Over the last few months, we have had a few conversations with teachers that have begun thus…

‘Hello, Leeds Museums and Galleries, what resources have you got for a Windrush topic? We thought we would add that in to diversify our curriculum…’

Have you had those conversations too? How have you reacted?

It didn’t sit comfortably with us, just ‘dropping in a Windrush topic’, does not address some of the wider, deeper changes we would like to support in formal education by using cultural learning. But what change do we want to see and how are we going to do it?

Museum professionals across the world are starting to take action about decolonialising collections and buildings, and increasing diversity in all our programming, staff and interpretation. The debates and discussions are often centred on collections and curatorial colleagues, but what does all this mean for professionals in museum learning? How does this shape and change our schools sessions and resources, and how does that filter into our everyday practice? What are the external and political factors influencing our work? How can we help our organisations achieve their anti-racist statements? How do we influence for local and national change in the formal education sector?

In this session we will look at:

• What does decolonisation mean for museums, formal education and museum learning?

• What does the national curriculum, OFSTED, and Government say about this?

• What changes do we need to make in our programmes?

• How can we help make change in our local schools? How can we have those difficult conversations? And, how can we make change across the whole curriculum (not just in History topics)?

There’ll be lots of time for discussion and chat (but, you do have to bring your own biscuits – sorry!)

Looking forward to seeing you there!