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Learning & Access

NMDC's Learning and Access Committee works to highlight value of museum learning. The Committee aims to make the case for museum learning to government and other stakeholders, to influence curriculum development, and to provide objective evidence of museum learning.

The past ten years has seen a revolution in museum education. National museums have placed learning at the core of their ethos, and have developed extensive programmes and learning opportunities from early years programmes to advanced academic research and established their role as vital centres of knowledge transfer. National museum websites include outstanding learning resources including online exhibitions, downloadable worksheets on national curriculum themes, teachers packs, making a strong contribution to Curriculum Online.

• The British Museum’s Egyptian Ancient Civilisation educational website alone receives over 4m unique visits a year
• National museums have established links with 244 UK universities, 52 Further Education colleges, and over 80 overseas universities.
• 2.8m children participate in educational sessions at national museums each year – an increase of more than 50% since 2001/2.
• Tate Britain won a Sure Start Partners in Excellence award for supporting children’s learning, in partnership with Big and Small and South Westminster Sure Start Children’s Centre.
• The National Maritime Museum provides national curriculum links for KS1, 2 and 5, for subjects including Art & Design, Citizenship, English, Geography, History, Literacy, Maths, Numeracy and Science.
• The Imperial War Museum supports teachers’ professional development running a PGCE and BEd for Citizenship course, which examines methods of teaching about the Holocaust, suing the Holocaust exhibition as its focus.
• The National Portrait Gallery, Tate, British Library, Victoria and Albert Museum, British Museum and National Maritime Museum have been awarded Academic Analogue status by the Arts and Humanities Research Council in recognition of that their research capability is analogous to Higher Education Institutions. The Natural History Museum is an Academic Analogue of all six science Research Councils.