Skills and training

Skills development

When working with children it is essential that you have high quality staff, but because most small or independent museums have tight budgets, trying to find suitable workers with good qualifications, skills and experience at a low cost or on a voluntary basis can be very difficult.

Offering on-the-job CPD (Continuing Professional Development) training as part of their post can tempt promising individuals to work for lower pay or even volunteer. This training, and the experience gained across the many fields of work involved in museum education, is something that can be included in a CV and help in a career. Offering them skills development and training will make them feel valued and you will benefit by having a more committed and therefore more reliable staff.

Not every skill or body of knowledge can be improved by going on a course, sometimes observing others in the workplace or having on-the-job experience is a better way of finding out how to do things effectively. The important thing is to allow them to express what they feel their needs are, what sort of training they want, and then give them opportunities to go on courses or to give them experience of particular jobs in the workplace. Regular meetings to review their needs and how much they feel they are benefiting from working with you are a valuable exercise.

Training opportunities

There are many avenues into training. Some of them can be fairly expensive while others are free, with a myriad of options in between.

For basic skills or ICT training you should try your local college or ask at the library where they should have information for you. In EU Objective One funded areas you may be able to access free management and team-building training. There are local Objective One offices where you can go for advice.

In Cornwall, there is a scheme called Creative Skills Consortium currently funded from EU funds. It is free to register and as a museum education worker you will be eligible. They put on a programme of courses throughout the year, some of which are free; others are very low cost (£10.00 generally but sometimes a little more) and include lunch for a whole day course. The course programme includes everything from basic bookkeeping to website design and they are very well attended. Creative Skills also provide generous training grants for registered participants which can be put towards the cost of any accredited course.

Some local councils are very interested in supporting their local museums and promoting heritage education. They may provide training for public workers, or, especially if you are paid directly by the council, you should be able to access training courses provided for other council workers.

You may also be able to pay to get involved in the teacher training programme of courses provided by local education authorities. Alternatively, some of these training days and conferences invite the attendance of other education providers to put up ‘stalls’ for teachers to look around during breaks and lunches. People like children’s book publishers as well as museums, zoos, etc can get onto this circuit and you can sometimes sneak into the rest of the proceedings!

You may also be able to apply for a grant to get basic training from other sources. Look at the ‘Fundraising’ section for details of grant opportunities and where to find them. Also refer to ‘Working with Other Providers’ for information about mutual support., And if you don’t have a local museums network, why not start one yourself? Always remember that you can get advice from other museums in your locality. Don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and ask!

Mentors and watching other professionals

Mentoring schemes are an efficient way of training a new member of your team. You could try to organise this within the workplace if you have sufficient staff, or you could try talking to other organisations to see if they could provide a better mentor for specific needs. Again, in hub areas you should be able to get support from your local hub museum. It is a good idea to encourage the trainee to keep records of all this type of experience in a file as proof of what they have done in the absence of an official certificate.

Within a mentoring scheme, or as an addition to it, staff can be encouraged to watch other professionals actually do the job. This is especially important when you are actually handling a group of children as there are certain ‘tricks of the trade’ that can be picked up by watching someone with experience. Other museums may be willing to allow observers in their sessions so it is always worth asking. A local museum network could set up a reciprocal scheme to allow all members the opportunity to visit other museums to see what goes on.

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