Understanding the Future: Museums and 21st Century Life

A NIACE response to the Department for Culture, Media and Sport consultation.
Published: July 2005

1. The National Institute of Adult Continuing Education (NIACE) works to encourage more and different adults to engage in learning of all kinds. Its functions include research, development and consultancy; advocacy to inform and influence public policy; information services and dissemination; campaigning for, and celebrating the achievements of, adult learners. Established in 1921, NIACE is an independent non-governmental organisation, a registered charity (No. 1002775) and company limited by guarantee (No. 2603322). Its corporate and individual members come from all sectors concerned with adult learning: colleges; local authorities; universities; voluntary and community organisations; churches; broadcasters and unions. While receiving core grants from the DfES, National Assembly for Wales and through the 1988 Local Government Act, the majority of its income is earned through research, development and consultancy work - including contracts with the UK government, the EU and the national lottery.

2. NIACE welcomes this consultation, and endorses the aims underlying it. It is encouraging to see the role that cultural institutions can play in wider society being both recognised and advocated by the government. We welcome the recognition that museums, through their curation of the past, can play an important part in helping people understand who they are in terms of their cultural location in civil society, and the fact that this wider sense of the value of culture and the cultural sector underpins much of the consultation document. The concept of ‘public value’ (see ‘Capturing Cultural Value’, J. Holden, Demos 2004) is of particular relevance – and informs much of our response: The central question is “What long-term contribution to the public good do museums make and how can what museums deliver be aligned with this sense of their wider cultural mission? Alongside this is the importance of securing legitimacy from users of all kinds for what is offered – through advocating the value of what is already done and also by delivering what it is already valued.

3. NIACE’s concern for museums (and in the wider cultural sector) centres on the potential to contribute to public value through the educational element of the ‘museum mission’ – the ability to deliver, promote, develop and support adult learning in its widest sense. As such we are disappointed that, although the existence and presence of adult learners is noted in several places in consultation, these are fleeting mentions, and the role that institutions such as museums can play in reaching adults who have had a poor educational experience in early life, is not fully recognised. We see a key role here for partnership working with other institutions, and although this is, again, touched upon in this document the scope, importance and benefits of such partnerships, particularly for adult learners, is not really explored. We would thus like to see explicit recognition of the learning opportunities of adults afforded by museums, and the extent to which this can contribute to the public value created by cultural institutions.

4. There are also some additional issues that we wish to have seen more prominent in the document. Firstly, analysis of the problems which the proposals are intended to address is largely lacking. We recognise that this document intends to start an open and wide ranging debate, and its focus upon providing a generalised exploration of the themes and issues considered important, linked to illustrative examples, is a good way of providing material to provoke thought and encourage discussion. However, without a clear, and simple statement under each consultation heading about what the government’s concerns are, readers have to second guess the fundamental issues behind the consultation. This may stem from a laudable desire by government not to intervene excessively in the sector to an excessive degree – but this is a government consultation, and a greater degree of leadership might have been expected.

5. This response is focussed primarily around issues one, two and three. NIACE offers a briefer response on other issues which are essentially matters of internal sectoral interest (like, for example, international strategic alliances covered under Question 13).

6. Although NIACE recognises that museums have to work with what they have, there are issues of importance to adults in the way in which collection policies are designed. If the museum is to act as a collective cultural institution, marking and recording the lives and histories of those that it serves (an important step in creating public value), a real understanding of what client groups expect from a museum, and the way in which, for example, different ethnic groups may wish to see their culture celebrated, is critical. NIACE strongly supports the good work that institutions themselves have begun in this regard, but would wish to see that work more strongly acknowledged and endorsed.

7. There are also a range of accessibility issues which should be considered, before thinking about specific uses for collections. This touches upon the needs of people with learning difficulties or disabilities, or others (including those residents, migrants and tourists for whom English may not be a first language). For all of these groups the challenge is to present 'culture' in terms that are accessible and meaningful. Working with local organisations, like those in the voluntary and community sector and learning providers, is useful in this regard, but generating a sense of ‘community ownership’ around an institution also entails outreach. More institutions need to develop, as many already have, willingness to allow objects (albeit less valuable and significant objects) to travel out to the communities that they seek to serve. This approach gives people both access on their terms, and gets them used to the idea that ‘culture is for them’.

8. Finally, in partnership with a learning provider, collections in many museum, libraries and archives (MLA) institutions can become valuable learning tools. Making collections accessible, for example, to a local college opens the way to the creation of teaching materials based around artefacts and their use within learning – whether formal lessons or less formally.

