Entry level traineeships
New training opportunities for people from less affluent backgrounds
Background
The Museums Association wants to make museum careers more accessible to people who cannot afford to pay for training or to volunteer extensively and whose background and family circumstances may have made it hard for them pursue a museum career.
We are responding to research that suggests that most people who work in museums are from relatively affluent backgrounds. We believe that, as public institutions, serving and representing the whole of the community, museums have a duty to help combat inequality in all its forms.
These traineeships are aimed at people who are on a low-income now, who come from a less affluent background and who may not have had a family tradition of higher education or professional work.
Our thinking in designing this programme has been shaped by Maurice Davies’ report for the Museums Association in 2007, The Tomorrow People, and by Alan Milburn’s recent report for the Cabinet Office on fair access to the professions, Unleashing Aspirations: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/227102/fair-access.pdf.
One of the key findings of Davies’ report was that there was too little diversity among entrants to the museum workforce. Museums, he argued, wanted to employ more people from poorer backgrounds, as well as people from minority-ethnic backgrounds and more disabled people.
He found that people were often put off pursuing a museum career by an approach to entry that favours people with extensive voluntary experience. It is obviously easier for people from more affluent backgrounds to work for free. Moreover, more affluent people are more likely to have contacts in the cultural sector, and can sometimes use these to secure work experience opportunities for themselves and their families.
Milburn’s report found this situation was mirrored in many professions. He also makes the point that it is not only the poorest in society who are disadvantaged in this way but, increasingly, the average middle class, who may not have the contacts or insider knowledge to secure internships and other opportunities.
The Museums Association wants to take a first step towards a more equitable approach to entry to the museum profession through this programme. Our intention is to train people to enable them to apply for work in the UK museum sector and applicants must have a serious intention to seek work in UK museums on completion of their training.
In the past, the MA has run programmes of positive action training for black and minority ethnic (BME) people and disabled and deaf people. For these new traineeships, we welcome applications from all sections of the community although, as black and minority ethnic people are under-represented in the museum workforce, we particularly welcome applications from BME people who meet the other criteria.
Disabled and deaf people are of course welcome to apply to this programme if they meet the eligibility criteria, but may also want to consider the Bill Kirby traineeships for disabled and deaf people, which are also being advertised now.
We recognise that some of the people we are targeting will have had limited educational opportunities, and we are looking for aptitude and potential as much as qualifications and relevant experience. However, we do need to ensure that the people we select have a realistic chance of gaining employment at the end of the training phase, so applicants will be expected to meet minimum standards in areas such as communication and IT skills.
These traineeships have been supported by Renaissance - the regional museums programme from the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council (MLA). We are particularly grateful for MLA’s support for the new emphasis of the programme.
The traineeships
We are offering two kinds of traineeships: three that involve a postgraduate museum studies course with an extended period of work experience, and three that involve a year-long programme of work-based learning in a museum.
Applicants for the traineeships that include a postgraduate course are not limited to one particular course. The Museums Association will work with successful applicants to the programme to identify an appropriate course, to which they will then need to apply.
Trainee description for 5-month placement, plus postgraduate course:
Bankfield Museum, Halifax (word)
London Transport Museum (word)
University of East Anglia (word)
Trainee description for 12-month work-based traineeship:
Museum of London (word)
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (word)
Yorkshire Sculpture Park (word)
Applicants may apply for as many of the six traineeships as they wish. However, each of the traineeships offers a slightly different training opportunity. You are advised to read the traineeship descriptions carefully and decide which would be most appropriate for you.
Financial support
For the traineeships involving a postgraduate course, we will pay course fees and will provide successful applicants with £2000 towards essential course expenses. However, we will not cover your living expenses during the post-graduate course and you will have to meet these costs yourself. During the five-month period of work experience, you will be paid a tax-free training bursary of £1000 a month.
For the work-based traineeships, we will pay a tax-free training bursary of £1000 a month for 12 months.
In both cases, you will also have access to a package of professional development support from the MA, including a free place at MA training events and conferences and tailored support and professional development advice.
Who can apply?
You must be able to demonstrate that you require financial support in order to be able to train for work in museums now. You must also demonstrate that your opportunities to train for museum work or for other similar careers in the past have been limited.
This is a complex and sensitive area, and we will look at a range of factors in determining eligibility. We are looking for evidence about your current financial situation, but also for information about your background and educational opportunities to help us understand why you need financial support.
The eligibility assessment form explains in detail why we are asking each of the questions it contains.
If you are applying for one of the traineeships that includes a postgraduate degree, you must have, or be expecting to have either:
a first or second class honours degree
or:
an equivalent qualification
or:
relevant experience that will meet the university’s admission requirements for postgraduate training.
Please contact us for more information about what experience and qualifications might be admissible if you do not have a first degree.
