to the learning of foreign languages where expeditions to museums
can aid the practice of oral skills as well as broadening vocabulary. With a little extra effort,

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workbooks and worksheets in appropriate languages can be devised, as well as more com-
prehensive guides for older students who are more fluent in the language.
Beyond this, museums may contain historical material that relates to earlier forms
of language, allowing students a chance to see how the use of language has changed, and
to explore some of the social and historical reasons for such change. This can include
the study of place-names, maps, documents, letters, diaries, and other documentary
material.
The history of writing can also be studied within the museum context, especially if the
museum has relevant examples and artefacts in its collections and can provide materials for
students to work with. Workshop sessions can be set up to look at the making and use of
quills, wax tablets, paper, ink, printing blocks, and other materials and techniques related
to writing.

Literature
Two aspects of literature can be covered using museums. The first has to do with the author
of the work. Some museums are devoted to writers (primarily places of residence that house
artefacts relating to that person). These, however, are specialist museums; it is unlikely that
a more general museum can provide the same sort of resource. What they may have is col-
lections relating to the time in which a given author lived. These can offer an interesting
insight into the life and times of a writer, as well as any social or historical factors that influ-
enced their writing.
The second aspect has to do with the work of literature itself and its temporal setting.
This too can be explored in museums. Costumes, artefacts, documents, even vehicles and
buildings, can all help to bring a period to life and add to the understanding of the way
characters behave in the situations in which they find themselves.

Mathematics
Although some aspects of mathematics are probably more relevant to archaeology – and by
association to museums – there is a considerable overlap. In archaeology, the use of survey-
ing (involving the collecting and recording of data), accurate measurement, quantitative
analysis, set theory, plotting, and the like are all skills that can be taught and practised in
relation to archaeological work associated with museums.
However, museums also contain a wealth of materials that are open to mathematical
investigation. To begin with, any artefact that is catalogued is usually measured. Means
of measuring the most diversely shaped of artefacts and recording those measurements
is a good starting-point. This could be followed up by looking at ways in which the
measurements can then be used for further investigation. The use of mathematics in the
original construction of artefacts is also a rich field for development, for example in explor-
ing early forms of measure and standards of accuracy, along with the instruments used for
this. There is also the somewhat neglected area of the social and spiritual aspect of
mathematics and number for more advanced students, which can be explored within a
museum context.
 The School Curriculum 125

Science (physics, chemistry and biology)

Museums are filled with examples of material culture. The study of materials and their use
in all forms of construction is a prime area for scientific investigation. The origins of mate-
rials, the processes used to win them and prepare them for use, as well as the processes and
tools used during manufacture can all be studied in a museum context. It is also possible to
look at the effects of stress and wear and tear, as well as the processes of decay that affect
materials.
In addition, a great deal of practical science goes on in museums with conservation and
preservation techniques being applied to organic and inorganic materials. Scientific methods
of dating are also of relevance. Artefacts and remains are studied scientifically in order to
obtain information on a whole range of subjects including genetics, disease, and climate
change. Many museums also hold natural history collections and materials relevant to
environmental studies.

Geography
Although it is geology that most springs to mind when earth studies and museums are
linked (many museums have a geological collection of some sort), there are many other
aspects of geography that can be studied using the resources of a museum. Social geography
evolves through time and this may be reflected in the collections held by a museum, espe-
cially where the natural resources of a given area have been exploited as a main source of
employment and wealth creation. Studies relating to the development of settlement can
also be reflected in museum collections. Geomorphology enables us to differentiate between
landscapes shaped by nature and those shaped by the work of human beings, whose tools
and remains, along with other evidence of human activity, may be studied. Museums may
also hold collections of maps that provide an extra dimension to the study of the develop-
ment of a given area. The making of maps can also be studied.

History
There is an obvious and well-understood relation between a study of history and the need
to have access to primary source material. This is what museums contain. Students have the
opportunity to assess this material, taking into consideration its nature, condition, and
state of preservation, which may all relate something of its importance in the past. In this
way, it is not just history that is studied, but also the relative importance of events, people,
and record keeping through time.
The opportunity also arises to compare the importance of documentary source mate-
rial with artefacts, as well as the many ways in which both can be interpreted. The reading
of objects and collections of objects is a special skill, but one that can provide as much
information as can be gleaned from documents. It is in museums that these skills are con-
centrated and where they can best be taught to students.
126 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Sociology, politics and citizenship

Whilst museums deal primarily with the past, it is possible to use them to aid in teaching
about current affairs and future conduct. After all, the present and the future are shaped by
the past; events and attitudes in the world today have their genesis in yesteryear. Docu-
ments, pictorial material, and artefacts can all shed light on social and political movements
and ideas.
Citizenship is a far more nebulous concept and museums may not seem obvious candi-
dates for work in this area. However, every visit to a museum requires certain behaviours of
students. This provides ample scope for discussion about people’s responsibilities in social
situations and how different environments and expectations can affect how we behave.
Visits are also the ideal opportunity to put ideas and attitudes into practice. It is also possi-
ble to assess their worth and their effect on interaction and participation in general and
educational activity in particular.

Craft, design and technology

Every artefact that has been made or used by human beings has an aspect of construction
or design, even if it is the simple recognition of the potential of a natural object as a tool.
Where collections of artefacts exist, it is possible to study the evolution of a design and
consider the various pressures that led to any changes. It is also possible to look at materials
from a design and technology perspective. You can study how their use has changed over
the years, and how different peoples (in different times and cultures) have approached the
same design problems and come up with alternative answers.
In addition, there are museums themselves. Museum design (of both buildings and
exhibitions) is an extremely rich field that is well worth exploring, from internal layout and
visitor flows to exhibiting artefacts, their safe storage, and design of efficient catalogues
and archive systems. Again, the benefits can accrue to both students and museum.
Aspects of information technology can also be taught in a museum context. The use of
complex databases for cataloguing and scientific analysis is where computers first came to
the fore in museum use. Now, with the advent of various forms of scanning and sophisti-
cated graphics, it is possible to use computers for a much wider variety of tasks.
Archaeologists were also quick to spot the potential of computers, and the introduction
of powerful portable computers has proved invaluable. This is becoming more evident with
the increasing sophistication of software that allows very quick interpretation of results
from electromagnetic and other non-intrusive field surveys.

Art
Apart from presenting the history of art and offering the opportunity to study works of art,
museums and galleries allow students of art (as of other subjects) to study the social condi-
tions under which works of art were conceived and produced. In addition to that, students
can also learn about the various forms of visual recording used by archaeologists and muse-
ologists – each of which has a specific use. Sketches, site recording, the formalities of pro-
ducing illustrations for archaeological reports, photography, the visual design of exhibitions
 The School Curriculum 127

and so on can all be looked at in context within museums. There are also other areas of
art and crafts where artefacts can be studied (jewellery is a good example), both for tech-
nique and design, in order to provide inspiration for present-day pieces or for producing
replicas – an extremely useful approach to understanding the processes involved.

Music
Music plays an important part in our lives. For many it is merely entertainment, but it has
often played a social and historical role. This is especially so since various forms of mass
media have enabled the reproduction and distribution of music and songs to a wide audi-
ence. Music is also an integral aspect of cultural identity. Museums may hold sound archives
that can be explored. Museums may also have collections of musical instruments and arte-
facts relating to specific musicians and composers. They may also be able to illuminate the
social context of specific pieces or styles of music.

Drama and theatre arts

Students of theatre or even members of amateur dramatic societies often become involved
in presenting plays with historical contexts. Local communities put on pageants celebrating
local history. Drama is often used to explore relationships and conflicts that a historical
context. Museums can provide a wealth of information on local history, social history,
costume and prop design, set design, correct ways of carrying and using objects and so on.
This is in addition to the literary aspect connected with playwrights and their work, already
mentioned in the section on literature.

Physical education
Physical education is often thought of as being little more than games or gymnastics.
However, much has changed in this area of education, and physical education now takes a
much more holistic approach to the body and physical well-being. Health issues are reflected
in social history generally, and may even be the focus of exhibitions where museums have
appropriate collections. Many major sporting venues and organizations now have museums
for those with specific interests in particular sports.

Spiritual, religious and moral education

It may seem odd that spiritual religious, and moral matters can be studied in places devoted
to material culture, but we are beings with material existence and our spiritual lives are
often expressed in material ways. Outside of living places of worship, museums are where
religious artefacts are most likely to be found. There is a great deal of ethical debate about
museums holding such material and it would be healthy to involve students. What is more,
we often forget that museums are not simply collections of material objects. They are places
of the muses where artefacts can, if well presented, provide students with inspiration.
128 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Understanding material culture presupposes an understanding of the non-material

culture that led to its creation. As much as we can analyse artefacts, we cannot hope to
understand them completely until we have some appreciation of the hopes, aspirations,
thoughts, beliefs and behaviours of the people who created them and of the cultures in
which they lived. If we do not address that, we are not educating truly or fully those who
come to museums.
 14 Logistics
CHAPTER

It is a sad fact of modern life that many companies and organizations in the service sector
are so poorly managed that a problem-free encounter with them is now the exception rather
than the rule. This reflects badly on them and counteracts much that they do in the way of
marketing. They may feel they can afford to waste money, time, and reputation in this way,
but you, as a museum educator, cannot. It is of vital importance, therefore, that you do all
in your power to ensure that all your administrative and educational dealings with user
groups are problem-free.
We all have our own style of working. We all organize things on our desks and in our
working spaces in individual ways. However, we should not allow our style to get in the way
of efficiency. Much of what follows is common sense, but it is easy in the day-to-day hurly-
burly to become muddled and to make things unnecessarily complicated. If you can sort out
straightforward administrative procedures at the very start, and stick to them, you will not
only save yourself a good deal of work in the long run, but you will also ensure that even in
times of crisis you have a system that will not fail.
Whatever you decide to do, sit down and think about it first. Then research it. Having
done that, amend your first thoughts accordingly before beginning to construct systems and
programmes of work. Your working day, your working week, and your working year must have
time built into them to allow you to do these things. The natural urge is to get out and act.
However, if you crowd out preparation, evaluation, and administrative procedures with teach-
ing activity you lose the chance to become an educator. You end up being a museum teacher
and a bad one at that, always in a muddle and always running to catch up.
Proper organization and preparation can benefit you in many ways. Each section that
follows discusses the basics. They are mostly small procedures, but they do help to make life
easier. Examine every aspect of your work in light of what you read to see if you can organ-
ize it in a more integrated, simpler, and efficient fashion.

General practice
Administration is an inevitable part of museum education work. You may feel it is a chore
to be suffered as a consequence of all the enjoyable things you do, but you must take it seri-
ously. You should realize that all your administrative tasks are integral to the services you
offer. For example, the paperwork involved in taking a booking is an essential part of the
service that is being booked. The information you gather and pass on to others allows for
the smooth operation of that service. It also allows you to evaluate the popularity and effec-
tiveness of the service, essential if you wish to keep making improvements.
All administrative work should be dealt with as soon as possible. If it cannot be dealt
with immediately – and your systems should be designed to be as simple as possible to allow

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this – then the first opportunity afterwards should be taken. Most work can be done there
and then, filed away, and forgotten. Do not on any account let work pile up until you are
forced to do it. Things will get lost, you will miss deadlines, and it will take extra time to get
everything organized. Indeed, the task may become so overwhelming that you reach the
point where you are left with a permanent backlog.

Mail
Ensure that your mail is opened as soon as it arrives. Use a date stamp to record when you
received it and then sort it into categories depending on urgency and ease of reply. Not eve-
rything will need a response – circulars, replies to letters you have sent, and so on – but they
will all need some action, even if it is only to read them and take note of their content.
Aim to respond to all letters that need a response within 48 hours, even if it is only to
say that you have received the letter and will reply fully in due course. Pre-printed postcards
can be used for this. Little is more contemptuous than not answering letters.
Keep all correspondence on file in chronological order in relevant categories. File hard
copies of replies with their respective letters. It is just as easy to take a file out of a cabinet,
as it is to find what you want on a computer and match it with the material you have had
to take out of the cabinet anyway. Computers are all very well, but if there is a power cut or
the system crashes when you are dealing with something, you are stuck. And remember, the
point of a filing system (whether in cabinets or on a computer) is to keep things in such a
way that you, or anyone else, can find what you want without difficulty.
E-mail should be checked just once a day. Treat it the same as any other form of formal
correspondence. Lay it out neatly, check spellings, and always append a machine signature.
Learn how to organize your e-mails into folders and keep your address book up to date.
There are many other features available with e-mail software and it would pay to take the
time to familiarize yourself with them. You should also become conversant with software
devices such as spam filters and firewalls that protect your computer from viruses, spyware,
and unwanted mail.

