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Why museums? - Job hunting - Case studies
Where can I work? - Volunteering - Qualifications
Getting a first job
Most jobs in museums and galleries require a high standard of education:
| • | GCSEs and A level: subjects aren't usually important. But it helps to have chemistry A level if you want to become a conservator |
| • | Undergraduate degree: in theory the subject you study isn't important - most people go on to do a professional qualification as well anyway. In practice museum workers say that if you want to specialise in a particular area - such as fine art, social history even education - then it helps to have a relevant degree |
| • | Professional qualifications: most people following a professional or management career in museums have a postgraduate professional qualification. It could be a certificate (such as a PGCE), a diploma or a masters degree. Mostly these require students to be graduates but some universities operate an access route for people with valid experience. |
Some people take a postgraduate museum studies qualification before getting their first museum job, but many get their first job without one.
Work-based qualifications
| • | National Vocational Qualifications (NVQ) levels two to five are available. Levels two and three in visitor services are the most popular but there is some demand for levels four and five which roughly equate to professional and management qualifications. You need to have a museum or heritage related job to work for NVQs, which are based on experience. You also need plenty of management support. |
| • | Postgraduate museum studies qualifications are often taken part-time, or by distance learning, by people working in museums. |
| • | Associateship of the Museums Association (AMA). This is less a qualification and more a membership level of the MA. The aim is to acknowledge the experience, qualifications and commitment of museum workers. It's open to all museum staff whether full- or part-time, paid or unpaid. It takes two years to achieve and participants have to make a commitment to 70 hours over at least two years. |
For more information on professional development, click here
Work-based training schemes
The route into a museum or gallery career is primarily an academic one, but there are work-based training schemes on offer and some in the pipeline:
| • | The Victoria and Albert Museum runs what is effectively a graduate training programme. Recruits are taken on as assistant curators for five years. Their training involves a mix of on the job development, classroom training and self-directed study. They are also encouraged to complete the Museums Association's AMA. There is no guaranteed intake each year. For more information, visit the V&A website: www.vam.ac.uk |
If you know of other museum-run graduate training programmes that should be on this list, please email: cpd@museumsassociation.org
Diversify
People from many minority ethnic backgrounds are underrepresented in the museum workforce. The Diversify scheme offers traineeships and bursaries to prepare people from specified backgrounds for applying for museum jobs.
Click here to find out more about Diversify
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