You must be eligible to remain and to work in the UK, and if you are applying for one of the traineeships that includes a postgraduate degree, you must be eligible for home student university fees. (For example, be a national of the UK or another EU country, or given indefinite or exceptional leave to remain in the UK.)
You must be serious about starting a career in museums and galleries in the UK.
How to apply
1. Complete two application forms
There is one form concerned with determining your eligibility, and another form concerning your skills and aptitude. If you are taking final examinations this year please let us know what class of degree or other qualification you expect to get.
Download the eligibility application form (word)
Download the skills and aptitude application form (word)
2. Complete the Equality and Diversity monitoring form.
Download the equality and diversity monitoring form (word)
3. Email both your competed application forms and the monitoring form to cpd@museumsassociation.org by Monday 29th March 2010.
The assessment process
There are two application forms. The eligibility form is to determine whether you meet our criteria, in terms of your need for support to train for work in museums. The aptitude form looks at your aptitude and experience.
The two forms will be assessed separately. A member of staff will review the eligibility form first; application forms from the candidates who are deemed eligible will then be passed to the host museums and the Diversify co-ordinator for short-listing. Those involved in short-listing and final selection will not see the eligibility assessment, to maintain applicant’s privacy.
Timetable
Application process
March 2010 – applications open
29th March 2010 – closing date for applications
13th/14th April – first round interviews at MA offices in London
19th – 30th April– second interviews at the museums hosting the traineeships
May 2010 - Successful candidates applying for a programme that includes a postgraduate course will then make applications directly to the university courses of their choice (with support from the MA). Awards will be conditional on the student securing a place on a course.
Postgraduate-based traineeships
We will be as flexible as possible about timings, within the constraints of our funders’ requirements and the museum’s timetable.
If trainees wish to undertake the course full-time, it will run from October 2010 until June 2011. Trainees may be able to complete some or all of their placement before the course starts, depending on their availability, or may prefer to take it at the end.
If trainees wish to undertake a course part-time or by distance learning, we will discuss with them how best to timetable the course and placement.
Work-based traineeship
The programme will start in May-June 2010, depending on the trainee’s availability and run for 12 months.
Checklist
Your application needs to include
1. Completed eligibility application form
2. Completed skills and aptitude application form
3. Equality and Diversity monitoring form
It needs to reach us by midday on Monday 29th March 2010.
Send your completed forms to cpd@museumsassociation.org
The Museums Association wants to make museum careers more accessible to people who cannot afford to pay for training or to volunteer extensively and whose background and family circumstances may have made it hard for them pursue a museum career.
We are responding to research that suggests that most people who work in museums are from relatively affluent backgrounds. We believe that, as public institutions, serving and representing the whole of the community, museums have a duty to help combat inequality in all its forms.
These traineeships are aimed at people who are on a low-income now, who come from a less affluent background and who may not have had a family tradition of higher education or professional work.
Our thinking in designing this programme has been shaped by Maurice Davies’ report for the Museums Association in 2007, The Tomorrow People, and by Alan Milburn’s recent report for the Cabinet Office on fair access to the professions, Unleashing Aspirations: www.cabinetoffice.gov.uk/media/227102/fair-access.pdf.
One of the key findings of Davies’ report was that there was too little diversity among entrants to the museum workforce. Museums, he argued, wanted to employ more people from poorer backgrounds, as well as people from minority-ethnic backgrounds and more disabled people.
He found that people were often put off pursuing a museum career by an approach to entry that favours people with extensive voluntary experience. It is obviously easier for people from more affluent backgrounds to work for free. Moreover, more affluent people are more likely to have contacts in the cultural sector, and can sometimes use these to secure work experience opportunities for themselves and their families.
Milburn’s report found this situation was mirrored in many professions. He also makes the point that it is not only the poorest in society who are disadvantaged in this way but, increasingly, the average middle class, who may not have the contacts or insider knowledge to secure internships and other opportunities.
The Museums Association wants to take a first step towards a more equitable approach to entry to the museum profession through this programme. Our intention is to train people to enable them to apply for work in the UK museum sector and applicants must have a serious intention to seek work in UK museums on completion of their training.
In the past, the MA has run programmes of positive action training for black and minority ethnic (BME) people and disabled and deaf people. For these new traineeships, we welcome applications from all sections of the community although, as black and minority ethnic people are under-represented in the museum workforce, we particularly welcome applications from BME people who meet the other criteria.
Disabled and deaf people are of course welcome to apply to this programme if they meet the eligibility criteria, but may also want to consider the Bill Kirby traineeships for disabled and deaf people, which are also being advertised now.
We recognise that some of the people we are targeting will have had limited educational opportunities, and we are looking for aptitude and potential as much as qualifications and relevant experience. However, we do need to ensure that the people we select have a realistic chance of gaining employment at the end of the training phase, so applicants will be expected to meet minimum standards in areas such as communication and IT skills.