Record keeping
Keep a statistical record of all your educational activity. This will, as it builds up, provide
you with an invaluable source of information about the uptake and popularity (or other-
wise) of services, seasonal changes and long-term trends. It will also give you information
about individual user groups, as well as different sectors of the education market, showing
you which ones use you most, and which use you least. From such information, it is possible
to devise future strategies and identify areas of the market that need targeting. You will also
need to keep such information in order to produce accurate reports for management and
financial backers.
You do not need to keep complex information, and most of it can be derived from
booking forms (of which more later). Keep all your raw data, even if you process them regu-
larly. The least amount of information you require is: who is using the education services,
which specific services they are using, how many in their groups, when they come, and how
long they stay. If people have to pay for any or all of your services, keep a note of receipts,
 Logistics 131

even if they do not come directly to the education department. If kept on a properly config-
ured database, this information will automatically update when you enter material.
If you keep personal information on record – especially on computer – make sure you
comply with the law. It is illegal in some countries to hold personal information on computer
unless you are (a) registered to do so, (b) have the permission of those on whom you keep
information, and (c) allow them to see what you hold should they so demand. Check whether
the museum complies and precisely what sort of information you are allowed to keep.

Library
If you are building up a museum education library of books and journals, keep it well cata-
logued, with a separate system for noting the location of any material that is loaned out. How
far you go in cataloguing is entirely up to you, but a basic record of title, author, publisher, ISBN,
and date of publication is the bare minimum. This can be kept as a simple card index. If you are
starting from scratch, you might want to include detailed information on the content of each
book or journal, building up a comprehensive index. Free bibliographic software is available
online. If you keep your catalogue on computer, make sure it is readily available to others.
Keep your books and journals in order, even if you only have a few. As your collection
grows, you may wish to put them into categories. Journals can be stored in cardboard mag-
azine boxes and should be kept in chronological order. Label boxes clearly and try to keep
them tidy. Nothing hinders research more than having to sort everything out first.

Reports
Gratifying as it is to be asked to report on your activities, do not use this as an opportunity
to show off any latent literary talent. Reports are ephemeral, especially if they report good
things. It is therefore wise to keep them brief to the point of being skeletal unless you are
asked specifically for detailed information. If anyone wants to know more, they can ask you
to prepare a supplementary report that goes into the subject in greater depth.
Always keep to the same format and order and head each section. If the report is to
include statistical information, keep it as simple as possible. State clearly who has produced
it, who it has been produced for, and date it. Always keep the original for yourself.

Forward planning
Whether you are working alone or as part of a team, you will need strategies for coping with
your workload. Build time into your working schedule for forward planning. If you are start-
ing from scratch, ensure that you have an amount of time for setting up before you open
your educational doors to all and sundry. That way, you will have a solid structure in place
to support you through what are likely to be hectic days.
Try to plan your days, weeks, months, and even years – in outline at least. Know when
special events are likely to be needed to coincide with new exhibitions. Work out whether
there are seasonal offerings you can make that are relevant to your museum. Know the dates
of school and college terms. Know the dates of public holidays.
132 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Something as simple as a wall planner can be an invaluable guide to the shape of your
year. A diary will also help you plan your workload, especially if you block out time for
yourself in advance. Try not to eat into it. If you are in and out of your office a great deal
during the day, photocopy that day’s page of your diary and keep it with you. It is an effec-
tive way of making sure you know where you are meant to be without having to remove
your diary from its place on your desk. After all, other people may need to consult it in your
absence.
In planning your day, give yourself time at the start to look at your mail and sort it for
dealing with later, as well as preparing for the day’s work. Make sure you take a break during
the middle of the day. You will do nobody, least of all yourself, any favours by overworking.
At the end of the day, you will need time to clear up, wind down, assess what has happened,
and cope with any administrative tasks you will invariably have. This may seem to leave
little time for anything else, but in reality, it takes up less than a quarter of your working
day.

Meetings
If you are the only person responsible for education, you have the advantage of knowing eve-
rything that is going on and being in touch with everyone. If you are part of a team, then it
is important to set up a structure whereby all team members are kept informed. This can be
done through formal meetings, the structure of which makes it easy to keep track of who has
been told what. If you work in a small museum, it can be done less formally. Whatever
approach you take, set aside a regular time in your working week for a formal staff meeting.
You can close the doors on everyone else and sort things out without interruption.
For other meetings, you must consider whom you are meeting and why, and present
yourself accordingly. It is common courtesy to be on time and to look presentable. Never go
into a meeting unprepared; it creates a bad impression. If you have not received an agenda
two days before the meeting, get in touch with whoever is responsible and ask for one. If it
is still not clear to you either what the meeting is about or what your role is, telephone
whoever is responsible and clarify things. It is far better to do this than to turn up without
relevant information.
Always ensure that you receive the minutes of any meeting or portion of meeting you
attend, and do not be afraid to challenge them and get them corrected at the next meeting
if they are inaccurate. If they have to be corrected, make sure you obtain a copy of the cor-
rected version. They represent the official record of that meeting, and will be referred to if
there is any confusion or dispute.

Choosing equipment and material

You will use a great deal of equipment and material in your work, and care must be taken
when choosing such resources for use with educational groups. Consumables such as paper,
card, pencils, paints, glues and so on all need to be chosen in forms that are compatible
with use by young students. They need to be non-toxic and safe.
Paper is a precious resource. Use appropriate types for given tasks and always make the
best use of it. If paper is used on one side only, save it, and cut it down to make scribble pads
 Logistics 133

for your own desk. Make enquiries about local recycling schemes. All consumables can be
obtained in bulk through various agencies (manufacturers and suppliers alike), and they are
well worth approaching for sponsorship in kind.
Heavier equipment such as tables, chairs, and the like also need to be chosen with great
care. Not only must they be safe, but they also need to be durable and appropriate. Chairs
for very young students are neither comfortable nor healthy for adult use. Tables must be of
the right height and appropriate for the use to which they are put. If they are collapsible for
easy storage, make sure they are childproof.
If you are providing facilities for students to eat packed lunches, remember that tables
and chairs will have to be cleaned afterwards, floors swept and mopped, and debris dis-
posed of. As this furniture may be needed for other uses, make sure that health and safety
legislation will allow tables used for art and craft work to be used for eating as well.
Working equipment such as computers, projectors, printers and so on are very expen-
sive and any purchase has to be considered very carefully. If new equipment is to be pur-
chased for the purposes of education, within all the normal constraints, you must have the
final word on what is chosen. Think hard about the use to which you will put anything,
research your options thoroughly, and always get the equipment that most closely matches
your requirements. Compatibility is also important, especially where computers are con-
cerned. So too is maintenance. If you rely heavily on some pieces of equipment, make sure
you can get them repaired quickly or replaced if they break down.
Electronic equipment is increasingly sophisticated and expensive. If you work in a large
museum there may well be a central office where photocopiers, laminators, scanners and
the like are located for common use. If you do not have the luxury of all the latest technol-
ogy, look for ways of using someone else’s. Local resource centres may offer you good rates,
especially if you save work up and have it done in bulk. Once again, sponsorship is a possi-
bility, especially for one-off ventures.

Enquiries
Keep a record (name, work title and contact details) of all enquiries about education serv-
ices. If, after your initial response, the enquirer has not come back to you, follow up with a
telephone call or e-mail. If you have space on your initial leaflet, ask enquirers to write and
say why they have not made use of you.
If the enquiry is by letter, fax or e-mail, it can be dealt with easily enough by sending a
leaflet. If there are specific enquiries not covered by a general leaflet, answer these briefly
and invite the enquirer to make an appointment to see you in person.
Keep a message book by your telephone at all times. Make a note of all calls. Date, time,
whether incoming or outgoing, who was talked with and, briefly, what about. If you are
out of the office, anyone else answering the call can fill it in for you. When you have
dealt with a call, mark it off. This record not only allows you to keep track of how much
you use the telephone, but also gives you an idea of how effective it is as a medium.
Furthermore, the message book acts as a record that can be referred to if a dispute or
confusion arises.
134 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Booking procedures
Any booking procedure you devise must be as simple and as quick as possible for those
making a booking, yet should obtain sufficient information for all your needs. At the very
least you will need the name of the teacher or group leader, the institution where they work,
the size of the group they are bringing (including additional teachers and helpers), the age
of the students, what service they want, what date they want it, and what time they want it.
This will need to be matched with available space in the museum for visits or available
resources for other services.
You may wish to set a limit on the number of educational visitors in the building at any
one time. This will depend on the size of your museum and the services that groups want
to use. It also depends on whether they all want to make use of other facilities such as cloak-
rooms, workrooms, eating spaces, and so on. This can become extremely complex and you
will need to devise a simple way of knowing who will be where at any given moment of the
day. A chart with the areas available along one side and the times in use along the other can
easily be blocked in as bookings are made and gives you a quick visual reference of who and
what is available.
These working conditions should be explained to people who make bookings, espe-
cially if you cannot fit them in on their preferred date. This situation can become compli-
cated if you allow postal or e-mail booking as there is always a delay in information moving
back and forth. You may need to insist on personal or telephone booking only.
You will also have to bear in mind, when devising your booking system, who else in the
building needs to know about visitors. This might include shop staff, security, front-of-
house staff, other education staff, café staff, and so on. Rather than hand these people
details on an ad hoc basis, it might be easier for all concerned if you give them a weekly
diary with salient points (such as date and time, numbers, age, what the groups will be
doing and where they will be going). This presupposes that bookings must be made at least
two weeks in advance, but that is not a bad policy.
If you allow provisional bookings to be made, these must be confirmed or cancelled at
least two weeks before the intended date of the visit. If you ask for an advance on any
charges, make this non-returnable if groups pull out less than two weeks before they are due
(unless, of course, there are mitigating circumstances).
All bookings should go into your diary – in pencil for provisional bookings and ink for
confirmed bookings. You may need to design your own diary if you run a number of differ-
ent services – a standard A4 page with normal diary space at the top and sections at the
bottom for visits, loans, outreach, and any other services. This is easily reproduced and can
be kept in a sturdy ring binder. At the end of each month remove those sheets and file them.
Replace them with a blank set at the end. That way you constantly have twelve months in
your diary.
By far the simplest way of ensuring that you get all the information you need is to
devise a booking form. If possible, make this an all-purpose form that can be used to book
any or all services offered by the museum educator – including loans and outreach work. A
single form has obvious advantages, not least of which are ease of administration and
cheaper printing costs.
Design your booking form in two parts. The first part should contain the information
you require from a teacher or group leader to make a booking (name, date, time, numbers,
what service they want and so on). The second part of the form can contain space for
 Logistics 135

relevant extra information. You may also wish to compare numbers booked with numbers
on the day, keep a note of how punctual a group is, their mode of transport, and any other
information you feel is relevant or needed for evaluation and research.
When booking groups in, ask if there will be individuals who have specific and special
needs that will need to be taken into account. This can range from various disabilities or
medical needs through to such concerns as students from ethnic or religious communities
that do not allow certain activities or contact with certain artefacts. You need to be aware
of these things and sensitive to them.
A booking is a form of contract. You are agreeing that you will provide the service
requested. Teachers agree to arrive on a certain date at a certain time with an agreed
maximum number of students. It should be made clear to teachers that they also have other
responsibilities, most important of which is the students they bring with them. You may
agree between you who is to teach, but they are at all times responsible for the behaviour
and welfare of students. It may even be a requirement of your management that a booking
is confirmed by you in writing and that such a confirmation contains the conditions under
which the booking is made. This may include further stipulations such as student-teacher
ratios, disclaimer of responsibility for damage or injury incurred from an expressly forbid-
den activity, disclaimer of responsibility for loss or theft of property, and so on.
No matter how tempted you are to improve your numbers, never overbook, even if it
means turning people away. You should be offering a quality experience, not going for
quantity. Once word circulates that you are so good that you are fully booked, teachers will
get into the worthy habit of thinking well ahead.
Remember, also, that as the resident expert you have a perfect right to refuse entry to
any group you feel is coming for the wrong reason or which would prove disruptive to other
educational user groups and general visitors. Any teacher who wants to visit just to fill in an
afternoon and go shopping while you watch their students, or who could not get in last
term but wants to come now (despite the fact that they are studying something else in the
classroom) should be firmly dissuaded.
The whole booking procedure can be put onto computer, but the system you employ
needs to be specifically designed for your needs. There are a number of advantages, not least
of which is the speed with which a computer can collate information and print out copies
and confirmations. If you decide that a computerized system is worth investing in, you
must make sure that everyone is properly trained in its use and that anyone who is likely to
take a booking has direct access to the system. If not, your whole education service will
collapse.
A sample booking form, a list of suggested conditions, and a sample booking chart are
to be found in Appendix 4.