9. The design of different kinds of electronic access to meet the needs of different user groups is of critical importance when considering the use of ICT to reach out to new audiences. There are specific issues, for example, around web deign, which can impact upon readability for those who are dyslexic, or who have a visual impairment. A focus upon ICT when considering reaching out to new user groups also has to be mindful of the potential barrier that lack of Internet access may pose to those from disadvantaged communities. Again, partnership is an important aspect of this – that there are many access routes that those without home computer access have, e.g. through public libraries.

10. It may also be the case, in some circumstances, that it is appropriate to turn the issue around – digitally accessible collections, for example, are an ideal tool for Skills for Life tutors to use to engage students in ICT, making ICT a motive for coming to the Museum, rather than a way of raising the profile of collections (this has been done in Manchester Central Libraries ‘Skills for Life project’).

11. Although brief mention is made of learning at ‘every stage of people’s lives’ and that which takes place outside the formal education system (Para 35), the example cited (Box 6) deals exclusively with children, the principal focus of the paragraphs that follow (especially para 39) are children, and the museums sector’s admittedly important link with schools. The most important part of the consultation, from the point of view of adult learners, is, in fact, paragraph 37 (though even this starts with a focus upon the school curriculum). It does, however, go on to mention the importance of museums for post-16 participation and improving adult literacy, language and numeracy skills. The paragraph concludes by stating that there is a need for more responsiveness from providers, and engagement with communities, and that the sector may be a link from education to the wider benefits of education, like, for example, improved health and lower crime rates.

12. The difficulty is that paragraph 37, as it stands, mixes together issues to do with children and the very different set of issues that impact upon adults, and in doing so, effectively down plays adults. NIACE would like to see a greater distinction in policy terms between the different educational roles museums have in respect of children and adults.

13. The scope of potential work with adults should not be underestimated, either in the context of current Government agendas or in the wider sense of creating Public Value. Skills for Life is clearly an important agenda for Government. Work currently being undertaken by NIACE in collaboration with MLA on the delivery of skills for life provision in the cultural sector has generated a wide range of case study material of relevance. But adult engagement with skills for life is only one aspect of what can happen in museums.

14. There also needs to be recognition of the importance of, for example, Family Learning – the process by which, as families learn together, both adults and children build stronger relationships with each other as they improve skills (the involvement of libraries with Sure Start is a good example), the potential of working with older adults, and learning for personal development, perhaps in collaboration with community learning providers (see our response to Question 5). These examples demonstrate a much richer and more varied pattern of interaction between adult learners and museums, than the consultation document appears to suggest. The essential strength of museums and their ability to engage adults lies in the great variety and diversity which they embody. Museums can help to provide tailored, specific and responsive opportunities for ‘more and different’ adult learners.

15. NIACE’s interest in this issue is focused upon research into, and the measuring of the quality of, adult learning in museums, and this is covered under Question 12.

16. A greater focus upon adults would suggest closer working relationships with colleges and universities. In addition adult and community education providers and voluntary organisations have the potential to help museums to reach groups of new users that, alone, museum staff would find it hard to reach. In the same way that the learning sector needs to be aware of the multi-faceted nature of museums, museums need to develop a broader view of the education diversity of publicly-funded post-initial education.

17. In each case strong links are built upon a basis of shared understanding of key issues, which leads to specific action. Efforts are underway to begin the debate between museums and learning providers, and to define areas where there is a high degree of potential to work together. NIACE already supports this work, both through joint funding of showcase events with regional MLA branches to assist contacts to develop between individuals in either sector, (we have recently done this in Yorkshire and Humberside with a focus upon Skills for Life). Another model is the collection and dissemination of good practice – and NIACE is also currently engaged in producing a publication with MLA, again to show case activity with a S4L focus. However, NIACE feels that this work needs to be broadened, and conducted on a more systematic basis. Suggestions for how this might be tackled are noted under Question 9.

18. We answer this question through our responses to Questions 7 and 10.

19. We would like Government to extend its consideration beyond “museum professionals” and think instead of the development of museum workforce as a whole – offering a skills escalator approach which provides opportunities for all. This should also include volunteer training. All volunteers could, for example, be offered training to help them improve their literacy or numeracy as part of a wider programme of skills acquisition and enhancement. Other skills and experience acquired when volunteering (such as cutomer care) might if accredited, contribute to other targets on improving skill levels. There is also evidence that volunteering, and the development that accompanies it, helps people find paid work or, in the case of older people, extend active retirement. In all these ways volunteering could contribute to the objectives of the government’s skills strategy, and government should consequently be prepared to support and inclusive infrastructure builds museum capacity to recruit, train and manage its waged and unwaged labour force.

