Ethical debate: Education
How far should museums go to meet the requirements of the national curriculum before they risk compromising their intellectual integrity and misrepresenting their collections.
Should a museum run workshops on the Romans if that is not part of its core collection or story?
Absolutely not — why would teachers and their pupils come to museums if not to see our collections? Teachers visit museums because we offer something that they cannot replicate in school.
We give them a chance to interact with objects that can help bring lessons to life. Integrity, credibility, and school visitor numbers will only be preserved if we accept our limitations.
Collections are the most exciting thing about museums and no amount of equipment, space or decoration in a museum education room can compensate for this. It is this excitement that museums should use to their advantage and the reason why it is pointless trying to provide workshops that meet national curriculum requirements but cannot be supported by objects.
If museums offer innovative workshops linked to their collections, schools will continue to use them as an addition to classroom teaching.
Amy Ryall, schools learning coordinator, Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust
The fundamental difference between a museum and an ‘education’ centre is that museums deal with ‘real’ objects, with associated information and significance to the original collector, rather than a selection of items, often replicas, that are viewed as a ‘disposable’ resource for education activities.
Yes — museums should facilitate schools’ learning programmes and offer opportunities to engage with collections, but should not be expected to realign their collections, their focus or their areas of interest and research just to keep up with the ever-shifting sands of national education policy.
The national curriculum does offer us the chance to shoehorn seemingly obscure collections into key target areas that teachers will be keen to use.
But to expect everything museums do to fit this framework is pointless. If you spend time and effort on workshops, loans packs and other resources with no relation to the collections, your education service might as well be run from another organisation.
We often have to justify our work to funders with ‘increasing engagement’ requirements. It is far easier to reach targets and entice teachers to use your service by offering ‘big hitters’ (Egyptians, Romans and Victorians) even if there is little or no representative material in your collections.
Shouldn’t we ask: ‘What benefit does it bring to the museum other than bums-on-seats?’ Use the national curriculum in inventive ways as a hook for reluctant school users and promote what sets us apart — our collections.
Helen Fothergill, keeper of natural history, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery
Should a museum run workshops on the Romans if that is not part of its core collection or story?
Absolutely not — why would teachers and their pupils come to museums if not to see our collections? Teachers visit museums because we offer something that they cannot replicate in school.
We give them a chance to interact with objects that can help bring lessons to life. Integrity, credibility, and school visitor numbers will only be preserved if we accept our limitations.
Collections are the most exciting thing about museums and no amount of equipment, space or decoration in a museum education room can compensate for this. It is this excitement that museums should use to their advantage and the reason why it is pointless trying to provide workshops that meet national curriculum requirements but cannot be supported by objects.
If museums offer innovative workshops linked to their collections, schools will continue to use them as an addition to classroom teaching.
Amy Ryall, schools learning coordinator, Sheffield Galleries and Museums Trust
The fundamental difference between a museum and an ‘education’ centre is that museums deal with ‘real’ objects, with associated information and significance to the original collector, rather than a selection of items, often replicas, that are viewed as a ‘disposable’ resource for education activities.
Yes — museums should facilitate schools’ learning programmes and offer opportunities to engage with collections, but should not be expected to realign their collections, their focus or their areas of interest and research just to keep up with the ever-shifting sands of national education policy.
The national curriculum does offer us the chance to shoehorn seemingly obscure collections into key target areas that teachers will be keen to use.
But to expect everything museums do to fit this framework is pointless. If you spend time and effort on workshops, loans packs and other resources with no relation to the collections, your education service might as well be run from another organisation.
We often have to justify our work to funders with ‘increasing engagement’ requirements. It is far easier to reach targets and entice teachers to use your service by offering ‘big hitters’ (Egyptians, Romans and Victorians) even if there is little or no representative material in your collections.
Shouldn’t we ask: ‘What benefit does it bring to the museum other than bums-on-seats?’ Use the national curriculum in inventive ways as a hook for reluctant school users and promote what sets us apart — our collections.
Helen Fothergill, keeper of natural history, Plymouth City Museum and Art Gallery
