Maurice Davies, deputy director, Museums Association
"Accreditation is important to distinguish 'proper' not-for-profit museums from others, but it could do more. It's a 'minimum standards' scheme and applies the same rules to large nationals and tiny volunteer-run museums. That's been a good thing as it's defined the baseline for a museum. But now it needs to encourage museums to aspire to higher standards.
Perhaps the review could consider different levels such as basic, good and excellent. And perhaps museums could develop at their own pace in different areas. So a community-focused museum might be happy to be at basic in, say, collections management, but in audience engagement be at good, working towards excellent."
Emma Shepley curator, Royal College of Physicians of London Museum
"We achieved accredited status in 2008 and in the three years leading up to this our forward plan was defined by the standard. It provided comprehensive, externally validated priorities - vital for a single-handed curator marshalling support in a non-museum environment.
Eligibility for funding and partnerships is a major benefit, but many grants require a level of public access to collections that Accreditation does not. So gaining Accreditation alone could not be our only target.
The minimum standards scheme may not be relevant to museums already operating well above the bar. Aiming for the next level of a tiered scheme would help with the creation of our future forward plans."
Isabel Wilson project manager, quality and standards, Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
"The scheme is still a relevant health check and remains one of the bedrocks of our museum system. Now in its 21st year and with over 1,800 participants, it has helped define museums.
Accreditation helps those working in museums self-assess against a nationally agreed standard. The formal assessment, award and guidance by the independent panel gives feedback on performance.
Accreditation provides a valuable shortcut for funders and other stakeholders to see how a museum is doing. It assists museums in being what they want to be and the work that goes into an application can be re-used in funding applications."
Alison Turnbull head of research and standards, Museums Galleries Scotland
"MGS has been developing the Quality Improvement System (QIS). It has been designed to build on Accreditation and to link easily with other existing quality frameworks. To assist museums in capturing outcome-based information, the QIS has been aligned with an overarching Scottish government culture and sport model (How Good is our Culture and Sport?) and will be piloted soon.
We look forward to sharing the work we have done on QIS and in supporting the MLA through the creation of what would appear to be a similar system for Accreditation. An integrated UK system would be the best solution, with possibly some variances to address the needs of devolved countries."
"Accreditation is important to distinguish 'proper' not-for-profit museums from others, but it could do more. It's a 'minimum standards' scheme and applies the same rules to large nationals and tiny volunteer-run museums. That's been a good thing as it's defined the baseline for a museum. But now it needs to encourage museums to aspire to higher standards.
Perhaps the review could consider different levels such as basic, good and excellent. And perhaps museums could develop at their own pace in different areas. So a community-focused museum might be happy to be at basic in, say, collections management, but in audience engagement be at good, working towards excellent."
Emma Shepley curator, Royal College of Physicians of London Museum
"We achieved accredited status in 2008 and in the three years leading up to this our forward plan was defined by the standard. It provided comprehensive, externally validated priorities - vital for a single-handed curator marshalling support in a non-museum environment.
Eligibility for funding and partnerships is a major benefit, but many grants require a level of public access to collections that Accreditation does not. So gaining Accreditation alone could not be our only target.
The minimum standards scheme may not be relevant to museums already operating well above the bar. Aiming for the next level of a tiered scheme would help with the creation of our future forward plans."
Isabel Wilson project manager, quality and standards, Museums, Libraries and Archives Council
"The scheme is still a relevant health check and remains one of the bedrocks of our museum system. Now in its 21st year and with over 1,800 participants, it has helped define museums.
Accreditation helps those working in museums self-assess against a nationally agreed standard. The formal assessment, award and guidance by the independent panel gives feedback on performance.
Accreditation provides a valuable shortcut for funders and other stakeholders to see how a museum is doing. It assists museums in being what they want to be and the work that goes into an application can be re-used in funding applications."
Alison Turnbull head of research and standards, Museums Galleries Scotland
"MGS has been developing the Quality Improvement System (QIS). It has been designed to build on Accreditation and to link easily with other existing quality frameworks. To assist museums in capturing outcome-based information, the QIS has been aligned with an overarching Scottish government culture and sport model (How Good is our Culture and Sport?) and will be piloted soon.
We look forward to sharing the work we have done on QIS and in supporting the MLA through the creation of what would appear to be a similar system for Accreditation. An integrated UK system would be the best solution, with possibly some variances to address the needs of devolved countries."