Computer housekeeping
Although they are not yet universal, computers are used almost everywhere for administra-
tion. Their use for specific tasks has been mentioned elsewhere, as is the need to be compe-
tent in the use of the various forms of software they contain. Here, however, the concern is
for general housekeeping.
Do not store files haphazardly. Work out a logical system of folders and sub-folders so
that it is easy to save and retrieve material. Choose file names with care so that you can tell
136 Museum Educator’s Handbook

at a glance what is contained therein. Incoming correspondence should be titled with the
surname and initial of the person to whom it is addressed as well as the date it was sent.
Dates should be the year in full followed by the month expressed as a two-digit number
followed by the day, also as a two-digit number (for example, a letter sent to me on the 29
July 2004 would be named: Talboys, G – 2004-07-29). Files like these will automatically be
saved in chronological order.
It is very easy to download material for research, place e-mails into folders, and gener-
ally allow a computer to fill up with clutter. This makes things more difficult to find, uses
up space, and slows down the computer’s operations. Housekeep at least once a month.
Delete unwanted e-mails and files, use the disk clean-up programme, and defragment the
hard drive.
Computers come with software and (if you are lucky) manuals. You will probably buy
additional software (and manuals). Keep all this in one place and close to the computer.
Software is usually supplied on CDs. Buy a CD storage wallet so they can all be kept together.
Should your computer suffer a systems failure you will have everything to hand to restore it
to working order.
The one thing not protected is all the information that you have put onto the computer
in the form of files, databases, address books, and so on. For this reason, it is essential that
you get into the habit of backing up all this material on a regular basis. How you make back-
ups depends on the sophistication of your computer and the amount of material involved.
Re-writable CDs are the commonest solution, but increasingly capacious and easy-to-use
external hard drives make it easy to save not only your files but also your software with all
your personal settings.

Preliminary visits and observation

Teachers should be invited – indeed, they should be strongly encouraged – to make a pre-
liminary visit before actually bringing their students. This can be before or after they have
made a booking. If the museum normally charges an entrance fee, this could be waived for
teachers on preliminary visits. In particular, teachers will need to familiarize themselves
with the museum in a general sense and get a feeling for the atmosphere of the place. They
will also need to think of the logistics of the day, sorting out their group’s route around the
museum, assessing likely problem spots, locating toilets, education spaces, places to leave
bags, coach parking, and so on. In addition, they will be able to decide on which areas they
want their group to concentrate, study the displays and artefacts, and work out what sup-
plementary material they might need. Having done this, they will no doubt have questions
and you should try to make yourself available to answer them.
If teachers cannot visit in person, a booklet will help. What teachers particularly want
is information on the following points:

• Is there parking for their transport? If not, is there a convenient drop-off and pick-up
point? How far is the parking or drop-off point from the museum? Will they have to
cross any roads, walk through busy streets, and so on? Is the museum close to public
transport routes?
• What are the opening times of the museum? Will the museum open specially for edu-
cational user groups?
 Logistics 137

• What are the admission charges, if any? Are there concessions for students, groups, edu-
cational parties and so on? Does a deposit have to be paid? Does payment have to be
made in advance, on the day, or is the museum willing to invoice the school?
• Does the museum meet all legal requirements in respect of accepting minors on to its
premises and working with them?
• Who should be contacted to make a booking? How much notice is required? Are provi-
sional bookings allowed?
• How does the museum organize groups or expect teachers to organize groups on arrival
and during the day? Is there a limit to the number of students that can be brought?
What numbers and adult to student ratio can the museum cope with? Are there estab-
lished rules of conduct? Will there be other groups present at the same time?
• Can the museum separate groups from the public and other educational user groups at
any stage of the visit? Are there places where bags and coats can be left in safety? Is there
an education room? Does it have to be booked separately?
• Where are the toilets, how many are there, and are washing facilities adequate?
• Is there sufficient all-round provision for differently abled students?
• If they are staying all day, is there somewhere adequate to sit and eat?
• Is photography permitted?

It is worth bearing in mind that the quality of a teacher’s preparation for a visit depends as
much on the quality of the information provided by the museum as on anything else.

Handling groups through the system

As well as the educational content of any service you offer, you are responsible for the struc-
ture of any visit within the museum itself. That means that every aspect of the visit must be
catered for. If you are working with the group all the time they are there, it is a simple
matter for you to guide them through from start to finish. However, you will not always be
in that position and it must be made clear to teachers that they have specific responsibilities
in respect of being in certain places at certain times and ensuring that their students comply
with any in-house rules and codes of conduct.
If you have the space, set aside an area where arriving groups can congregate away from
normal visitor flows into the building. This is especially useful for groups that arrive in bad
weather. They will have a chance to gather themselves, listen to any instructions, and
organize themselves before they start work. If you are working with them, this is a conven-
ient way of taking control, welcoming them, and briefly letting them know what will be
happening.
Be prepared for groups who arrive early. In most cases, these are easier to accommodate
than those who arrive late, as they can simply start work a bit earlier and spend a little more
time in the museum. Groups that arrive late must stick to their agreed timetable even if it
means curtailing or cutting out some of their activities.
You may also have a room or rooms where students can leave their coats and bags and
base themselves for work in the museum itself. If that is the case, and a group is making use
of this facility, they should be taken straight there rather than congregating in the museum.
Such areas must be secure if students are to leave their belongings.
138 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Before any group is set to work, they should be reminded of their responsibilities (for
example, not going anywhere without the consent of a teacher); told of emergency proce-
dures for the day (for example, what to do if separated or lost); and reminded of what time
and where they are to reassemble. Even if you are not working with them, this is a good
opportunity to welcome them and let them know what is expected of them.
Give clear guidance to teachers about where they can work and at what times. This is
especially important on busy days or if your museum is small. In very large museums, it is
not quite so important but none the less advisable. In very small museums, you may have
to restrict access to one group at a time, which gives them a slightly freer hand while
there.
If students are making use of a refectory within the museum, ask them to confine
themselves to that room and the toilets. Do not allow any food or drink out of that room
under any circumstances. Make the rest of the museum out of bounds for the lunch break.
Make sure that you allow sufficient time for students to eat and digest their food and relax
a little. Refectories must be provided with plenty of litter bins and access to cleaning equip-
ment to cope with spillages. You cannot dictate what students eat or drink, but encourage
them to place their litter in the bins. Discourage them from placing half-empty cans or
bottles of drink in the same place, as they will leak. If there is a sink, get them to tip
unwanted drink away. If there is not, provide an area where cans and bottles can be left
upright to be disposed of later.
If students wish to visit the museum shop, insist on small, supervised groups and do
not allow them to take bags in with them. Large groups with bags swinging from their
shoulders can cause considerable damage to stock. In addition, shoplifting by a small minor-
ity of students is a sad fact of life and it is wise to reduce the opportunities for this to
occur.
If students are working in the museum for a full day, try to timetable their activities so
that the afternoon session is shorter than the morning one. If you are working with them
all day, try to make the afternoon different in tone to the morning. For example, if the
morning consists of very structured tasks, the afternoon could be given over to a more fluid
structure in which students can follow up items of particular interest discovered earlier in
the day.
At the end of the day, check all rooms and areas used by students to see if anything has
been left behind. Lost property comes in all shapes and sizes, from pencils to coats and
bags, cameras, and lunch boxes. Identify the owner of the property or their group as soon
as you can, label it, and arrange with the appropriate teacher for prompt collection.

First aid and emergency procedures

First aid is an extremely worthwhile set of skills to possess. It may well be obligatory for the
museum in which you work to have first aiders on staff. If so, find out who they are. If no
one in the museum has first aid skills, persuade your management to fund you to take a
course. These are rarely expensive. You may never need to use such skills, but it is far better
to have them and not use them than it is to need them and not have them.
Know where all the first aid kits are kept and satisfy yourself that they are adequate. You
should also have medical emergency telephone numbers to hand, and an established proce-
dure for coping with major injuries or illness. Never, under any circumstance, administer
 Logistics 139

any form of medication, not even aspirin. Minor emergencies also occur. If the women’s
toilets do not contain appropriate dispensing machines, keep a ready supply of tampons
and pads.
You should also know the museum’s emergency evacuation procedures inside out. If
there is ever a fire or any other event that means evacuating groups in your care you must
be able to do it calmly and with authority.

Museum User Group

Most educational visits to museums are made on a one-off basis, even those made by regular
visitors. This is hardly an efficient way of working for you or for them. The setting up of a
club for regular users has already been mentioned. The precise details depend on your cir-
cumstances and the results of any research you undertake, but you should offer members
certain benefits.
Payment for membership could be made at the beginning of the financial year. This
would entitle members to a certain number of visits and services in the year free of charge
with, perhaps, reduced rates for any excess. Other perquisites could also be offered includ-
ing, perhaps, a newsletter with first notice of new services, previews of new exhibitions,
discounts on museum publications and merchandise and so on. Different classes of mem-
bership could be established. Passes could be arranged for or season tickets sold to older
students, allowing them entry to carry out longer-term studies.
Any such system would need to offer distinct advantages in order for teachers and stu-
dents to part with large sums of money, and it would need a coherent structure to deliver
those advantages without fuss. Booking could be made easier in that a member would have
a reference number, quotation of which would give the museum information about name
and so on. Regular visitors would also be encouraged to book all their visits for the year at
the beginning of the year. If all these services are offered at a discount rate, schools and
teachers will be tempted and the museum will benefit from injections of capital sums that
can earn sufficient interest in appropriate accounts to cover any deficit in earnings from the
services offered.

Evaluation and research

There are different perceptions about evaluation, but all too often, it is seen as an exercise
imposed by Big Brother. This is because it has been abused in the past, shrouded in secrecy,
and used for negative ends. To counter that, it is essential that evaluation is built into the
system and understood to be a process of education whereby all museum staff are given the
opportunity to look clearly at the work they are doing, assess how well it is going, and see
how they can improve upon it in the future.
No one likes to be judged, especially by those outside their field of professional compe-
tence. However, proper evaluation is not about passing judgement on individuals. There are
many aspects of museum work that can be evaluated, of which the performance of person-
nel is just one. Moreover, if individuals are having problems, then regular assessment will
prevent these becoming damaging and will point out ways in which the problems can be
rectified.
140 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Evaluation is, in any case, only half the story. If it is to be truly effective, it must work
hand in hand with research. Both must be integral to the museum. In terms of education,
the purpose is threefold. In the first place, it is to evaluate the services and the educational
effectiveness of the museum in general. Second, it is to be used to conduct learning research.
Finally, it is to be used to study the educational work of other museums and other museum
educators. That is why it is essential that education staff are not tied solely to gallery teach-
ing.
It is no use evaluating anything if aims and objectives are not defined at the outset of
any project. What, for example, would be the point of determining how many facts are
learned by visitors to an exhibition whose main purpose is to evoke an emotional response?
This is another reason why museum educators must be part of the whole museum process
and have an input in planning and design.
Evaluation does not just come at the end of an event, but should be used for continuous
monitoring of the whole process. To a large degree, we do this sort of thing unconsciously,
but any project should be looked at during the stages of its conception and throughout its
life to ensure that all is going well. Part of the evaluation process comes into play when you
have to start juggling with the different criteria you have for a given project. Cost, size,
accessibility, security, and a host of other considerations have to be balanced while still
trying to retain the purity of the original concept.
Some people like to work to set formulas and have questionnaires they refer to at each
delineated stage. An approach of this nature provides a useful framework, but there is a
danger that if you adhere to it too rigidly you end up designing projects to conform to the
evaluation system, destroying any spark of originality they may have had. Be aware of the
questions you need to ask, but never allow them to become a straitjacket.
Evaluation can be accomplished in a number of ways. By verbal means (formal meet-
ings, informal discussions and feedback from teachers, students and visitors), it is possible
to gain a general and sometimes quite detailed picture of whatever is under discussion.
Written responses to questionnaires on specific workshop sessions, exhibitions, loan service
materials, and programmes of work can elicit detail that is much more specific and can be
controlled by you in order to keep the evaluation to a particular point. More generally,
letters from teachers and students after in-house and outreach sessions can provide useful
general information. Observation of how students and teachers respond to sessions can also
yield good information. Finally, statistics provide a very telling analysis of certain aspects
of what is offered to educational user groups.
Do not confine evaluation to new projects. Extant exhibitions, services, and pro-
grammes of work should also be looked at on a regular basis to see how they are standing
up to the test of time and new developments. It is not possible to alter everything on a
regular basis because of this, but knowing how changes affect static displays and projects
can provide insight into ways of approaching them that give them new life at very little cost
in terms of money or energy.
Quantitative evaluation is relatively easy and the raw data you keep can be used in a
number of ways to help build up useful amounts of information. However, this provides
little more than a framework – an outline picture. You may know how many and when, and
be able to predict trends, but you still get no sense of usefulness or impact. To fill in that
outline you need to undertake much more difficult qualitative evaluations. From these you
can get an idea of how successful and popular programmes of work are and aim for the even
more elusive goal of finding out why. With that sort of information and understanding, you
 Logistics 141

can produce the ideas that will move your work forward to levels that are ever more success-
ful.
You will not be the only person interested in evaluating your work. Outside bodies,
particularly those that provide funding, may wish to do their own evaluations. This exter-
nal appraisal is usually quantitative in nature but it can be a useful means of evaluating
your own evaluation.
Evaluation and any results and research that are connected with it are not just for your
benefit. There is a much wider role in providing analysis and evidence of the effectiveness
of museum education. As long as the evaluative work you do is soundly based, there is a
large audience of museum educators and educationists in general who have a healthy appe-
tite for anything that will help them gain an increased understanding of education. There
are rich veins of research to be mined in museum education and, despite the good work that
has already been done, there is much that would benefit from detailed study.
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 15 Resourcing and Funding
CHAPTER

All that has gone before in this book counts for nothing without two essential ingredients:
people and money. These basic resources make all the rest possible, yet they are the most
difficult to acquire. Even large national museums have to work to relatively tight budgets.
For small museums, the very idea of taking on an extra member of staff is often out of the
question. They have neither the money nor the space. Yet that has not prevented many of
them from making tremendous efforts to provide some form of education service.

