Taking Museum Education to the Educators!

The Museum Learning Team had a fabulous day out on 28^th June, joining the Unity School’s Partnership for their annual ‘Unity Day’ INSET for all staff from across the Trust. It was a great opportunity to talk to both teaching and support staff from a variety of age groups and subjects. Since we are especially keen to develop our learning offer for secondary schools and special education providers, we were able to have some inspirational conversations to find out how we can best support learning in these areas.

During the morning Alison, our Learning Officer, and Lisa, our Learning Development Assistant, delivered hands-on workshops to staff. Alison talked about object-based learning through some exciting object handling, supporting participants to think about the questions objects elicit, and the opportunities that arise for student learning. They also experienced part of our Anglo-Saxon schools’ workshop, with a practical session making their own replica brooch, based on artefacts from the local area!

For Lisa’s session, participants embarked on a journey of forensic archaeology to discover how to interrogate evidence from the past to reveal the hidden histories of the diverse peoples of Roman Britain, and how trade and migration influenced the cultural makeup of our region.

The workshops received excellent feedback and both Alison and Lisa enjoyed themselves immensely, learning a lot about supporting adult learners in their professional development. Everyone was also very pleased to go away with a ‘goody bag’ – who doesn’t love some stationery!

Lynette spent the day at our exhibition stand talking with school staff about their experiences of museum learning and their ideas for future developments. We are grateful to everyone who gave some of their day to come and speak to us or who engaged with the workshops. Days like these are definitely a two-way process; we get as much from the insights we gain from talking to people as they do from the practical sessions.

If your school or Trust would like the museum to exhibit at an event or to come along to deliver the workshops mentioned above, then please get in touch at ipswichmuseums.learning@colchester.gov.uk for a chat!