Museums, Science and Learning: How Can Our Educators Meet Today’s 
Demands?

A one-day conference hosted jointly by the Natural History Museum, Science 
Museum and the MLA

Date: Monday 16th March 2009

Venue: Natural History Museum, London (Flett Events Theatre); 

To book your free place please contact Sally England, Project Assistant, 
Learning Department, Natural History Museum by emailing 
[log in to unmask]  or calling 020 7942 6272.

Overview of Conference programme:

Science, museums and learning are about engaging and inspiring audiences. 
We have the ‘real thing’; though our collections, exhibitions, hands-on centres 
and galleries we are places that can put learning in context and make it 
relevant to everyday life. Knowing our audiences - their needs, wants, 
expectations and understanding - is key to our success.

So how do we prepare staff to engage with our audiences and how do we plan 
for learning? How can we ensure the quality of provision in a growing context 
of quality assurance schemes and evaluation frameworks – from meeting STEM 
agendas to our part in the Learning Outside the Classroom initiative? How can 
we remain distinct from schools yet continue to complement classroom 
learning? How do we retain good staff and encourage a range of diverse role 
models to work in our museums and science centres? Is there a career 
progression model and would staff exchanges be useful?

The conference aims to kick-start a dialogue and to explore, with you, the 
professionalisation of the museum educator role and how we might ensure 
quality and credibility of museum education work across the sector.

Target audience: The conference will be relevant to anyone interested in or 
involved with learning in informal or out-of-classroom settings – from 
programme developers, museum educators, Explainers/Science Centre learning 
staff and learning managers to curators, museum studies trainers and CPD 
providers.

Panellists include:
Heather King – Museum Education Researcher, King’s College London
Jocelyn Dodd – Director, Research Centre for Museums and Galleries, 
University of Leicester
Sheila Watson  – Programme Director, Museums: Learning, Education and 
Visitor Studies, University of Leicester
Peter Carne – Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto Champion (DCSF)
Nicky Morgan –­ Programme Manager: Sector Improvement, MLA
Philippa Hobson – Qualifications & Standards Advisor, Creative & Cultural Skills
Maria Xanthoudaki – Head of Education and International Relations; Museo 
Nazionale della Scienza e della Tecnologia ‘Leonardo da Vinci’, Milan, Italy
Anthony Richards – Manager of Gallery Programmes, Science Museum, London
Brad Irwin – Learning Operations Manager, Natural History Museum, London 
Museum educators from a variety of informal science learning venues


To book your free place please contact Sally England, Project Assistant, 
Learning Department, Natural History Museum by emailing 
[log in to unmask] or calling 020 7942 6272. 
Spaces are limited and are on a first come, first served basis. 
We look forward to hearing from you.

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