Personnel
PROFESSIONALS
Finding the resources you need to make educational provision is not impossible, and there
are a number of avenues that can be explored. In the first instance, someone has to be found
who can do the job. The obvious and preferred solution is to employ, full-time, someone
who meets the criteria set out in Chapter 3.
Other sources of personnel are available to a museum. All staff contribute in one way
or another to the educational work of the museum. Few of those who have specific respon-
sibility for education are specialist educators. Museums should, to begin with, actively and
constructively develop the educational capabilities of staff, volunteers, and all who work in
or for them.
Somewhere in the area, there may be another museum that already has a museum edu-
cator. It may be worth approaching that museum to see if their museum educator can be
hired for a short time each week in order to assess your museum’s educational potential and
draw up an action plan. This has the virtue of involving a fixed sum of money, getting the
help of an established museum professional, and ending up with a framework on which to
build up an education service. The other museum benefits as well, if they are able to spare
their museum educator. They get the money and they lose their museum educator for just a
small amount of time each week for a fixed period while helping another museum to estab-
lish a new service. The marketing potential alone is very attractive.
Other solutions are possible. If the circumstances are right, a number of small museums
could band together and contribute a proportion of the costs of employing a museum edu-
cator whose brief would be to provide services for all the museums. Any potential problems
could be averted by strict adherence to agreements with respect to time, funding, and dis-
tribution of income. However, if the post is organized correctly there are a number of dis-
tinct advantages.
Although it would take longer for the museum educator to get services up and running
in all the museums involved, and although the choice of services would be limited, once
they were established the museums could find themselves involved in joint ventures and

143
144 Museum Educator’s Handbook

benefiting from marketing and advertising that draws them all in. Teachers using one
museum could be made aware of all the others in the group and persuaded to make use of
them as well.
Once a museum education service is up and running, even if it is limited, its success
may well persuade funding bodies to find the extra money needed to do the job properly. It
would also be an attractive prospect for possible sponsors to see that the museums in ques-
tion have been able to achieve a great deal with limited resources.
Curators and other museum staff have also taken on the task of providing education serv-
ices or assisting with them. No one who works in a museum ever has spare time on their hands
and it is a mark of these people’s commitment, as well as their understanding of the importance
of education in museums, that prompts them to do this – and often with great success.

VOLUNTEERS
Many museums make use of volunteers to run their education services. There are those who
have reservations about this approach, but most of the problems they envisage are easily
overcome, mainly by careful selection. Volunteers must be committed to the work and be
prepared to do it on a regular basis. It is no good having people who do not turn up when
they are expected because they felt like doing something else or nothing at all. In return,
any museum that does take on volunteers must provide them with first-class training and
treat them like other staff members.
It is in this two-way deal that the main problem of using volunteers lies. A considerable
amount of time and effort is required to train them and the training must be done by a
competent person who is an expert in museum education. Once trained, they need someone
to organize them and set them up with programmes of work. Although some volunteers
may have the necessary skills and experience, a museum educator usually needs to be on
hand for a scheme involving volunteers to work properly. This can be done by museum
educators from elsewhere and the coordination handled by curatorial staff.
Whilst some museums tap this resource quite freely (and the United States can provide
many fine examples), many do not. This is partly prejudice. Many museums still see them-
selves as the preserve of an intellectual elite, in terms of employment if nothing else.
However, local museums, which may well display artefacts associated with local industries
and ways of life, have a great resource to tap, especially with older adults. Their use is not
always appropriate, but is at least worth exploring.

TEACHERS
Yet another avenue is to work in conjunction with local teachers. Some ways in which
teachers can assist have already been discussed, but that was in the context of working with
a museum educator. Those methods still apply, even if organized by curatorial staff. However,
teachers can take a more active role through secondment and sabbatical work.
Although teachers may not have much museum experience, they have the advantage of
knowing their own sector of the education system and of knowing exactly what teachers in
that sector want of museums. How much can be achieved in the time they have in the
museum depends on a number of factors, but at the very least they can assess the situation
and draw up work plans for the museum. Other professionals working in the community
can also help, bringing their knowledge of the sector in which they work. If secondment is
 Resources and Funding 145

chosen, the differences in pay and conditions (including holiday entitlement) must be
looked at and problems anticipated and catered for at policy level.

CONSULTANTS
A museum might also consider hiring a museum education consultant or freelance. This is
a growth area and much good work has been done by freelancers. The key to working with
such people, or anyone else who comes in on a temporary basis, is to agree very precisely
the limits and expectations of their work. Hire a person to do a specific job and you will get
that job to a greater or lesser degree. Hire a person with only a vague notion of why, and you
will be left with little but that original vague idea.
A major drawback is that consultants and freelancers can be expensive. They have to
make a living like everyone else and the nature of the work makes them an expensive
option. However, you are paying for an expert and you can tailor your needs to suit what
you can afford.
All these are possibilities to be borne in mind if the preferred option of a permanent
museum educator is not realistic. They all have drawbacks and, in the end, some of them
can prove more expensive than taking on a member of staff. Whoever takes on the task and
whatever sort of service is offered, professional organizations, area museum councils and
other such bodies will offer advice and training. However, if the exercise is successful, the
arguments for a permanent museum educator are strengthened.

Budget management
Having found a solution to the problem of personnel, it then falls to the museum or the
museum educator to manage and raise finances. The funding of museums is a complex issue
as they rarely receive monies from a single source and even if they do, it is rarely, if ever,
sufficient. Every penny must be spent wisely and every activity undertaken tightly control-
led. For all that, museums must secure (and museum educators must fight for) funding suf-
ficient to allow education services to develop rather than remain static.
The most effective way to keep control of finances is to set limits to expenditure. Such
limits are likely to be imposed on anyone working in a museum, as funding rarely if ever
matches requirements. Even – perhaps especially – where funding is tightly controlled you
need to know exactly where every penny goes. If you work in a small museum there may be
no separate education budget. In this situation, however, the museum educator is likely to
have close contact with those who do have financial control, and will have some say in the
way money is allocated. Whether or not they have direct control of educational budgets,
museum educators need to be aware of finances to (a) see how they might make their own
operation more financially efficient and (b) argue the case for more money or control.
The normal way of exercising financial regulation is through budgetary control. In
practice, this means forecasting future expenditure, usually on an annual basis. This does
not exclude costing longer-term projects, but such costs will then need to be broken down
into annual costs so that they can be included within a single finance system.
Expediency will dictate that an education budgetary year coincides with the financial
year used by the rest of the museum. Whether this coincides with the regulatory tax year or
not, it will invariably differ from the educational year. Although more difficult, it would be
146 Museum Educator’s Handbook

wise in such a situation to forecast two years ahead, the first year in detail and the second
year simply to cover inflationary rises. That way, the finances for overlapping financial and
educational years have been given basic cover.
Unless the museum is very large – in which case it may well have specialist finance staff
– budgets will be restricted to working out how best to spend an annual sum. You may be
allowed to negotiate for your percentage of the museum’s total budget. For this, detailed
projections of spending are essential, especially if the case has to be made for extra expend-
iture (for example, to set up a new programme of work or establish a new service).
In setting up a budget, you will find that records of visitor numbers and other such
statistics will prove invaluable. Not only do they allow forecasts of overall numbers to be
made, but also accurate assessments of seasonal fluctuations.
In the first instance, a budget should be divided into Income and Outgoings. Each of
these can then be subdivided as necessary. The two basic categories should balance. That is,
for a given budget period, the total sum of Outgoings should be the same as the total sum
of Income.
Income should include details of all distinct sources along with the amounts to be
received from each and any conditions that may be attached. For example:

• the educational share of the museum’s overall income, as well as expected income from
charges for services (if these are made);
• financial sponsorship (only include sums that have been ratified);
• sponsorship in kind (which should be shown as its financial worth as well as the actual
benefit);
• grants;
• fees (from consultancy, lecturing and so on);
• materials sold (if such proceeds are allocated to an education budget rather than being
absorbed by the museum in general);
• donations;
• miscellaneous items.

All this very much depends on what services are offered, along with policy, if any, on charg-
ing. For each item of income an annual figure should be given, together with any figures
and dates for items of income that will accrue at specific times of the year. Finally, a total
can be given along with a monthly (four-week) sum. A four-week month is preferable to a
calendar month as it is a fixed period.
Against all this are set items of expenditure, which may include:

• salaries and expenses (if education is financially autonomous);

• capital items;
• running costs and maintenance of equipment;
• charges made by other departments if the museum has an internal market;
• stationery and materials;
• printing;
• marketing;
• training;
• subscriptions to professional organizations;
• miscellaneous items.
 Resources and Funding 147

For each item of expenditure an annual figure should be given, along with a monthly (again
four-week) figure.
From this, it is possible to make up alternative budgets, much as one would when
seeking sponsorship (see below). These alternatives should be based on a series of lesser and
greater percentages of expected income. This way, variable costs and those that can be
varied by appropriately altering activity can be adjusted against fixed costs such as salaries
in order to make a series of balanced budgets. Working out such eventualities gives you the
opportunity to remain in control of a situation and take advantage of any fluctuations,
rather than reacting to them with makeshift measures.
All this is only part of the story. Producing a budget is generally a prelude to negotiation
(another good reason for producing several, with variations of income). Moreover, once
your income is fixed, you then have to make sure you stick to the budget you constructed.
Keeping control of expenditure is essential and entails a regular review of income and
expenditure. Every four weeks should suffice (coinciding with the original four-week periods
used in calculation) unless there is a great deal of money moving in and out of the educa-
tion department, in which case more regular reviews may be necessary. Most computers
come ready supplied with appropriate software for budgeting and budget review, as well as
projections based on a large number of factors, so the task should not be too onerous. If you
are going to buy a computer, look at this kind of software very carefully. For small, simple
budgets, pen, paper, and a calculator will suffice.
Some people tend to expect too much of their budgets, especially where the computer
is involved. You cannot simply feed in the appropriate figures, print out the results, and
assume you are keeping an adequate check on finances. There is much more to it than that.
The figures produced (whether by machine or by pen and paper) are merely a convenient
way to keep track of what is happening. They will not tell you why it is happening.
Keep a record, therefore, of expenditure and income as it occurs. This is a habit well
worth cultivating, as it is all too easy to forget items and find yourself in a mess later on. If
you note items as they occur, it is then a simple task to collate this information on a regular
basis (the frequency depending on the amount of financial traffic). Pulled together every
four weeks, this information allows you to compare actual figures with projected figures,
and keep a rough mental check on them in that period. In the case of unexpected income
or expenditure, do not just note down the amounts and what they were for. Keep a note of
why they occurred.
Where the actual figure of expenditure exceeds the projected figure, it is then a matter
of finding out why (perhaps a one-off emergency, for example, or an unforeseeable rise in
the cost of materials) and keeping a close eye on that area of spending either to bring it
under control or adjust the figures accordingly. This is especially useful if the total expend-
iture for the period is over budget. If the monthly total balances out (because of underspend
elsewhere) it is not such a problem, but it still requires close monitoring, as other areas of
the budget cannot be relied upon to continue underspending and indeed, may overspend
themselves elsewhere in the year because of seasonal fluctuations. It is a multidirectional
balancing trick that requires some skill.
Even this does not guarantee budgetary success. Much depends on the accuracy of your
forecast and a close check kept on expenditure. What is more, there are other factors over
which you have little or no control. Try to build a little slack into your budget if you can. It
is always better to come in under budget than to overspend – as long as this is not used by
funding bodies as an excuse to cut your budget for the following year. This is all too common
148 Museum Educator’s Handbook

a problem, which often leads to overbudgeting and consequent spending sprees at the end
of the period to ensure that all money is spent (whether those things bought are wanted or
not). If this occurs, it will need to be discussed with management.
This is a very brief guide to setting up and running a budget. For simple set-ups, it
should be sufficient, but it is always wise to look at these matters in more detail, especially
as sponsorship and other sources of funding are playing an ever-greater part in museums.
There are many good books on these and other relevant financial subjects to be found in
your local library, many of them very well and clearly written. It might even be worth
finding out if your local college offers classes in financial management, book-keeping, or
general business practice.

