London Museums Hub Volunteer Training Bank
The London Museums Hub Volunteer Management Project is working to support museums across London with volunteer involvement. One of the needs that was identified by the Hub was the provision of basic training for volunteers in museums. The project has successfully provided a programme of free training for volunteers and the training materials developed are now available to download here for museums who want to run their own in-house training.
Click here for more information on how to use the Training Bank.
The following guide aims to help museum staff, or volunteers who are managing other volunteers, to use the London Museums Hub Online Training Bank even if they have no previous experience of delivering formal training. London Museums Hub delivered “train-the-trainer” courses, and this written guidance comes out of the learning from the trainer and participants. Click here to download the guide.
Customer Care
This course is suitable for any volunteers who have to work with the general public in person or by phone. It will help them explore the needs of a variety of museum customers, and how these impact on their work. There will also be a chance to look at ways of dealing with difficult situations.
"I'm more aware of situations that might potentially be difficult and feel I have learnt how to deal with them" Attendee
Click on the following links to download the training materials
Object Handling
This course is a very basic introduction to how to handle objects safely. It is suitable for any volunteers who have to work directly with objects as part of their role. This session will not cover moving large objects, as we will be running another course on this next spring.
"I am more aware of the effects of actions on objects - no matter how small" Attendee
Click on the following links to download the training materials:
Working Safely with Children
This course is suitable for all volunteers who work with children. It will explore some of the legal issues around child protection, and look at ways of identifying and reducing risks.
"I now have a good understanding of all the variables involved in child protection" Attendee
Click on the following links to download the training materials:
Disability Awareness
This course will tackle some of the assumptions people have about people with disabilities. It will cover disability etiquette and language, the Disability Discrimination Act and what it meant by 'Reasonable Adjustments', and will look at some of the things volunteers can do to make their museums more accessible.
"I am more confident that I can ask someone if they want any support without offending them" Attendee
Click on the following links to download the training materials:
Introduction to Museums
This course is suitable for volunteers who are new to the museum sector and want to find out more about how museums 'work', it will cover what a museum is, the museum Code of Ethics, different types of museum and how they are founded, museum language, and the role of volunteers in museums.
"I learnt about issues I had never considered before about how museums operate" Attendee
Click on the following links to download the training materials:
How to Create, Develop and Present Tours for the Public
This course will help volunteers with planning, creating and delivering engaging and exciting tours and talks for visitors to your museum. Throughout the highly experiential workshop they will learn and practice tools and techniques, associated with Storytelling and Storymaking, by preparing a short talk. Time will be allocated to feedback and discussion, ensuring all delegates finds ways to apply the process to their volunteering roles.
“The workshop made me think thoroughly about the structure of my talks and how to make them interesting to different audiences” Attendee