Museums are changing apace with society; changing social structures, regimes of knowledge and cultures of participation challenge established ideas of what a museum is and of how museum employees work. University students who want a career in the museum sector need research-based and hands-on education to prepare them to develop the museums and museum practices of the future. At the same time, museum employees need continuing education to help them refresh their skills throughout their careers.

The project addresses these challenges by initiating a continuous dialogue between the higher education and museum sectors on the applicability of education in working life, and by developing a university course. The project explores the experiences of students transitioning into working life, and maps which sets of knowledges and skills the museum sector considers to be important, now and in the future. This knowledge is used to start a dialogue between the higher education and museum sectors, which continues in Network Museum Education, which the project aims to establish as an annual point of contact between educators, researchers and students from academia and the museum sector.

Because the same course can be education for some and continuing education for others, the project is developing a course in close collaboration between Museene Arven and students and educators from NTNU. The course will be taught twice during the project period, course evaluations and research on student experiences are actively used to refine the course and will also form the empirical basis for research on learning. The research focus is what happens when formal education and professional experience interact in learning contexts where students and museum employees learn together. An article showing the results of this research will mark the conclusion of the project, while teaching in the subject “Museum, society, participation” and the network activities will continue after the end of the project period.

The project is a collaboration between NTNU – the Norwegian University of Science and Technology and Museene Arven. The project is supported by The Directorate for Higher Education and Skills (HK-dir) through the program “Økt arbeidsrelevans i høyere utdanning” (Increased working life relevance in higher education).

If you have questions, feel free to contact Insa Müller or Ingrid Elise Fostervold.