Fund-raising
SPONSORSHIP
Beyond the normal and established sources of funding for a museum there are other ways
in which cash or services can be obtained. One of the main ways is through sponsorship.
Sponsorship is the payment of money or the donation of services by a business to another
organization for the purpose of promoting the business’s name, products, or services. It is a
form of advertising in which the name of the business is linked with some other activity
that it sees as desirable or having common ends. The money involved is usually part of the
general promotional expenditure of a business.
Sponsorship is generally made in one-off deals but it can also include long-term arrange-
ments. Unfortunately, like all other sources of finance or services, it is not limitless. Many
more people seek sponsorship than have it granted. You will be competing with others and
need to persuade those businesses you approach that you are a worthy recipient of their
money. In general terms, this means that they must be persuaded that their money will be
well spent, that their contribution will be obvious to all, and that their association with you
will be beneficial to them.
You will have to balance this with the need to avoid what some might consider the over-
commercialization of your activities or the even more heinous situation of allowing business
to set the agenda. In most cases, there is no real problem, but it is worth bearing in mind.
Of course, you can avoid a great many problems in this area by being careful about who
you seek sponsorship from and the kind of deals in which you are prepared to engage. This
means precise targeting. Do not simply get a list of local businesses from your local chamber
of commerce or the telephone book and write to them all. This wastes everybody’s time,
your precious resources, and will achieve few results.
Research your subject first. Local business directories that give details of companies and
the business section of your local newspaper are good sources of information. Not only will
you find out what the businesses produce or offer in the way of services (especially useful if
you are looking for services in kind rather than cash), you will probably also gather details
of staff, the company’s community record, and its current financial standing. Although
there is no reason why you should not approach companies that are in the doldrums, you
are more likely to get a favourable response from companies that are doing well. Use this
information to build up profiles of potential sponsors. Produce a digest about each company
or business that will fit on a single side of paper and keep these together in a folder. Any
other information you gather can be kept separately in files.
 Resources and Funding 149

One of the next key pieces of information to gather is who to contact. Marketing per-
sonnel are the best bet, if the company has them. If it is a small business, go to the very top.
Where you intend to approach the local or regional office of a large national or multina-
tional company, get in touch with the head office first with a very brief request about who
you should contact in your area.
Part of the rationale for gathering information is to choose companies that you feel
happy about working with and which you feel would benefit from an association with the
museum and the specific projects you have in mind. Some links are obvious. Some no-go
areas are obvious. Most of the time you will have to look to a broader theme to interest a
company. A carpet factory may well be prepared to sponsor educational material for your
collection of carpets and tapestries, but is less likely to be interested in early archaeology
(although the managing director may have a son or daughter studying archaeology at uni-
versity and be only too glad to help – you never can tell).
Although you may, in the first instance, be looking for a specific one-off deal, it is
worth remembering that sponsorship, if successful, can develop into a more lasting rela-
tionship, especially if you are looking for services in kind.
Obtaining sponsorship is a matter of wooing the potential sponsor. You cannot rush
into it and simply ask for money for a given project. To begin with, make a short approach
by letter. Make sure it is addressed to a specific person, the one who will deal with your
eventual application. Make sure you have their name correct as well as any title, qualifica-
tions, and job title they may have.
The aim of this letter is to get an interview so that you can discuss the deal face to face.
Keep the letter short. Show that you know what their business is, explain what you want
sponsored, and demonstrate how that sponsorship will help them. At this stage, you do not
need to offer detail. What you want and what the business wants out of the deal are two
different things, so you need to sell the idea sufficiently well to get an interview.
Keep to one sheet of paper (although there is no harm in enclosing general leaflets
about the museum and its record of accomplishments). Do not waste money on expensive
and glossy prospectuses. There is nothing more likely to convince a prospective sponsor
that you do not need money than giving the impression you have money to burn at this
stage.
Nor must you let the proposal falter at this early stage by ending your letter with a
phrase such as, ‘I look forward to hearing from you’. You probably will not. End with some-
thing more positive, like, ‘I will telephone in a week’s time to arrange an appointment’. And
make sure you do. After all, you are doing the selling. Get your foot in the door.
If the company is not interested in sponsoring you, you will not get an appointment.
Write them off for now, but do not write them off for good. There may be a number of
reasons why they are not interested at present. They may even tell you why. Lack of money
is the most likely answer, but they may also have set procedures for applying for sponsor-
ship. If that is the case, find out what those procedures are. Take note of what they say for
future reference.
If you do get an interview it means they are interested, but not that they will sponsor
you. However, you have made contact and can discuss your current needs and longer-term
prospects for a relationship. This meeting is the opportunity to let the company know that
you have done your homework and know something about them and their market. Be con-
fident in your knowledge but do not presume to know them better than they know them-
selves. Know your own market so that you can demonstrate how your two organizations
150 Museum Educator’s Handbook

overlap and can accrue mutual benefits from the sponsorship deal. This not only helps to
sell the deal, but it also demonstrates that you are a professional, someone with whom it is
worth doing business.
Having secured an appointment, prepare a package of information you can take with
you to sell the sponsorship idea. Make this as general as possible so that you can use it with
a number of different companies. Include a section that explains why you want the money
or services. This can be used with different clients. However, you will also need a section
targeted at specific companies to show that you know them and can explain precisely what
you are offering them in terms of advertising space, product placement, photo opportuni-
ties, and the like.
Never offer anything you cannot deliver. Be as precise as you can but leave enough
room for manoeuvre and negotiation – after all, a company may be interested but only have
a small pot of money available. They may be willing to be co-sponsors, but check to find out
if there are companies with which they are not willing to appear. Have other packages for
which you want sponsorship. They may only be able to afford something smaller, but you
might strike lucky and find that they are prepared to offer a lot more.
Be honest with the people you meet. Let them know precisely what areas you have control
over. Do not be afraid to say if there are still hazy areas, but be prepared to explain why you
are coming to them at such an early stage. They may even be able to offer business advice.
Outline all the costs of the project for which you are seeking sponsorship. You must get
this right. You will not be able to go back later and ask for some more because you forgot
something. Not only does this demonstrate poor planning, but also the money will not be
there.
Outline all the benefits and be prepared to listen to requests. They may ask for things
you had not considered, such as the chance to host a corporate session (to impress investors
or potential customers) within the museum. Do not say yes to anything you have no author-
ity over. Note their requests and if it looks as if you will need the authority of others, set up
a further meeting with those who have the authority. Remember, too, that you are the
museum specialist and you know what will and will not work in your environment. Do not
be afraid to advise in such areas.
While it is reasonable to consider the ideas and requests of the potential sponsor, do not
let them take over. Know how far you are prepared to go before you enter the negotiations
and be prepared to say no to anything that is unacceptable. You may be desperate for money,
but you cannot build a relationship with a business if they think they can get away with
dictating the terms of every deal. This will be especially so when it comes to signs and logos.
They will quite reasonably expect their name to be prominent as sponsors (or part-sponsors
– in which case they may want it to be clear how large their percentage of the deal is), but
their name cannot be allowed to overshadow whatever it is you do.
You should try to ascertain as soon as possible (without being too blunt) what amounts
of money or support your potential sponsor is prepared to allocate to you. If this is substan-
tially different from your main project, then switch to whichever package is best suited.
Even something as basic as paying for (or printing at cut price) the posters or leaflets can
ease pressure elsewhere and make life easier for you.
At no stage of your meeting should you apply pressure of any kind. Even if your whole
project relies on them coming through with the money, this should never be used as a sales
pitch. It simply makes you look desperate. Sell your package on its merits and the benefits
to the potential sponsor – nothing more and nothing less.
 Resources and Funding 151

Your meeting is just a beginning. From it you can gain a great deal of information about
the sort of project the company is looking to sponsor in the future, and you may well have
some idea in outline of future projects at the museum. Even if you do not get sponsorship
this time round, you will have gained a great deal of useful information to help with future
applications. If you do get sponsorship, you are at the beginning of a relationship that needs
to be maintained and developed.
You should keep in close contact with your sponsors as your deal develops, but do not
burden them with inessential details – a brief weekly report will be sufficient. You should
also put into action the little extras that make it work for the sponsor: private viewings of
the museum (with refreshments) for the directors of the company; a special package for
staff so that they get in at cut price for a set period of time; along with plenty of press cover-
age of this and the main deal. Make sure your sponsor has enough copies of leaflets and the
like, as they may wish to send these to their clients in order to impress them.
Follow up with a summary after the event, showing what their sponsorship has done
for you and showing how much coverage they have gained from it. They may well have
done this for themselves, but if it is a small firm, they may not have the staff. This helps to
cement the relationship and makes them more likely to support you in the future.
Where a transaction takes place (that is, where money or goods are given in exchange
for marketing opportunities), you will need to check the position with regard to paying tax.
This will vary from country to country. It may also depend on the size of the museum’s
income and whether or not the museum is a registered charity. There are many good books
available on this; advice can also be obtained from museum organizations or financial
advisers. Check carefully.

GRANTS
Money can also be raised from grant-giving bodies. Some of these are charitable trusts that
exist solely to distribute the money in their care. However, it is also worth approaching
trusts that are associated with companies. These vary enormously in size and objective, and
careful research and preparation is required before approaching them.
To begin with, be clear about what you want the money for and how much you need.
This can always be broken down into smaller amounts and several bodies approached.
However, it is far better to specify what each smaller amount will be spent on within the
overall project than to approach five trusts, each for a fifth of the cost.
There are many lists and directories of grant-giving bodies. Go through these very care-
fully, examining each of the bodies listed. Your initial research should yield a list of trusts
to approach with useful details of each, including:

• the contact (name and title, if available);

• address;
• application deadlines;
• application guidelines (some trusts insist that you use their application forms);
• past donations;
• size of resources and annual grants;
• any conditions attached to the granting of monies.

Be certain that you meet the general criteria of whoever goes on your list.
152 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Unless a trust discourages such contact, you should then telephone, explain as briefly
and as clearly as possible who you are, what you will be seeking grant aid for, and check that
you meet the criteria set by the trust. Not only will you save yourself unnecessary work by
eliminating borderline cases, but you will also have the opportunity to find out what else
the particular trust might require in relation to the application you make (such as accounts
and annual reports).
As already stated, some trusts insist that you use their application forms. This will
dictate the information you give and its form. However, if you are left to make an applica-
tion of your own it should be concise and clearly written.
State who you are, where you work, and your position within that organization. Follow
this with a summary – a very brief outline of what your proposal involves and how much
you are asking for. Always be specific, as this shows you have done your homework and
know what you want. Never leave your request vague or open-ended. Make it clear whether
you are asking for a one-off donation, a recurring donation, or an interest-free loan.
Next, outline the education work you do within the museum. This provides a context
for specific details of the project that requires money. If you are approaching a trust for a
part of that sum, explain precisely what part of the project their money will fund. Empha-
size who will benefit from the project. Even if the money is needed to buy equipment, be
very explicit about the advantages it will bring to others.
Place the sum of money you are asking for in the context of the project as a whole.
Mention what financial management procedures you have in place (especially if you are
setting up a scheme that will have running costs), who else has given money, and who else
is being approached.
Finally, list the objectives you hope to achieve by the project, and say how you will
measure whether or not they have been met. Describe how you intend to achieve those
objectives.
Presentation is very important. This is less of a problem with easy access to word proces-
sors, but it is still worth taking care over, as the look of an application is influential. You will
be competing against many other applicants (sometimes many hundreds of applicants).
The clearer the application, the easier it is for trustees to assess its worth. It is also better to
submit a short proposal (no more than three sides of A4), provided all the basic information
is there. Trustees can always ask for more information if they need it.
Approaching a charitable trust for money should not be considered a short-term
measure. They may only meet once or twice in a year and their workings are often obscure.
Be patient and be persistent.
Should you receive a grant, it is both polite and wise to keep the trust informed of the
progress of the project they have helped to fund. If it all goes well, they are more likely to
look favourably on you in the future (if they give grants to previous recipients). Most trusts
are happy to work in obscurity, but it is always good to make public acknowledgement of
them and their donation.

Other sources
Other sources of funding are available, including packages from local and national govern-
ment, various statutory bodies, lottery boards and so on. The application process for these
can be extremely complex and you should think hard about whether the time involved is
 Resources and Funding 153

available and worth the possible return – after all, for all the hard work you put into any sort
of application for money, there is no guarantee of success.
As well as money and services in kind, it is worth exploring a third avenue that has less
immediate impact but which makes applications for sponsorship and grants much easier.
Every year, museum education services are given awards by a number of different bodies,
both large and small. Most of these consist of little more than the right to put up a plaque
saying that you have won the award, but the prestige that goes with them enhances the
image of the museum and the education work that you do. There is always press coverage
when the award is made and, in the long term, the reputation you have for excellence will
bring more and more work your way, increasing revenue and support along with it.
It would pay, therefore, to find out what awards exist that are in any way relevant to the
work you do. They do not have to be specifically for museum education but may be, for
example, for pioneering work done with disabled children. Know what they are, what the
criteria are for applying, and do not be afraid to blow your own trumpet. If you do not do
so, no one else will.
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 16 Afterword
CHAPTER

In getting the practical details of museum education work correct and the service running
smoothly, it is all too easy to lose sight of other aspects and aspirations. Of course, you have
to get the details correct, but it is important to have a wider view of the work you do and
goals toward which the details form tributary paths.
The nature of this wider view is, in large part, up to you. However, it is unlikely that
anyone goes into museum education without the belief that it is important. It is certainly
never well-enough paid or easy to make it a soft option.
Some reasons for its importance have been offered in this book. They are mostly centred
on the belief that we must offer students an education of ideas as well as of facts and that
we should help them to develop the wherewithal to continue exploring the world of ideas.
This may seem strange in places that are dedicated to the material aspects of our lives.
However, that is to see or acknowledge only part of the function of museums. Every artefact
is the product of an idea; every museum is a place of the muses. We ignore these facts at our
peril.
The world, we are forever being told, is a rapidly changing and precarious place. The last
one hundred years has seen a massive acceleration in the pace of change of so many things
– material and non-material. It is imperative, therefore, that young people are increasingly
better educated to cope with the burgeoning complications of the world in which they will
live their lives.
A Gradgrind approach to education will not do, any more than confining students to
the classroom. They need engagement with ideas as well as facts; they need engagement
with the world. Museums, galleries, and heritage sites have a key part to play. They are
places where facts and ideas merge and where the consequences of that merger can be
examined. This means they are not just about the past, but also about the present and the
future.
How this wider approach is achieved at the same time as delivering programmes of
work about very specific times, places, people, events and artefacts is one of the great chal-
lenges of the job. No individual museum educator can hope to do it all. Yet each can make
their contribution. Illuminating something specific can cast light into other areas that
might otherwise remain dark and even unnoticed.
There is something else. In all this hard work and serious intent, we should not lose
sight of the fact that in order for museums to become and remain important to students
(and their teachers) there must always be an element of wonder, even a touch of magic or
enchantment. You cannot force this, calculate it, or add it as an extra ingredient. However,
by being open and by aiming to touch people’s lives so they can make better sense of them
and the world in which they live, the magic will appear and kindle that sense of wonder – a
flame it is difficult to extinguish.

