Learning and Sharing Centre project

Thanks to £168,000 of Arts Council England resilience funding, GEM established an innovative Learning and Sharing Centre (LSC) for all those in the cultural sector that are involved in education. The aim of the LSC was to meet the needs the sector workforce by equipping them with the skills they need.

The LSC empowered GEM to provide the best continuing professional development possible for heritage educators, advocate for the value of heritage education and increase awareness and routes into heritage education for those in and out of the heritage sector. It provided the foundation for our excellent training courses.

GEM’s Learning and Sharing Centre was built upon best practice to provide training and continuing professional development at all levels linked to GEM’s competency framework. This framework underpins GEM’s training programme and outlines the knowledge, skills and behaviours required of the heritage learning professional.

The LSC project enabled GEM to develop and run:

  • A foundation course in heritage education
  • Five intermediate courses for heritage educators, looking at working with artists, health and wellbeing, interpretive planning, project management and essentials of leadership
  • An advanced workshop for museum leaders on managing heritage educators
  • A series of online resources for educators and interested parties at a variety of levels
  • A sector events calendar for heritage education training opportunities
  • A new, modernised GEM website
  • A business model for a stronger, more active and sustainable GEM
  • Five regional mapping events to establish the learning and training needs across the country
  • Nine sharing events across the country to spread awareness of the LSC
  • A final sharing conference and special edition of Case Studies
  • A formative and summative evaluation

To accomplish this, GEM worked with a series of partners and collaborators, whose various strengths contributed to the content and delivery of the project:
Engage
Tyne and Wear Archives and Museums
South West Federation of Museums
Association for Heritage Interpretation
National Alliance for Museums, Health & Wellbeing
Association of Independent Museums

GEM also worked with its Area and Nation Representatives and other advisory bodies to plan the long-term future of GEM, ensuring ideas and needs nationwide are understood and addressed by GEM throughout its work.

 

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