Using museums at the local level as a means of lifelong learning

Abstract

Museum learning and access represent an increasingly important element in cultural heritage management. However, museum access is still limited to a small, relatively elitist segment of the Maltese adult population. This can represent a grave disadvantage since it diminishes their exposure to learning environments. In the context of the knowledge-based society that we are living in, this effectively leads to inequity and disadvantage. This dissertation focuses on identifying those factors inhibiting wider access to museums and how local or community museums can contribute to redress this imbalance and become platforms for Lifelong Learning. These twin objectives were attained through an extensive review of the literature as well as practical research. The latter consisted of semi-structured individual interviews with two Mayors (representing the community element) and the Manager responsible for the Education Section at Heritage Malta. To identify inhibitors to access and thus the learning that can take place in museums, nine adults representing the 'disadvantaged' element of society participated in this study as a focus group. A number of findings were established through the data generated by the practical research. One of the more interesting findings was that the focus group participants feel intimidated in museums due to what they defined as their low level of education. Another barrier to access is the high cost of entry tickets. There is also the perception that museums and thus museum learning are mainly an activity best suited for schoolchildren. ii There is a marked lack of cooperation between the stakeholders in this sector such as Heritage Malta and Local Councils. Even from the point-of-view of the 'providers' there is little or no awareness of the role of museums as adult education sites and no evaluation of holistic lifelong learning strategies for museums have yet been implemented. Local Councils also tend to interpret the term 'lifelong learning' very narrowly and possibly fail to appreciate its full potential. Based on these findings a number of recommendations have been made in the hope that museums will ultimately become agents of transformative education.