155
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Appendices

The sample documents that follow should not be taken as fully comprehensive. They are
simply included to give some idea of how such things may be worded. They can be used as
the basis for similar documents, but it is advisable to start from scratch in any given situa-
tion to ensure that such a document fits your needs precisely.

157
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 1 Policy
APPENDIX

Sample Primary Education

Document

This museum recognizes that it is an educational resource of enormous wealth. It will do all
within its power to promote its educational role and provide a service for visitors in general
and educational user groups in particular. This is enshrined within the general policy of the
museum. Charges may be made for some or all of the services offered in accordance with a
formula outlined in the appended secondary statement. The museum educator or museum
education team should:

• ensure that the education policy and its practice relate specifically to and are in accord
with the policy and practice of the museum as a whole;
• carry out their work professionally and, where necessary, in association with other staff
in the museum;
• keep themselves as well informed as possible about subjects that relate to the collections
and core work of this museum and museums in general;
• keep themselves as well informed as possible about the facts, theories, debates, and
developments in education in general, museum education in particular, and related
subjects (both locally and nationally), and ensure that the education service is offered
in accordance with them where that remains compatible with the policy and practice of
the museum education service;
• devise, research, and produce educational materials, and put into practice educational
programmes that highlight and explore the collections and core work of the museum for
visitors in general and educational user groups in particular, as well as devise ways in
which they can complement work undertaken by students elsewhere;
• teach and otherwise work with visitors, students and teachers in ways that make best use
of the museum and the museum educator, meet the needs of educational user groups,
provide the most direct and appropriate forms of educational experience of the available
resource, and which do not duplicate (as far as is possible) work that can be done else-
where;
• establish, maintain, and develop links with professionals, groups and organizations
whose interests are in accord with the museum in order to keep informed and commu-
nicate information;
• explain and disseminate information about the museum’s work;
• promote use of the museum (formally and informally) by as wide an audience as possi-
ble;
• in close association with management, curatorial, and other senior staff, be involved
with all stages of any developments within or of the museum;

159
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• devise methods of record keeping and assessment, set targets, and monitor their work
closely to ensure that it evolves in a positive way, including a full review of education
policy and practice every three years;
• ensure that all museum education staff are fully aware of their rights and responsibili-
ties and that all staff (paid or voluntary) working with minors are competent and trust-
worthy, and have been vetted in accordance with legal requirements.
 2 Job
APPENDIX

Sample Museum Educator

Description

Post title: Museum Educator

Responsible to: ................................................................................................

Responsible for: ................................................................................................

General responsibilities: To manage, develop, and service the educational activities and
programmes offered by the museum.

Main duties of post:

1 To ensure that educational activity is carried out in accordance with education policy
and the objectives of the managing body.
2 To work in concert with other museum staff and stay as well informed as possible about
the collections and core work of the museum, along with any other areas of concern
such as the archaeology and history of the local area.
3 To stay as well informed as possible about the facts of and theories, debates, and devel-
opments in education in general, museum education in particular, and related subjects
(locally and nationally) and to adjust and develop educational activities accordingly.
4 To direct and support the work of any staff engaged in assisting with educational work
(for example, preparation of work areas, welcoming and organizing parties, teaching,
dealing with enquiries, processing bookings, and so on) and ensure that they are aware
of their rights and responsibilities.
5 To devise, research and produce educational materials and put into practice educational
programmes that relate to the collections and core work of the museum and to related
areas (for example, local history and archaeology) where relevant.
6 To teach and otherwise work with visitors, students and teachers in ways that provide
the most direct and appropriate forms of educational experience of the available resource
and which do not duplicate (as far as is possible) work that can be done elsewhere.
7 To seek ways to increase the material and financial resources available for educational
use.
8 To devise ways of complementing work undertaken by students elsewhere (for example,
by producing and making available loan material and printed material for use by teach-
ers and students).
9 To devise, research, and offer courses for students undertaking initial teacher training,
as well as in-service courses for practising teachers.

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10 To devise, research, and offer non-formal and informal activities, courses, and pro-
grammes of education for visitors and students.
11 To provide information and offer advice to students who have specific queries and
projects that relate to the work of the museum educator and the museum as a whole.
12 To keep a statistical record of all educational activities.
13 To report on the progress of all educational activities and programmes, on a regular
basis, to the managing body of the museum.
14 To contact, maintain, and develop links with professionals, groups, and organizations
whose interests are in accord with the museum and its educational activities and pro-
grammes, in order to keep informed and communicate information.
15 To explain, disseminate information about, and otherwise actively promote the educa-
tional activities and programmes of the museum to as wide an audience as possible.
16 To assess and fulfil museum staff training needs that relate to the work of the education
department and, in liaison with management and curatorial staff, the training needs of
staff in other areas of the museum.
17 To oversee the use of any educational research material.
18 To assist with general duties (to be specified) and make decisions, in their absence, on
behalf of any staff member to whom they are deputed.
 3 Policy
APPENDIX

Sample Secondary Education

Document

In support of the primary policy statement, the following secondary statements should be
recognized. It is not possible to go into details here; the list is indicative only.

1. Objectives
The major objectives of the education service are:

1.1 To reach groups and individuals in all sections of the community (permanent and
temporary) and all levels of the formal and non-formal education sector, irrespective
of age, ability, or capability.
1.2 To raise public awareness of the existence and purpose of the museum and its educa-
tion service.
1.3 To ensure that all activities the museum is involved in are appropriate, enjoyable, and
educational.
1.4 To market the education service to educational providers.
1.5 To provide regular information to educational providers, community groups, and
interested individuals.
1.6 To ensure the availability of the education service to outlying educational providers
through use of various forms of outreach.
1.7 To develop techniques to evaluate the effectiveness of all educational activities.

2. Staff
2.1 List all posts that have a specific museum education role, along with a job description
for each and the staffing structure of any department that has more than one member
of staff.
2.2 List all other posts that have an occasional education role, with details of their normal
duties, degrees of availability, and the specific roles they have agreed to undertake.

3. Space
3.1 List all those areas and spaces already given over solely or partly to educational use. In
the case of shared areas and spaces, indicate who else has access and give details of how

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and when they use them. This can include: museum display space that can be used for
teaching collections over and above those on display within exhibitions; floor space
and room space within public parts of the museum; floor space and room space that
could be specifically set aside for educational activities apart from the public parts of
the museum; space on notice boards and within publications for information and
advertising; storage space that could be given over to educational materials (including
teaching materials and collections, loan materials, equipment, stationery, and so on);
office space; workshop space.
3.2 List, in the same way, all those areas that have potential.
3.3 Set out a case for the ideal use of teaching and administrative space.

4. Equipment available for use

4.1 Capital equipment (including such items as video recorders, televisions, audio record-
ers, slide projectors, audio-visual equipment, projection screens, display screens, and
cameras), office equipment (such as photocopiers, typewriters, laminators, printers,
computers and software), tables, chairs, desks, and so on.
4.2 Consumables (including such items as paper, ink, stationery, film, craft materials, and
so on).

Indicate whether these are for the sole use of education staff or whether they are shared
with other departments. If they are shared, indicate who has nominal control and what
systems exist to book, borrow, and return such equipment.

5. Educational provision
Educational provision should be listed in three major groupings.

5.1 All currently existing services and programmes of work should be listed with brief
notes about their uptake and effectiveness.
5.2 New services and programmes of work that could be introduced in the near future.
5.3 Programmes of work and services that could be introduced in the longer term or take
time to establish.

Include a note of services that were once offered, but no longer exist as well as those that
could be phased out or amalgamated with other existing or proposed services.

6. Constituency
List all potential educational users of the museum within an hour’s travelling distance of
the museum (longer if more rural).

6.1 All institutions of formal education.

6.2 All institutions of non-formal education.
 Sample Secondary Education Policy Document 165

6.3 Community groups and individuals (including adult groups, senior citizen groups,
youth groups or clubs, special needs groups, tourists, and local people, along with the
reasons they are likely to require access to the museum other than as general visi-
tors).
6.4 Colleagues in museums and in education.

7. Teaching resources
In addition to any equipment available for teaching, the museum will contain a vast array
of resources. Details of what is available under the following headings should be made, with
an assessment of their suitability.

7.1 Books and other printed material kept in a research library.

7.2 Primary documentary material including text, pictures, photographs, and the like.
7.3 Secondary documentary material including video and audio recordings, photographs
and slides produced by the museum, as well as computer software and catalogues.
7.4 Artefacts from the collection on display in permanent exhibitions.
7.5 Artefacts from the collection on display in temporary exhibitions.
7.6 Artefacts kept in the reserve collection that can be drawn upon for educational work.
7.7 Artefacts kept in permanent handling collections.
7.8 Loan materials.
7.9 Replicas of artefacts.
7.10 Mobile exhibitions.

Items 7.4 to 7.8 will be itemized in the museum’s catalogue of artefacts. Such a catalogue
should differentiate between artefacts, using the categories listed above.

8. Marketing
8.1 Current strategies (with an assessment of the costs and the effectiveness of each one).
8.2 Strategies that might be employed at a future date in addition or as an alternative to
those currently in place.
8.3 A brief assessment of past strategies no longer in use.

9. Evaluation
9.1 Evaluation techniques currently in use (long-term and one-off projects, formal and
informal, quantitative and qualitative), what they are used to evaluate, and the use
that is made of any results (reports and ongoing assessment of services and pro-
grammes).
9.2 Evaluation techniques that could be introduced and for what purpose.
166 Museum Educator’s Handbook

10. Funding
10.1 Source(s) of museum education staff salaries and relevant information on pay scales.
10.2 Source(s) of funding for capital costs for educational services and programmes of
work.
10.3 Source(s) of day-to-day running costs of educational services and programmes of
work.
10.4 Source(s) of current grants and sponsorships, details of what they fund and of any
conditions attached to the funding.
10.5 Possible future sources of funding, with details of what the funding would support.
10.6 Details of any charges made for services or material costs, who is to pay these charges,
and any formulas by which they are calculated.

In each case, the security of funding should be indicated so that it is clear which aspects are
long-term (with any time limits noted), which need to be negotiated for on an annual basis,
and which are one-off grants or sponsorship. Responsibilities for budget control and nego-
tiation should also be given for each case.

11. Training
11.1 All current regular courses, seminars, lectures, workshop sessions, training sessions,
and programmes offered by museum education staff.
11.2 One-off seminars, lectures, and workshop sessions given in the past by museum educa-
tion staff.
11.3 Proposed and possible courses, seminars, lectures, workshop sessions, training ses-
sions, and programmes to be offered by museum education staff in the future.

All the courses and sessions mentioned above should include details of who they are
intended for, whether they are produced in liaison with other bodies (and whether they
lead to recognized forms of qualification) and, in the case of courses already given, whether
or not they were successful.

11.4 All courses, seminars, lectures, and workshop sessions attended by museum education
staff, why they were attended, and an assessment of their effectiveness.
11.5 All courses, seminars, lectures, and workshop sessions that might benefit museum edu-
cation staff in future (based in part on an assessment of areas of expertise that need
strengthening).

12. Liaison
12.1 Internal staff structures, complaints and disciplinary procedures, and details of regular
meetings at which attendance is obligatory.
12.2 A list of all individuals and distinct groups and organizations with which the museum
educator has contact outside the museum for the purposes of information exchange,
professional development, and formal and informal marketing. This should contain
 Sample Secondary Education Policy Document 167

brief details of the nature of the link, the regularity with which meetings take place,
and the sort of information that moves between the museum educator and each
party.
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 4 Confirmation,
APPENDIX

Sample Booking Form,

Conditions
and Booking Chart

GROUP VISIT BOOKING FORM

School/Group: ................................................................................ Date: ............./............./.............

