Formal learning and museums
Formal learning is structured education provision such as that provided by primary, secondary, further and higher institutions.
The Curriculum for Excellence (CforE) has been introduced in Scotland to guide the education of people aged 3 – 18. The new Curriculum aims to be a stimulus for personal achievement and, through the broadening of pupils' experience of the world, an encouragement towards informed and responsible citizenship. It also complements the important contributions of families and communities to learning.
The CforE emphasies learning processes and student development, concentrating on what children do, rather than what they know. It encourages cross-curricular and partnership work, offering greater opportunities for museums and galleries to engage with the education sector. As a guide to how our members can get involved, we have produced a Guide to the Curriculum for Excellence for museums and galleries, accessible through the right hand menu on this page. The Curriculum for Excellence website and notes from 'A practitioners guide to a CforE', a Learning Teaching Scotland and Youthlink Scotland conference held on 19 November 2009, are additional sources of good information.
Aimed at primary and early years teachers, ‘Hands On – Learning from objects and paintings: A Teachers Guide' provides frameworks to support teachers to explore objects and paintings, to deliver the Curriculum for Excellence. The Hands On Training Pack (for which facilitators can be contacted through MGS) is a one-day training session, with accompanying PowerPoint presentation, to increase the confidence of teachers in working with museum objects.
'Museums and the Curriculum for Excellence: How We Can Help', together with three accompanying case studies, can be accessed through the right hand menu of this page, and explains to teachers how museums can support the delivery of the Curriculum for Excellence. It gives practical guidance on working with museums.
In the right hand panel of this page is Lasting Impressions. Although based on the former Curriculum, it contains useful advice to schools on how museums and galleries can support learning.
