Dear All
I thought I would send you a quick up date of some of the
issues/information which have come our way recently. Please give me a
ring if you want to discuss any of this. I am on leave next week but
back in the office after that.
Fair Funding
At a meeting between Alan Howarth and Charles Clarke, it was agreed that
officials could look at this issue again. They will be meeting some time
in September, date unknown. We have been working quite closely with DCMS
to marshall the arguments they can use in their meeting, but if anyone
does have new information or data about services which tried and failed
to get schools to buy back under LMS then please let me know. Agreeing
to look at the issue again doesn't mean that DfEE are going to agree to
change anything but it does mean you can use the information to stall if
you are under pressure from your local authority. In a worst case
scenario of no change museums are going to need to be able to identify
exactly what proprtion of their resources are currently spent on school
services as opposed to services for other educational groups so that the
whole of their budget doesn't get hit for delegation or devolution. It
is worth thinking about now just in case.
DCMS policy on social inclusion
DCMS are going to be writing a policy on social inclusion for museums
from September this year. It has to be ready for minisiters by January
2000. The policy will also include case studies showing best practice.
DCMS will be looking for a good regional spread and in particular for
case studies where museums have evaluated the impact of their work.
Please let me know if you have a good case study which we could try to
get included. If anyone is starting such a programme or event or
exhibition and would like to talk about the sort of evaluation which
might be useful then please contact us.
Maths 2000
Maths 2000 is being launched next year. It will focus on 6 themes: maths
on time, maths at work, maths in play, maths at work, maths and people,
maths and money and maths takes shape. There will be all sorts of events
taking place including television adverts, leaflets, family events etc
etc. I attended a meeting to discuss ways in which museums might get
involved in the initiative. If you have been developing programmes or
resources based around a maths theme then please let me know and we will
feed these into our discussions with the maths team. Maths 2000 is based
at the London Mathematical Society, De Morgan House, 57-58 Russell
Square, W1CB 4HP.
DfEE
We have had a call from Brian Mcgavin at DfEE who publishes a newsletter
which goes out to 35,000 schools. At present he is looking for
information about new attractions which have opened recently and which
have a specific education element because they want to do a feature in
their newsletter on these in return for such attractions doing a deal
for schools in terms of cost of visit etc. If you know of any please
e-mail him on [log in to unmask] or his colleague
[log in to unmask] We have suggested that looking at exciting new
education programmes in existing institutions might make an equally good
feature so that may happen in the future.
Disability Resource Directory
This will be updated this year in the light of the DDA and published
next year. Caroline Lang is leading on access issues so contact her if
you want any more information about this.
Sustainable Education Development Panel
We have commented on the report of this group which is looking at ways
of educating people about sustainable development. We have given a range
of suggestions for ways in which museums might contribute to this area
eg though programmes which focus on the way collections are conserved,
teacher training, NGQs, programmes and resources on various themes
(materials and their uses, light, food, slavery and the role it played,
the Victorians etc), travelling exhibitions like The Great Rubbish Show
etc etc. If you think your museum is doing something which is already
linked to this theme, please let us know.
I hope all this is useful. If anyone wants any further information,
please let me know.
Best wishes
Sue Wilkinson
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