A ongoing scheme that placed teacher trainees at the British Postal Museum and Archive (BPMA) has encouraged participants to look beyond the classroom to find innovative new ways to teach the curriculum.
A number of trainees were placed at the BPMA, whose acclaimed collections explain the role the Post Office has traditionally played in areas such as employment, overseas expansion, communications and community cohesion. The trainees’ ensuing exploration of the archive led to the development of a range of teaching materials for use by both the archive and the students.
Improving educational programmes
The national scheme – joint-funded by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport and the Department for Children, Schools and Families, and facilitated by the MLA – was designed to help archives and museums improve their own educational programmes. In the case of the BPMA, student teachers were able to benefit from links created with other participating museums and archives which broadened their teaching capacity.
Laura Dixon, the Learning Officer at the BPMA, said, “the year two teacher trainee students really enjoyed their work in the archive. They were all history specialists and said they would definitely use museums and archives once they had graduated and were teaching.”
Inspiring Learning for All toolkit
Participating students initially worked together with the museum and archive staff to discuss the outcomes that were expected. Then, with the help of MLA research indicators such as Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs) and the ‘Inspiring Learning for All’ toolkit, they were able to explore and evaluate the archive.
Jenny Blay, Strategic Commissioning Project Manager at MLA London explained, “this year they created seating cards, which are like a ‘hot seat’, to inspire students to consider the perspective of different people who would have had contact with one telegram.”
“By using material from the archive, such as parts of a uniform and other artefacts, students can imagine how those people would have felt. Their ability to empathise increases through this kind of role play.”
The overall reception of the programme at the BPMA has been positive. “It is important to have smaller, less well known services involved,” said Jenny. “That way, teacher trainees discover that no matter where you go you can have a great experience.”
For more detailed information on the British Postal Museum and Archive scheme please visit the case study section on the MLA research website