20. NIACE does not have the expertise to comment authoritatively on the composition of the museums sector workforce, but it can reiterate proper recognition of volunteers, drawn from a wide ethnic, religious and social base, is an important precondition of rebalancing the representation of currently underrepresented groups, and an important way of developing public value, by increasing the sense of legitimacy for what museums do in the communities/groups from which volunteers are drawn. Increased volunteering will not only break down the barriers that exist between cultural institutions and some elements of the population through increased mutual understanding, but the recognition of volunteering, and pro-active efforts to train volunteers, making them able to compete for paid posts, would, over time, feed through into the balance of museum staff.

21. We would expect the Creative and Cultural Skills SSC to develop close working protocols to develop a partnership with its counterpart sector skills council, Lifelong Learning UK.

22. NIACE makes no comment on what we believe to be largely a matter for those within the sector to negotiate with Government.

23. At the heart of this question is the issue of public value, and the need to ensure that what is being offered is what is wanted. The key to this lies in effective consultation. As noted in Question 1, the ability to gauge what museums are felt to be for by their local community, is critical in delivering a service that is responsive to the needs of local communities and users. Well run and genuine consultation will give individual institutions a much greater sense of their 'audience', and of what that audience wants, and this will allow a properly planned approach to deliver services which may be integral to Museums, but not recognised by the public as a priority, and services which engage with the community and reach new users. The key to delivering this second group of services in an efficient (and effective) way, particularly from the perspective of adult learners, is appropriate partnerships. As noted above these may be with community education services, colleges and voluntary organisations many of which have their own pre-existing links into the community that may, or may not, be familiar to museums staff.

24. It should be noted that to run effective consultation exercises the staff involved require training and support, but they also need to be, as do those who are being consulted, confident that the results of consultation genuinely feed back into the planning structures of the institution concerned. Only if consultation has a genuine impact does it remain an effective tool of engagement, and if the museums service is serious about genuine engagement with communities, they have to be prepared to empower the people that they are dealing with. Communities need to be asked how they wish to be portrayed, how they wish to have their culture and or history celebrated – this will not only change the perception of the museum amongst many of the disadvantaged that it is a place that is not for them, or a place where their culture and or history is effectively appropriated by professionals, but it will encourage an engagement with the museum as an institution which will unlock the potential for those communities to engage with museum collection, and to take advantage of the learning opportunities offered.

25. The critical level of co-operation to deliver a genuinely embedded relationship between two sectors, museum and educational, is institutional – but getting to this stage is not always easy. NIACE would recommend a closer working relationship, structured through joint projects, between sectoral advocacy bodies (the growing working relationship between NIACE and the MLA is a good example), perhaps with specific programmes, events and publications which aim to broker such links. Although this work has, to a degree, already begun (examples of project work from earlier), it is not, as yet, systematic, or national in scope.

26. NIACE has long experience working with the voluntary and community sector (VCS), which structurally is a strong parallel with the cultural sector, containing many different types of organisation, of varying size and operating at very different levels, and with a high volunteer component in its work force. A key area of our work with the VCS has been the creation of the 'Working Together' strategy, a joint working strategy between the LSC and the Sector. This strategy outlined various mechanisms that facilitated coherence and advocacy in a diverse sector, whilst aiming to retain that diversity. This document may, therefore, provide a useful source of inspiration for the museums sector, particularly in the development of its relationship with DCMS.

27. Close working links between the respective sector skills councils (see paragraph 21) will be necessary to ensure that horizontal as well as vertical career progression can be facilitated.

28. NIACE's core concern with regard to quality and success in the museum sector is that concerned with assessing the quality of provision offered to adults as learners, and in assessing the achievements of adults as a result of that provision. Inspection regimes for providers, and the frameworks within which they are expected to work (like, for example, the Common Inspection Framework), can be onerous (especially when using LSC money to support provision) – particularly if the provision of learning is not the core purpose of the institution in question, as is the case for museums.

29. Working in partnership is an important way of minimising the bureaucratic effort that can accompany involvement in providing learning opportunities for adults – it a museum is in partnership with a provider, it will be the providers responsibility, if they are receiving LSC funds to support their work, to audit the provision that is being provided. The best way to become involved in providing for adults in this way, at least in the first instance, is thus to work in a partnership with an established provider.

30. NIACE is aware of the Generic Learning Outcomes designed as part of the Inspiring Learning For All agenda, and support their use. However, museums should also be aware of RARPA, a developed scheme for recognising achievement which has been secured by learners through non-accredited learning. RARPA may well be useful in particular circumstances, especially, for example, where Museums are delivering, or co-operating with someone else who is delivering, non-accredited learning opportunities. Collection of data on Learners, through whatever framework, and the impact that learning in a museum environment can have upon them, is an important way of augmenting the body of evidence that underpins discussion of the value of the cultural sector.

31. NIACE makes no comment on what we believe to be largely a matter for those within the sector.

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