York Museums Trust (YMT), more than most, is feeling the impact of changes to the English history curriculum, which came into force on 1 September.
School bookings for Victorian sessions at York Castle Museum fell from more than 20 in September 2013 to fewer than five last month, while “the phone is ringing off the hook” at Yorkshire Museum for school visits to its prehistoric collections, says YMT’s learning manager Amy Baggaley.
Overall, YMT’s school visits are slightly up on last year, in part because, like many other museums with a Victorian collection, York Castle Museum has adapted its offer to meet the new curriculum, which allows for a local history element beyond 1066 around certain themes.
Nick Winterbotham, the former chairman of the Group for Education in Museums (GEM), points out that these themes are non-statutory and that the curriculum is not compulsory for schools outside education authorities (about half of all schools). But he acknowledges that parents still expect schools to follow the curriculum.
Kate Oliver, the schools learning manager at the Horniman Museum, says teachers need the link to the curriculum to be able to justify visits to their headteachers.
The combination of the curriculum changes and rising travel costs is forcing some museums to come up with different approaches.
Nicola Sherhod, a curator at the John Bunyan Museum in Bedford, is developing a handling outreach session to take to schools, while Carolyn Bloore, the formal learning officer at the V&A Museum of Childhood in east London, has overseen a rewrite of all the museum’s teaching programmes, removing Victorian and second world war sessions completely.
And at museums reporting increased school visits to prehistory collections, there is a worry that the initial rush may subside once teachers settle into the changes.
At Chiltern Open Air Museum, the number of school trips booked last month was three times the total for September 2013. The museum’s learning officer, Cathy Silmon, a former primary school teacher, feels teachers lack confidence in delivering the new topics, and worries that visits may fall once they realise the new curriculum can be taught without outside support.
There is anxiety over the changes, says John Stevenson, the director of GEM, but the bigger issue is the impact of government cuts, with entire education departments being lost in some museums.
“We can adapt to the curriculum changes,” he says. “But if we don’t have educators to work with schools, that is the real problem.”
February 2013: Draft history curriculum published. Museums concerned over chronological approach and prescriptive wording. Choice to study Victorian Britain or Britain since 1930 removed from key stage 2. Study of Britain from stone age to iron age made compulsory.
July 2013: Revised curriculum published. Less prescriptive, with some compulsory elements removed, it retains emphasis on ancient history up to 1066. Key stage 2 allows for study of local history that “can go beyond 1066”.
September 2014: Curriculum changes come into force.
School bookings for Victorian sessions at York Castle Museum fell from more than 20 in September 2013 to fewer than five last month, while “the phone is ringing off the hook” at Yorkshire Museum for school visits to its prehistoric collections, says YMT’s learning manager Amy Baggaley.
Overall, YMT’s school visits are slightly up on last year, in part because, like many other museums with a Victorian collection, York Castle Museum has adapted its offer to meet the new curriculum, which allows for a local history element beyond 1066 around certain themes.
Nick Winterbotham, the former chairman of the Group for Education in Museums (GEM), points out that these themes are non-statutory and that the curriculum is not compulsory for schools outside education authorities (about half of all schools). But he acknowledges that parents still expect schools to follow the curriculum.
Kate Oliver, the schools learning manager at the Horniman Museum, says teachers need the link to the curriculum to be able to justify visits to their headteachers.
The combination of the curriculum changes and rising travel costs is forcing some museums to come up with different approaches.
Nicola Sherhod, a curator at the John Bunyan Museum in Bedford, is developing a handling outreach session to take to schools, while Carolyn Bloore, the formal learning officer at the V&A Museum of Childhood in east London, has overseen a rewrite of all the museum’s teaching programmes, removing Victorian and second world war sessions completely.
And at museums reporting increased school visits to prehistory collections, there is a worry that the initial rush may subside once teachers settle into the changes.
At Chiltern Open Air Museum, the number of school trips booked last month was three times the total for September 2013. The museum’s learning officer, Cathy Silmon, a former primary school teacher, feels teachers lack confidence in delivering the new topics, and worries that visits may fall once they realise the new curriculum can be taught without outside support.
There is anxiety over the changes, says John Stevenson, the director of GEM, but the bigger issue is the impact of government cuts, with entire education departments being lost in some museums.
“We can adapt to the curriculum changes,” he says. “But if we don’t have educators to work with schools, that is the real problem.”
Changing key
February 2013: Draft history curriculum published. Museums concerned over chronological approach and prescriptive wording. Choice to study Victorian Britain or Britain since 1930 removed from key stage 2. Study of Britain from stone age to iron age made compulsory.
July 2013: Revised curriculum published. Less prescriptive, with some compulsory elements removed, it retains emphasis on ancient history up to 1066. Key stage 2 allows for study of local history that “can go beyond 1066”.
September 2014: Curriculum changes come into force.
