I very much agree with Eilean on this, and I think museums are about to be
subjected to a bit more scrutiny here. In a recent meeting with Charles
Clarke (the new Education Minister) he indicated to me not only that he had
read the Anderson report and was aware of the patchiness of provision, but
that the Government is very much aware of the educational potential of
museums. The same message is coming from many other parts of the DfEE, so
let's hope for fertile ground - but recognise that the real responsibility
lies with museums themselves.
Continuing Eilean's point, I think staff provision/responsibility is a sine
qua non, but it doesn't guarantee performance (it's probably a necessary
condition but not a measurable outcome of the educational impact of a
museum). How do we measure performance itself, as it affects our visitors?
We're going to be asked this, regardless of staff provision.
Roland
At 12:34 17/09/98 +0100, you wrote:
>From: Eilean Hooper-Greenhill
>To: [log in to unmask] and
>[log in to unmask],[log in to unmask]
>Subject: Re: Museum education service performance indicators
>Date: Thu, 17 Sep 1998 11:35:52
>
>Hi Roland et al
>
>One of the measures of the educational value/use of museums relates to
>institutional committment.
>
>We sould begin to firm up some ideas about whether or not all museums
>should have specialist museum education officers and if so what
>qualifications and experience is required. I have strong ideas about the
>level within thew insittution that MEOs should be placed at, and how
>this should be compared to curatorial and other postions. Very many
>museums have a huge way to go on these extremely basic points, even some
>of the national ones, let alone others.
>
>I think it would be fruitful to map out some basic principles about
>staff and other resources that museums should be investing in
>educational provision before starting on how well those committments
>work. That comes next!
>
>Eilean Hooper-Greenhill
>University of Leicester
>
>
>
>
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