Skip navigation (Access keys)

Developing Accreditation

About the Project

The Accreditation Scheme, launched in 2004, is being redeveloped in a project led by MLA, with the input of colleagues in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland, as well as crucial contributions from colleagues working directly in museums.

MLA is committed to developing Accreditation to strengthen it as a UK agreed standard. Accreditation will become a more powerful improvement tool as well as a more rigorous benchmark.

The format of the standard will be dismantled, stripped back, rebuilt and re-presented as a more focused list of requirements. There will be increased flexibility for museums to demonstrate success, the process of Accreditation will be less bureaucratic, and we will build in the consumer view so that museums demonstrate their responsiveness to their communities.

The Accreditation rollout programme, supporting museums to move from Registration Phase II status into Accreditation is rapidly approaching completion. Further details regarding participation can be found here.

There are now over 1400 Accredited Museums in the UK. All remaining museums with Registered Status have now been invited to apply for Accreditation, while over 100 new museums are working towards applying for Accreditation for the first time.

The revised standard will be announced in October 2010, at the Museums Association conference and at various events throughout the Autumn.

Consultation process

MLA commissioned two pieces of research in 2009 to help guide the development of the scheme. One report focused on consultation events and an online questionnaire during summer 2009 to test the reaction to plans to develop the UK standard. The second research report is based on detailed analysis of four years’ worth of completed questionnaires about the impact of Accreditation on museums.

The recommendations from the reports, based on the views of more than 1000 museum colleagues regarding the value, shortcomings and future of Accreditation will directly inform its development, and are incorporated into the document ‘Accreditation: The Way Forward’, which sets out MLA’s response.

Both research reports, 'The Development of Accreditation – Gauging the museum sector’s response' and 'Impact of the Museum Accreditation Scheme', plus MLA’s ‘Accreditation: The Way Forward’ are available in the ‘related links’ column on the right.

Next Steps

Beginning in late 2009, MLA convened expert working groups. These groups will look to dismantle the standard, and redefine its requirements. They are each chaired by a member of the Accreditation Committee, and made up of experts from the sector. The current groups are:

  • Forward planning
  • Staffing, workforce and leadership
  • Visitor engagement and marketing
  • Community engagement and sustainability
  • Governance, management and legal issues
  • Learning
  • Collections development/management (strategic)
  • Collections use/care/documentation/information management (operational)

We anticipate the working parties to continue until March 2010, when the outcomes will be collated into a draft set of revised scheme requirements. These will then be publicised as part of a second consultation exercise in Spring 2010.

Accreditation Committee

The role of the Committee in this process is to provide cross sector expertise and rationale to any proposals emerging from the scoping and consultation exercise. The Committee remain advocates for museum practitioners within the UK.

Advisory Panel

The Advisory Panel is made up of museum colleagues and stakeholders from many different organisations. The purpose of the Advisory Panel is to:

  1. guide the development of Accreditation
  2. represent the viewpoints/interests of the sector
  3. advocate the benefits of developing Accreditation and
  4. challenge the assumptions within the review.

The panel is expected to meet up to four times during the development process between May 2009 and September 2010. The Advisory Panel is made up of:

  • David Adshead, Head Curator, National Trust
  • Kate Arnold-Forster, Head of Museums and Collections, University of Reading, University Museums Group
  • Chris Bailey, Director, Northern Ireland Museums Council
  • Vivienne Bennett, Director of Visual Arts Strategy, Arts Council England
  • Tony Butler, Director of Museum of Anglian Life, Association of Independent Museums
  • Angela Doane, Director, Collections, National Maritime Museum & Royal Observatory Greenwich
  • Diane Gwilt, Chair of ICON
  • Nick Kingsley, Head of Standards, The National Archive
  • Glen Lawes, Chairman, Accreditation Committee, MLA Board member
  • Elizabeth Mackenzie, British Association of Friends of Museums
  • Nick Poole, CEO, Collections Trust
  • Trevor Reynolds, Collections Registrar, English Heritage
  • Samuel Rowlands, Accreditation Manager, MLA Council
  • Bill Seaman, Norfolk Museum & Archaeology Service
  • Colin Sibun, Director, Army Museums Ogilby Trust
  • Hedley Swain, Director, Programme Delivery, MLA Council
  • Fiona Talbott, Head of Museums, Libraries and Archives, Heritage Lottery Fund
  • Mark Taylor, Director, Museums Association
  • Suzie Tucker, Projects and Policy Officer, National Museum Directors Conference
  • Alison Turnbull, Head of Research & Standards, Museums Galleries Scotland
  • Carol Whittaker, CyMAL: Museums Archives Libraries Wales
  • Isabel Wilson, Project Manager: Quality & Standards, MLA Council

Contacts for the Development Project

Should you have any queries or comments regarding the Accreditation Development Project described above, contact Isabel Wilson, Project Manager: Quality & Standards (isabel.wilson@mla.gov.uk, 0121 345 7325), or Samuel Rowlands, Accreditation Manager (samuel.rowlands@mla.gov.uk, 0121 345 7328).

related links