Leader’s Name: .............................................................................. Visit number: .......... of: ..........

Address: ........................................................................................

........................................................................................ Number of Students: .................

........................................................................................ Number of adults: .....................

........................................................................................
Age of students: ........................
........................................................................................

Telephone: ...................................................................................... Arrive: ......................................

E-mail: ............................................................................................ Depart: ......................................

Visitor Requirements
Service Cost

1. Which galleries required? 1 .................................................................... @..........................

2 .................................................................... @ .........................
3 .................................................................... @ .........................
2. Guide required? No/Yes Allocated to: ................................................. @ .........................
3. Programmes required? No/Yes 1 .................................................................... @ .........................
2 .................................................................... @ .........................
Allocated to: ................................................. @ .........................
4. Education room? No/Yes From: .......................... to: ............................ @ .........................
5. Refectory? No/Yes From: .......................... to: ............................ @ .........................
6. Charges explained? No/Yes Total: ........................
Deposit of: ................... received on: ........./........../..........
Balance of: ................... received on: ........./........../.........
7. Preliminary visit? No/Yes Date: ........./........../.......... Time: .......... With: ............................
8. Special needs? No/Yes Specify: .......................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................
9. Additional information: ...........................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................
......................................................................................................................................................................

Booking taken by: .............................................. on: .........../........../.......... This copy for:

Education team: ..........
Diary checked by: .............................................. on: ........../........../...........
Curator: .........
Confirmation sent by: ........................................ on: ........../........../........... Front of House: .........

169
170 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Booking confirmation (with conditions)

Write to confirm all bookings. Set up a template on a computer so that you can fill in all
relevant details, delete unwanted information, and send a professional-looking and person-
alized letter. If your computerized booking system is sufficiently sophisticated, it may well
do this for you, producing a confirmation letter from the information you enter on the
booking form.
In addition to confirming the booking, the letter should contain a list of any condi-
tions you impose, for example as follows.

1 If you or any of the other teachers involved with the visit wish to make a preliminary
visit to the museum, you are welcome to do so. Such preliminary visits are free of
charge on production of this letter. If you wish to speak with a member of the muse-
um’s education staff, you must make an appointment.
2 On the day of your visit, we ask that you be as prompt as possible (and as traffic will
allow). We work to a tight schedule and need to start on time, especially when there
are several groups in the museum.
3 If you wish your students to be in specific groupings during the day, please contact us
beforehand to make the arrangements. Our ability to comply is entirely dependent on
staffing levels.
4 On arrival – unless we have agreed on other arrangements – please report to the main
reception desk.
5 If you are staying for a whole day and have brought packed lunches, we would be grate-
ful if you would bring them in with you so they can be left in the refectory. This saves
much time and fuss later on.
6 Please ensure that students are appropriately dressed, especially if they are undertak-
ing practical work. There is safe storage space for coats and bags.
7 During lunch, if students are making use of the museum refectory, we ask that they
confine themselves to this room and to the toilets. Food and drink must not be taken
out of the refectory under any circumstances. Receptacles are provided for waste. Please
do not place half-empty cans and bottles of drink in the bins, but place them upright
on the tray provided. Students may also visit the museum shop provided they are in
small, staff-supervised groups. No more than eight students should be in the shop at
any one time. We ask that they do not take bags into the shop with them. All other
parts of the museum should be considered strictly out of bounds.
8 Please note that photography is not allowed anywhere in the museum.
9 Please note that smoking is not allowed anywhere in the museum.
10 While we endeavour to ensure security, the museum cannot accept responsibility for
loss of or damage to the personal items of students and teachers.
11 Although we undertake to provide access and (when requested) teaching, responsibil-
ity for students at all times rests with their accompanying staff.
12 Payment of a deposit confirms your acceptance of these conditions.

These conditions will vary depending on your situation, but they should be kept as simple
as is compatible with legal requirements.
 Sample Booking Form, Confirmation, Conditions and Booking Chart 171

In order to make the process easier, and less prone to double booking, a simple chart can be
blocked out as bookings are confirmed.

BOOKING CHART Date: .........../.........../..........

Times
Places &
Personnel 10.00 11.00 12.00 13.00 14.00 15.00 16.00 17.00 18.00

Gallery 1 . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

Gallery 2 . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

Gallery 3 . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

Gallery 4 . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

Gallery 5 . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

Programme 1 . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

Programme 2 . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

Programme 3 . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

Programme 4 . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

Programme 5 . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

Education room . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

Refectory . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

Education staff

AA . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

JA . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

TR . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

JR . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

BC . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

EB . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . | . : . |

Notes: ...............................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
..........................................................................................................................................
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 5 Education Systems Compared
APPENDIX

The chart that follows is not a definitive guide. It is included simply to give an idea of the
different names that are used in the English-speaking world to apply to different levels of
various education systems. The situation is, in reality, much more complex, with combina-
tions of systems being employed within a country or even within a district or region.

173
 174
Museum Educator’s Handbook
Education systems compared

Country Age 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24
Grade K 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

Australia | Pre-school | Primary School | Junior Secondary | Senior Secondary | Higher Education (College & University)
| Pre-Year | Primary School | Junior Secondary | Technical and Further Education

Grade 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

Canada | Pre-primary | Primary School | Senior Secondary | Post Secondary

| Pre-primary | Primary School | Junior Secondary | Senior Secondary | (College & University)

Key Stage | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
Year R 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11

England | Pre-school | Infant School | Junior School | Secondary School | Sixth Form | Higher Education (College & University)
& Wales | (Day nurseries) | Infant School | Junior School | Secondary School | Further Education
| (Nursery School) | Primary School | Middle School | Secondary School |
| (Playgroups) | Primary School | Middle School | Secondary School |

Grade 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13

New Zealand | Primary School | Secondary School | Higher education (College & University)
Early childhood | Primary School | Intermediate School | Secondary School | Further Education
education | Primary School | Intermediate | Secondary School |
| Primary School | Intermediate | Secondary School |

Year P1 P2 P3 P4 P5 P6 P7 S1 S2 S3 S4 S5 S6

Scotland | Pre-school | | Secondary School | Higher Education (College & University)

| (as England | Primary School | (High Schools | College
| & Wales) | | Academies & Colleges) | Further Education

Grade 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12

USA | Nursery School | Elementary School | Junior High School | Senior High School | Jnr Community College|
| Kindergarten | Elementary School | Combined High School | Four Year College | Graduate School |
| Elementary School | Middle School | Four Year High School | Four Year College | Professional School |
Bibliography

As with the previous edition, much of the foregoing text was derived from personal experi-
ence – my own and that of colleagues. This bibliography contains only those works used in
corroborative research. It is, therefore, neither definitive nor indicative of the scope of the
finished work. For more comprehensive bibliographies of museum education material, see
those compiled by Mary Bosdêt, Gail Durbin and Annette Stannett and published by the
Group for Education in Museums (GEM).

Ambrose, T. (1984), Education in Museums, Museums in Education, Edinburgh: Scottish

Museums Council
Anderson, D. (1997), A Common Wealth – Museums and Learning in the United Kingdom,
London: Department of National Heritage
Boodle, C. (1992), A New Decade – Museums and Education in the 1990s, London: National
Heritage
Booth, J. H., Krockover, G. H. and Wood, P. R. (1982), Creative Museum Methods and Educa-
tional Techniques, Springfield, IL: Charles C. Thomas
Bosdêt, M. and Durbin, G. (1989), GEM Museum Education Bibliography 1978-1988, Group for
Education in Museums
Budge, A. (ed.) (1993), Journal of Education in Museums – 14, Group for Education in
Museums
Carter, G. (ed.) (1980), Journal of Education in Museums – 1, Group for Education in
Museums
Carter, G. (ed.) (1981), Journal of Education in Museums – 2, Group for Education in
Museums
Carter, G. (ed.) (1982), Journal of Education in Museums – 3, Group for Education in
Museums
Carter, P. G. (1984), AIM Guideline No 6 – Education in Independent Museums, Association of
Independent Museums
Collingwood, R. G. (1946), The Idea of History, Oxford: Clarendon Press
Dewey, J. (1963), Experience and Education, London: Collier-Macmillan
Durbin, G. (ed.) (1985), Journal of Education in Museums – 6, Group for Education in
Museums
Durbin, G. (ed.) (1990), Journal of Education in Museums – 11, Group for Education in
Museums
Durbin, G., Morris, S. and Wilkinson, S. (1990), A Teacher’s Guide to Learning from Objects,
London: English Heritage
Fairclough, J. and Redsell, P. (1985), Living History – Reconstructing the Past with Children,
London: English Heritage
Goodhew, E. (ed.) (1987), Museums and the New Exams, London: Area Museums Service for
South Eastern England

175
176 Museum Educator’s Handbook

Goodhew, E. (1988), Museums and the Curriculum, London: Area Museums Service for South
Eastern England
Goodhew, E. (ed.) (1989), Museums and Primary Science, London: Area Museums Service for
South Eastern England
Greeves, M. and Martin, B. (eds) (1992), Chalk, Talk and Dinosaurs? Museums and Education
in Scotland, Edinburgh: Moray House
Hawthorne, E. (ed.) (1999), Journal of Education in Museums – 20, Group for Education in
Museums
Hawthorne, E. (ed.) (2000), Journal of Education in Museums – 21, Group for Education in
Museums
Hein, G. and Alexander, M. (1998), Museums – Places of Learning, Washington, DC: Ameri-
can Association of Museums Education Committee
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools (1988), A Survey of the Use of Museums and Galleries in
General Certificate of Secondary Education Courses, London: Department of Education
and Science
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools (1989), A Survey of the Use Schools Make of Museums
Across the Curriculum, London: Department of Education and Science
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools (1989), A Survey of the Use Schools Make of Museums for
Learning about Ethnic and Cultural Diversity, London: Department of Education and
Science
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools (1990), A Survey of Local Education Authorities’ and
Schools’ Liaison with Museum Services, London: Department of Education and Science
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools (1990), A Survey of the Use of Archives in History Teach-
ing, London: Department of Education and Science
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools (1990), A Survey of the Use of Museum Resources by
Pupils Aged 5-9, London: Department of Education and Science
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools (1990), A Survey of Work Based on Drama by Pupils Aged
8-16 at Museums and Historic Sites, London: Department of Education and Science
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools (1991), A Survey of the Use Schools Make of Information
Technology Linked to Museums, London: Department of Education and Science
Her Majesty’s Inspectorate of Schools (1991), A Survey of the Use of Museums by 16-19 Year
Olds, London: Department of Education and Science
Hewison, R. (1987), The Heritage Industry, London: Methuen
Hooper-Greenhill, E. (ed.) (1989), Initiatives In Museum Education, Leicester: Leicester Uni-
versity Department of Museum Studies
Hooper-Greenhill, E. (1991), Museums and Gallery Education, Leicester: Leicester University
Press
Hooper-Greenhill, E. (ed.) (1992), Working in Museum and Gallery Education – 10, Career Expe-
riences, Leicester: Leicester University Department of Museum Studies
Hunter, L. (ed.) (1991), Journal of Education in Museums – 12, Group for Education in
Museums
Hynson, C. (ed.) (2001), Journal of Education in Museums – 22, Group for Education in
Museums
Hynson, C. (ed.) (2002), Journal of Education in Museums – 23, Group for Education in
Museums
Lowenthal, D. (1985), The Past is a Foreign Country, Cambridge: Cambridge University Press
 Bibliography 177

