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.