These traineeships have been supported by Renaissance - the regional museums programme from the Museums, Libraries & Archives Council (MLA). We are particularly grateful for MLA’s support for the new emphasis of the programme.
The traineeships
We are offering two kinds of traineeships: three that involve a postgraduate museum studies course with an extended period of work experience, and three that involve a year-long programme of work-based learning in a museum.
Applicants for the traineeships that include a postgraduate course are not limited to one particular course. The Museums Association will work with successful applicants to the programme to identify an appropriate course, to which they will then need to apply.
Trainee description for 5-month placement, plus postgraduate course:
Bankfield Museum, Halifax (word)
London Transport Museum (word)
University of East Anglia (word)
Trainee description for 12-month work-based traineeship:
Museum of London (word)
Tyne & Wear Archives & Museums (word)
Yorkshire Sculpture Park (word)
Applicants may apply for as many of the six traineeships as they wish. However, each of the traineeships offers a slightly different training opportunity. You are advised to read the traineeship descriptions carefully and decide which would be most appropriate for you.
Financial support
For the traineeships involving a postgraduate course, we will pay course fees and will provide successful applicants with £2000 towards essential course expenses. However, we will not cover your living expenses during the post-graduate course and you will have to meet these costs yourself. During the five-month period of work experience, you will be paid a tax-free training bursary of £1000 a month.
For the work-based traineeships, we will pay a tax-free training bursary of £1000 a month for 12 months.
In both cases, you will also have access to a package of professional development support from the MA, including a free place at MA training events and conferences and tailored support and professional development advice.
Who can apply?
You must be able to demonstrate that you require financial support in order to be able to train for work in museums now. You must also demonstrate that your opportunities to train for museum work or for other similar careers in the past have been limited.
This is a complex and sensitive area, and we will look at a range of factors in determining eligibility. We are looking for evidence about your current financial situation, but also for information about your background and educational opportunities to help us understand why you need financial support.
The eligibility assessment form explains in detail why we are asking each of the questions it contains.
If you are applying for one of the traineeships that includes a postgraduate degree, you must have, or be expecting to have either:
a first or second class honours degree
or:
an equivalent qualification
or:
relevant experience that will meet the university’s admission requirements for postgraduate training.
Please contact us for more information about what experience and qualifications might be admissible if you do not have a first degree.
You must be eligible to remain and to work in the UK, and if you are applying for one of the traineeships that includes a postgraduate degree, you must be eligible for home student university fees. (For example, be a national of the UK or another EU country, or given indefinite or exceptional leave to remain in the UK.)
You must be serious about starting a career in museums and galleries in the UK.
How to apply
1. Complete two application forms
There is one form concerned with determining your eligibility, and another form concerning your skills and aptitude. If you are taking final examinations this year please let us know what class of degree or other qualification you expect to get.
Download the eligibility application form (word)
Download the skills and aptitude application form (word)
2. Complete the Equality and Diversity monitoring form.
Download the equality and diversity monitoring form (word)
3. Email both your competed application forms and the monitoring form to cpd@museumsassociation.org by Monday 29th March 2010.
The assessment process
There are two application forms. The eligibility form is to determine whether you meet our criteria, in terms of your need for support to train for work in museums. The aptitude form looks at your aptitude and experience.
The two forms will be assessed separately. A member of staff will review the eligibility form first; application forms from the candidates who are deemed eligible will then be passed to the host museums and the Diversify co-ordinator for short-listing. Those involved in short-listing and final selection will not see the eligibility assessment, to maintain applicant’s privacy.
Timetable
Application process
March 2010 – applications open
29th March 2010 – closing date for applications
13th/14th April – first round interviews at MA offices in London
19th – 30th April– second interviews at the museums hosting the traineeships
May 2010 - Successful candidates applying for a programme that includes a postgraduate course will then make applications directly to the university courses of their choice (with support from the MA). Awards will be conditional on the student securing a place on a course.
Postgraduate-based traineeships
We will be as flexible as possible about timings, within the constraints of our funders’ requirements and the museum’s timetable.
If trainees wish to undertake the course full-time, it will run from October 2010 until June 2011. Trainees may be able to complete some or all of their placement before the course starts, depending on their availability, or may prefer to take it at the end.
If trainees wish to undertake a course part-time or by distance learning, we will discuss with them how best to timetable the course and placement.
Work-based traineeship
The programme will start in May-June 2010, depending on the trainee’s availability and run for 12 months.
Checklist
Your application needs to include
1. Completed eligibility application form
2. Completed skills and aptitude application form
3. Equality and Diversity monitoring form
It needs to reach us by midday on Monday 29th March 2010.
Send your completed forms to cpd@museumsassociation.org
