As part of the museum’s two- year-long Heritage Lottery Fund supported project, The People’s Story of Amersham in the 20th Century, Learning Officer Georgina Barrett this month collaborated with Holly Bee from GEM (Group for Education in Museums) to develop a bespoke training session for the museum’s team of learning volunteers. This session aimed to increase confidence when delivering to young people and adult groups, as well as to empower volunteers to take the initiative to become more involved in shaping the museum’s public programming.
The session touched on themes including responding to unexpected questions, active listening and identifying visitor needs, learning styles, generic and social learning outcomes, circles of presence, and creative evaluation. Holly also signposted volunteers to support organisations, including GEM, the Heritage Volunteering Group, and AIM (Association of Independent Museums).
Participants thoroughly enjoyed the session, commenting that it “certainly made me think of how I could expand on the educational aspects of my spiel/town talk to engender interest in other aspects of the Museum’s offering going forward” and “it was for me , one of the most useful training sessions I have attended in a long time… I felt both inspired and supported.”
Interested in volunteering? Fill out an application form here.
