Learning inside the museum
Museums have an important role in providing learning services to users，especially school
children．Some learning services will provide a range of formal teaching opportunities in the
museum；others will work closely with school teachers so that these teachers can make better use
of the learning resources available through displays and exhibitions，databases，handling
collections and museum staff.
In an ideal world，every museum would have at least one learning or education specialist．He
or she would be a trained teacher who also had a good understanding of museums and museum
collections，and a strong feeling to help people-especially children-use and learn from them.
A museum education specialist is of great value. For most museums the establishment of
such a post should be high priority. He or she is the only member of staff with training in the
psychology of learning，and has considerable experience of analyzing complex concepts and－
presenting them in a simple way to a non-specialist audience. The education. specialist is，indeed，
the only professional interpreter in the museum.
It is clearly reasonable，therefore，for the museum to make full use of the education
specialist's skills，and to involve him or her in all aspects of interpretation and the planning of
new displays and exhibitions．Museum learning is not just about teaching children，though
children may be its principal audience.
Many small museums tray not be able to employ an education specialist of their own．For
them，there are other possibilities. One is that the local Schools Service may be able to lend a
teacher to the museum，perhaps for two or three years，ivho could be trained to apply teaching
skills to the museum context: Another is that suitable volunteers may be available in the
community-perhaps retired teacher:，or teachers not presently working-who may be willing to
give some of their time to the museum. Another possibility is sponsorship：a large company
might be willing to finance tl-to appointawnt 4 an education、pecialist for a few. years．
An important part of thu= work for the edUcatiOri specialist in a museum is to establish strong
links with its local schools．He or she is a communicator who has responsibility for keeping
contact with the teachers at local schools. He of she should make sure that the schools know
what is going on at th：nusezim arid how they can make use of it，and that the museum staff
know about developnww：in the school。‘Above 4.11，it is their responsibility to find out what
schools want，and to en、ure that the museum does its best to meet those requirements．There
needs to be a continuing dialogue between teachers and museum：the museum needs to know
what the teachers are teaching；teachers need to learn how the museum could help，and what
resources they could use．
The look of wonder on a child's face can be the reward for a lifetime's work in museums．
The aims of museum learning are to establish contact between people-whether children or
adults-and objects；and not to teach facts，but to sow（播）a seed of interest，a spark（火花）of
inspiration.
