sam work
Schools 4 Museums
MLA South East
In late 2004, as part of the South East Schools Database Project, sam was awarded a commission by Museums Libraries and Archives South East to assess school use of museum services and to see how museums in the South East benefit from offering educational services.
The South East Schools Database Project provides vital strategic support for regional museums and will encourage school participation.
sam examined 270 museums in the South East, exploring in detail their
current educational services, and gathered data on schools in the region
including their interaction with the museums over the course of two years.
Schools 4 Museums
The South East Schools Database Project had three significant successes.
One was a strategic databank of school participation data, which will help individual museums understand their local audience and how they can stimulate participation, education and progression with their programmes.
Second was the strategic report produced by sam giving a region-wide picture of museum services and to what extent they are engaging schools. The South East Schools Database Project achieves the most concise accumulation of information on this subject for museums and local authorities to get to grips with the real impact of educational services in heritage centres.
The third significant accomplishment was to create an online database called Schools4Museums, through which museums can track and record their own use by schools. They will also be able to locate all primary, secondary, special and independent schools within a 60 minute drive of their building which will establish a valuable line of communication between schools and museums.
The South East Schools Database Project has ensured that, for the first
time, participating museums will have instant access to a comprehensive
information bank which can inform their evidence base for future projects.
The ambition is that, with this data, all museums will be empowered to
provide a more comprehensive and inclusive service for all.