Mosley, D. (ed.) (1989), Journal of Education in Museums – 10, Group for Education in
Museums
Reeve, J. (ed.) (1983), Journal of Education In Museums – 4, Group for Education in Museums
Reeve, J. (ed.) (1985), Journal of Education in Museums – 5, Group for Education in Museums
Resource (2001), Disability Directory for Museums and Galleries, London: Resource – The
Council for Museums, Archives and Libraries
Rogers, R., Edwards, S. and Godfrey, F. (2002), The Big Sink, London: Clore Duffield Founda-
tion
Rogers, R. (2004), Space for Learning, London: Space for Learning Partnership
Ruskin, J. (1970), Unto This Last, London: Collins
Ruskin, J. (1896), Fors Clavigera, London: George Allen
Schools Council Joint Working Party on Museums (1972), Pterodactyls and Old Lace, London;
Evans/Methuen Educational
Siliprandi, K. (ed.) (1992), Journal of Education in Museums – 13, Group for Education in
Museums
Sorrell, D. (ed.) (1988), Journal of Education in Museums – 9, Group for Education in
Museums
Stannett, A. (1997), GEM Museum Education Bibliography 1988-1996, Group for Education in
Museums
Stevenson, J. (ed.) (2003), Journal of Education in Museums – 24, Group for Education in
Museums
Stevenson, J. (ed.) (2004), Journal of Education in Museums – 25, Group for Education in
Museums
Talboys, G.K. (1996), Using Museums as an Educational Resource, Aldershot: Arena
Wilkinson, G. (ed.) (1987), Journal of Education in Museums – 7, Group for Education in
Museums
Winterbotham, N. (ed.) (1987), Journal of Education in Museums – 8, Group for Education in
Museums
This page intentionally left blank
Index

action plan 49 law 28

as working guideline 49 processes involved with 83
deadlines 49 reading of 53, 63, 81, 86, 102
first year 49 scientific study of 125
review 49 selection of 5–6, 9
role of 41 text 90–91
activities 52, 102 working with 105
organisation of 103 assessment 17, 23–4, 44, 45
activity packs 95 by museum educator 17
administration 129–30 formal 23
booking 134–5 informal 24
budget management 145–8 qualitative 24
diary 132, 134 quantitative 24
enquiries 133 role of 17
forward planning 131–2 audio-visual displays 89–90
fund raising 148–53
general practice 129–30 behaviour 13–14, 53
importance of 24 appropriate 13
integral to education service 24, 129 standards of 13
library 131 teaching of 13
loan materials 117, 120, 121 transferable 14
mail 130 bibliographies 92–3
meetings 132 booking 134–5
organisation of 129 as contract 135, 170
personal information 131 computerized 135
procedures 129 confirmation 135, 170
record keeping 130–31 diary 134
reports 131 form 134–5, 169
visits 136–8 information required 134
adult education 60–61 informing others 134
established programmes 60 limits 134
individuals 61 methods of 134, 171
museum generated 61 procedures 134
advertising 68–8, 70 provisional 134
aims 43, 140 books 39
ancillary services 39–40 branding 70
archaeology 27–8, 94, 97 brochures 70
artefacts budget management 145–8
aesthetic appreciation of 83
as focus of study 54 carers 64
as illustration of study 54 CD ROMs 97–8
as stimulus of study 54 collections 27, 38
contact with 83 teaching 44
context 80 commercial benefits 14–15
display of 80 common sense 36
emotional contact with 81 communication skills 123
ethical considerations 127–8 community 35
fragility of 102 composition of 35
handling 105 links with 76
intellectual appreciation of 83 relations 16, 23, 35–6

179
180 Museum Educator’s Handbook
competition 37–8, 67, 72, 85, 95 aimed at teacher 83–4
computers 29, 89, 90 ambulant lectures 100–101
housekeeping 135–6 ‘backstage tours’ 101
remote research 61–2 basics of 79, 85–6
software 97–8, 130, 131, 147 charges for 43, 48, 137
conservation 19–20 delivery of 83
curatorial concerns 19 demonstrations 102
prime importance of 19 development of 79
consultation 49 direct services 99–108
consumables 40, 132–3 enjoyable 86
controversy 36 feedback 99
cooperation 37–8, 45, 72, 88–9 fieldwork 106–7
copyright 94 games 104
correspondence see mail guided tours 101
crafts 27, 59, 101–2, 103 handling 102
craft workers 40 indirect services 88–98
curriculum 53, 55, 56, 60, 123–8 informal talks 100
confines of 82 information 87–8
demands of 82 lectures 100–101
hidden 13 levels of 84
subject specialism 54 method 80
orientation 100
design 23, 59, 126 priorities 84
educational input 88–9 reasons for 11–18
desktop publishing 90 re–enactment 103
disabled, the 63–4 relevance of 86
access for 64 repetition 85
assumptions about 64 role play 103
attitudes to 63–4 seminars 100
carers of 64 simulations 104
medical model 63 site work 106–7
outreach 115 staff training 107–8
social model 63 static presentations 99–100
displays see exhibitions story-telling 100
talks 99–100
education 33, 45 working in public 101
adult 60–61 educational resource see teaching resource
authorities 76 educational user groups 47–8, 51–65
central to museums 8, 10 adults 60–61
formal 53, 57 and other visitors 101
further 57–8 approach to 64–5
higher 58–60 casual visitors 63
ideologies 55 categorization of 51
informal 57 college 59
information about 34 definition of 2
integral to museum 42 disabled 63–4
intrinsic to museums 8 environment 29
keeping abreast of 25–6 family groups 51, 57
knowledge of 25–6 follow-up work 73
law 26 formal providers 12
non–formal 56 further education 57–8
philosophies of 55 group dynamic 64
provision of 47 home schoolers 55–6
subjects 34, 123–8 miscellaneous groups 62
systems 34, 174 non-formal 12–13
understanding of 25–6 nursery groups 52
educational provision 47 organisation of 137–8
administrative control of 84–5 play groups 52
aimed at student 83–4 pre-school groups 52
 Index 181
privately funded schools 54–5 running costs 48
relationship with 15, 34 salaries 48
state funded schools 53–4 sponsorship 148–51
student teachers 59–60 fire regulations 38
teachers 60 first aid 138–9
travel arrangements 37 forward planning 17
treatment of 64–5 funding 143, 148–53
university 59 application for 149
why they visit 82–3 fund raising 25, 148–53
education policy 41–9, 159–67 grants 48, 151–2
as foundation 49 museums 145
constitutional power of 42 sources of 48, 148–53
content of 44–6 sponsorship 48, 148–51
cooperative venture 42
definition of 42–3 gallery notes 93
long-term implications 43 geology 97
primary statement 42–3, 159–60 grants 48, 151–2
reasons for 41 graphics 59
review of 45 guide books 70, 93
role of 41 guided tours 100–101
secondary statement 46–8, 163–7
terms defined 44 handling 102
emergency procedures 138–9 collections 102
enquiries 87–8, 133 policy 102
equipment 47, 132–3 sessions 52, 102
choice of 132 health and safety 12, 38, 101, 106–9, 133
compatibility 133 hidden curriculum 13
health and safety 133
office 133 information 33–40
sharing 133 dissemination of 75
evaluation 23–4, 44, 48, 129, 139–41 quality of 88, 137
audience for 141 initial teacher training 59–60, 104–6
monitoring progress 46 innovation 45, 68
ongoing 140 in-service teacher training 60, 104–6
procedures for 140 interpretation 8, 9–10
purpose of 140–41
qualitative 140 job description 46, 161–2
quantitative 140 purpose of 46
statistical analysis 140 role of 41
verbal feedback 140 journals 71
written feedback 140
events 99–100, 103 language difficulties 123
examinations 54 languages 52, 59, 93, 123–4
exhibitions 23, 36, 71, 89 classical 123
design of 80, 111 foreign 123–4
travelling 110–11 history of 124
modern 123
families 13, 57, 95 native 123
finance 145–53 leaflets 70, 88, 92
alternative budgets 147 learning difficulties 123
budget management 145–8 lectures 71, 99–101, 113–114
control of 145 audiences of 113
expenditure 145, 146, 147 charging for 114
financial forecasts 145 equipment for 114
financial year 145–6 illustration of 114
grants 151–2 styles of 113
income 146, 147 variety of 113
management of 148 venue 114
outgoings 146 legal requirements 16, 38
182 Museum Educator’s Handbook
artefacts 28 staff handbook 107
education 26 staffing policy 45–6
minors 26, 38 staff training 17, 22–3, 107–8
leisure market 14 text 80
letters see mail working space 36, 47, 61, 81–2, 101–2, 134,
libraries 39, 53, 131 137–8, 163–4
links 72–7, 88 museum educator 19–31
community 76 attitudes toward 19–20, 59
development of 74 communication 29
establishment of 71–2, 73 core areas of work 21–4
informal 73 courtesy 64–5
maintenance of 73 definition of 2
museum management 76 diplomacy 31
pitfalls 75 direct teaching 84–5, 99–108
loan services 117–22 education specialist 20, 25–7
administration 117, 120, 121 empathy 30
advantages 118–19 financing of 19, 143
content 118, 120 flexibility 30
definition of 117 integral to museum 20
development 122 isolation of 19, 31
problems with 117 job description 46, 161–2
types 118 miscellaneous duties 25
local history 97 museum experience 28
logistics 129–41 museum professional 20, 27, 74
lost property 138 networks 72–7
perceptions of 20
mail 130 position within museum 19
marketing 24–5, 45, 48, 67–72 resilience 31
basic precepts 68 roles of 19–25, 31
face-to-face 71–2 teaching experience 28–9
SWOT analysis 68 volunteers 144
timing of 69–70 work experience 28–9
understanding market 68 working in public 64–5
word of mouth 71 working practices 19–20
material culture 7–9, 52, 82–3 museum policy 42
buildings as 106 education in 41–9
landscape as 106 review of 42
media 70, 88 museums see also museum 5–10
media studies 59 access 8
mobile museums 111–12 and people 8
museum see also museums as social memory 6–7
access to 135 central to education 8
as design problem 126 community relations 16, 23, 35–6
as educational resource 1, 8–9, 105 educational ethos of 13, 35
as experience 8 educational role 5–10
as learning space 9–10, 37 funding of 145
constituency of 33–6 not schools 22, 28
definition of 2, 7–8 reading of 63
educational assessment of 36–38, 144 role of 5–10
environment 52, 64, 69, 72, 79–81, 94, 105, school 112–13
123 working environment 20, 25, 52
ethos 79–80 museum teaching 21
exhibitions 36 efficiency of 21
location of 37 Museum User Group 139
physical form 79
policy 28 networks 48, 72–7
public image 14 newsletters 92
seasonal use 37 non-material culture 7–9, 28, 40, 127–8
shop 138
 Index 183
objectives 43, 46, 140 teaching styles 34
objects see artefacts special events 70
outreach 109–116, 117–22 sponsorship 148–51
as marketing 110 story telling 52, 100
community 115–16 students 51–64
consultancy 116 children up to five years old 51–3
direct 110, 113–16 definition of 2–3
disabled, the 115 disabled 63–4
distance learning 113 five- to sixteen-year-olds 53–7
elderly people 115 late developers 58
hospital education units 115 nineteen years of age and older 59–61
importance of 109–10 nine- to thirteen-year-olds 53–4
indirect 110–13 postgraduate 59
lectures 113–14 remote researchers 61–2
loan services 117–122 schoolchildren 51
mobile museums 111–12 sixteen- to nineteen-year-olds 57–8
organisation of 110 special educational needs 58
prison education units 115 teacher training 59–60
school museums 112–13 undergraduate 59
talks 113–14 students’ packs 94–5
undergraduate studies 113 subjects 123–8
workshops 113–14 art 126–7
biology 125
personal property 39 chemistry 125
personnel 143–5 citizenship 126
consultants 145 craft 126
professionals 143–4 design 126
teachers 144–5 drama 127
volunteers 144 geography 125
planning 23, 131–2 history 125
structure of day 132 information technology 126
time for 129, 131 languages 123
policy 41–9, 159–67 literature 124
presentations 71 mathematics 124
primary source material 94–5 moral education 127–8
printed material 30, 39, 87–8 music 127
printing 30, 97 physical education 127
priorities 43, 49 physics 125
professional organisations 76 politics 126
project packs see students’ packs religious education 127–8
promotional material 68–9 science 125
publicity 24–5 spiritual education 127–8
public transport 37 technology 126
theatre arts 127
qualifications 54, 107
talks see lectures
record-keeping 34, 130–31 teachers 54, 72
reference material 39 advisory teachers 72
research 33–40, 41, 49, 140 definition of 3
material 39 feedback from 73–4
need for 33 guidance to 137–8
time for 40 heads of department 72
resource packs see teachers’ packs head teachers 72
resourcing 143–5 initial teacher training (ITT) 59–60, 104–6
in-service training (InSeT) 60, 104–6
safety see health and safety involvement of 74
school museums 112–13 liaison with 72–7
schools 33–5 meeting with 69–70, 136–7
definition of 2 responsibilities of 138
184 Museum Educator’s Handbook
secondment of 144–5 user groups see educational user groups
training in use of museum 21–2, 76, 104–6
working parties 74 verbal skills 123–4
teachers’ packs 93–4 visits
teaching material 44, 93–7 booking 73–4, 134–5
collections 44 familiarisation 53
delivery of 83–6 follow-up 105
equipment 132–3 impact of 14–15
house style 92 impulse 57
software 97–8 influx of 18
visual material 97–8 involvement of museum educator 84
teaching resources 48 legislation 74–5
assessment of 79–82 logistics of 137–8
conservation of 19–20 lunch 138
fragility of 19–20 museum shop 138
value of 19–20 Museum User Group 139
text, 89, 90–97 planning 136–8
as stimulus 90 preliminary 136–7
concepts 91 refectory 138
content of 91–2 return 15
dating 92 structure of 136–8
format of 91–2 unexpected 13
house style 92 unplanned 13
museum 80
open questions 91 websites 29, 33, 70, 87
relation to artefacts 90 working environment 19–20, 25, 91, 94, 106–7
sentence structure 91 working practices 17–18, 19–25, 130–41
style of 91 worksheets 95–6
technical terms 91 working space 36, 47, 61, 81–2, 101–2, 134, 137–
use of language 90 8, 163–4
vocabulary 91 availability of 44
tourism 16 special areas 52
tourists 36, 63 written material 90–92
training 48
museum staff 22–3, 107–8
teachers 21–2, 104–6