Plans and work programme

Almost all East Midlands museums responding to the 2007 Renaissance East Midlands consultation wanted to enhance their work with schools. They particularly want support to secure funding to deliver learning, support to make their learning resources curriculum relevant and for Renaissance East Midlands to advocate museums as learning venues to key regional education stakeholders.

Renaissance East Midlands will work with museums and others in 2008 - 2009 to meet these needs and is committed to ensuring that museums are best placed to deliver excellent learning to a range of audiences in line with national priorities and initiatives.

Quality learning outside the classroom
Based on consultation with teachers and students about what they want, Renaissance East Midlands will continue to deliver an effective learning programme in museums including:

• Developing at least 50 new teaching and learning packages to increase participation and widen available curriculum resources that offer education and help tackle barriers stopping 11 – 19 year olds visiting museums, at least five of which will be delivered in partnership with the wider museums community supported by museum development officers.
• Engage with at least 10 per cent of schools that aren’t currently visiting regional museums (200).
• Engage with more than 10,000 Key Stage 3 and 4 students.
• Engage with 200 vulnerable young people in the region.
• Provide CPD opportunities for 250 teachers and student teachers.
• Develop five targeted outreach and mediated outreach programmes for museums in the region.
• Develop partnerships with 20 organisations to enhance learning work.
• Lever in an additional £100,000 to support the development of learning work.
• By March 2009, 70% of Leicester’s schools and 30% of Leicestershire’s schools will be involved in the Cultural and Creative Ambassadors scheme (for more information visit the Cultural and Creative Ambassadors page) with a significant increase in schools’ engagement in local cultural activities.

Quality learning inside the classroom
Again using the consultation carried out in 2007, Renaissance East Midlands will continue to push its work forwards to include:

• Develop at least 25 teaching and learning loans resources at museums to increase participation with schools that haven’t visited museums. At least five of these resources will be developed by smaller local authority and independent museums supported by museum development officers.
• Engage with at least 11 non-participating schools in the region.
• Engage 50 teachers in CPD opportunities.
• Achieve a minimum of 20,000 students using loans boxes.
• Develop a further 10 partnerships to drive learning work forward.
• At least 2,000 children engaging with mediated outreach sessions across the region.
• Integrating loans and e-learning by creating 10 resources for the Learn with Museums website to support loans box themes.
• At least 20 teachers engaged in the development of loans collections across the region.

Learning online
In a 2007 report, commissioned by Renaissance East Midlands, 99% of teachers said they use internet resources and 84% use online resources a lot – significant potential for Renaissance East Midlands. The ambition for the programme is to increase awareness, understanding and participation in e-learning from museums and to provide a greater variety of learning opportunities for schools. A major project is the development of high quality resources for the Learn with Museums website and continuation of the e-learning grants.  

• Ten more museum staff will be trained to upload information and resources onto the Learn with Museums website. 
• Six new e-learning training opportunities will be offered. 
• An ABC guide to e-learning will be created and shared with regional museums.
• Ten new learning packages will be created for the Learn with Museums website.  
• Monthly visitor figures to the Learn with Museums website will increase to at least 5,500.

Advocacy work
Renaissance East Midlands’ learning advocacy work will increase in 2008 – 2009 working with other regional cultural bodies to ensure that all heads of Children’s Services and senior officers know just what museums can offer to schools. Case studies will cement the fact that museum involvement in learning increases students’ attainment, achievement and enjoyment across almost all curriculum areas.

A regional learning advocacy network for museums, libraries and archives will build on the existing museums-based learning advocacy group. This will develop a five year strategy and help to develop active projects in which Children’s Services staff members will be engaged in museum learning activities. Such projects will include practical partnerships involving museum, library or archive staff and Children’s Services staff on reciprocal placements using the Strategic Commissioning Learning Links model.