Student Name:

Rachael

Programme of study:

Museum Studies (MA) 2016-2017 Academic Year

Career/ Sector interests:

I am interested in getting a job in museum education

Placement venue:

4schools, Durham University Museums (Palace Green Library, Oriental Museum, Durham Castle and The  Botanic Gardens)

Placement duration (30 or 12 days):

30 days June -July 2017

What type of activities did you undertake whilst you were on placement?

The 4schools team works with children from a range of different ages but the largest group is primary school aged. Most days were quite similar with school visits being split into four activities, two in the morning and two in the afternoon. The morning was usually made up of an object handling session and a gallery trail. The afternoon would be a play and a craft or a detailed look at an important artifact (e.g. at the Oriental museum classes studying Ancient Egypt would get to look at a Mummy and ask questions to find out more about it). In my first two weeks I was shadowing and supporting the staff in delivering the classes. I got to watch many different topics get taught and observe many different teaching styles. In my third week I was allowed to start delivering sessions myself. I started with the gallery trail for Ancient Egypt in order to build up my confidence and the staff were supportive making sure that I was happy with what I was doing before I progressed to teaching a different activity.

Although the days all had a similar set up they were all very different and the range of venues that you get to work at made it a unique place in which to learn more about different kinds of museum education.

What were you placement highlights?

The highlight of my Placement was being confident enough to be able to teach for a whole day during my last week.