Checklist for Teachers – how to organise your museum visit

Before booking

Why do I want to visit a museum?
Be clear in your own mind why you want to visit a museum. Without a clear purpose you will not be able to make the most of your day. The purpose need not be specifically related to the curriculum, but you must know what you want your pupils to get out of it, and how the experience will provide a positive benefit to them. You will also have to know this so you can convince your line manager to authorise the visit.

Which museum do I want to visit?
This should be a very obvious question, but there is a tendency to choose a museum simply ‘because it’s the closest’, or ‘because we’ve always gone there’. Those reasons are fine if that particular museum ticks all the other boxes, but it might be worth doing a bit more research to make sure you are choosing the right one. Possible criteria for choosing a museum include:
  Relevance to your aim Lunch areas
  Cost Recreation areas
  Distance Capacity (numbers of pupils museum can accept)
  Quality of educational offer Inside/open air
While doing your research, think carefully of the experience you and your pupils will get. A large, busy museum, with umpteen school groups visiting at the same time as yours, may provide a tiring experience no matter how fabulous its collections, while a smaller, quieter museum may be able to make a lot out of its fewer objects, and may give everyone a more enjoyable and useful day.

How do I research a museum?
Virtually all museums have websites, and this should be your first port of call. Try ‘Googling’ the topic you are interested in (e.g. Museums Egyptians), or the area (e.g. Museums East Anglia).

Many museums have Education Officers, or someone who will answer to that description, so you can ring them with general or specific enquiries. Don’t be in awe of them – many are escaped teachers!

Preliminary visit
Most museums will welcome the opportunity to meet you and discuss your visit face to face, and most will offer you a free preliminary visit. DO take this opportunity; it will give you enormous peace of mind, and means that you can prepare your class properly. Many museums will be happy to amend their sessions to suit your needs, so feel free to bring this up on your preliminary visit. Museums hope that your visit will be the first of many, and so they will be keen to make sure you get what you want.

On your preliminary visit, look for things like the toilets (where and how many), picnic/lunch areas, shop (how many children can you take in at one time), education areas, coach parking areas, meeting places for your group, and the general layout of the museum and location of particular galleries. If you will be using a worksheet make sure you walk through it so you can do it yourself, and so you know where objects referred to are, and so you can sort out any potential difficulties. Ask for a copy of the museum’s risk assessment, and check out any potential hazards.

Museum-led sessions, or led by me?
Some museums will charge for sessions led by museum staff, and so cost is a factor to consider, but unless you are absolutely sure of what you want to do in the museum, it is well worth buying into one or more of these. Museum staff not only know their collections well (and probably better than you!), but they also know how to present them to your children in the context of the museum. Also they may have special educational areas which will be quieter and calmer, and (most importantly) they will take the pressure off you and allow you some time to relax and enjoy the visit yourself. Even if you only do one, it will provide a focal point for the day, and your pupils will enjoy being talked to by an ‘expert’.

Costs
It is important that you work out how you are going to finance the visit before you make any firm bookings. Costs will include the museum (possibly), and the coach company (definitely), so ring up coach companies for estimates before you go any further.

Booking
Having done your research and preliminary visit, and having decided which museum is best for you, it is now time to make the booking. The order you do this is important so that you don’t spend your time ringing back and changing arrangements.

1) Get permission from your school for the visit, and decide with the powers-that-be a choice of days.

2) Ring the museum to see whether those days are suitable, and make a tentative booking (mention that this is dependent on coaches being available).

3) Ring the coach companies to book firm dates

4) Ring the museum back to confirm the booking immediately (it would not be fair to keep the museum waiting with a tentative date that it could give to another group).

Make sure that you get confirmation from the museum in writing (either letter or email) detailing the date(s) of your visit, the exact times, confirmation of any educational activities booked, charges, etc. This is essential, and if you do not get it within a reasonable period, ring and enquire. It is not pleasant for either side if your visit turns out to be unexpected! It would also be a good idea (for your peace of mind) to ring a few days before your visit just to confirm that you are expected (likewise with the coach company!).

Preparation
This is very important if you are to get the best out of the day. Much research has been done by the museum sector into the dynamics of school visits, and some of the results may be surprising.
- children do not really like surprises.
- children are intimidated by strange places.
- children feel hungry at the same time wherever they are.
- children are more interested in where the toilets are than in any historic object.
- children may only consider the visit a success if they have had the chance to buy something in the shop.
- children can only take in a certain number of objects before they lose interest (who doesn’t!)
- children must be given something definite to do in the museum.
- seating arrangements on the coach are of great significance to children.

The ‘solution’ to all these issues is for the children to be thoroughly briefed not just about the work they are expected to do, but also about the museum itself, and especially about the timetable for the day. This will provide reassurance, and will help avoid anxiety and allow children to focus on what should be the most important matter: the learning experience.

Most important is that you give the children a definite task to do at all stages of the visit. This may mean filling in an activity sheet, taking part in a museum-led session, or even simply listening to you. You should avoid telling children just to look around the museum, or a room in the museum, as they will probably be unable, or unwilling, to focus. If they are to fill in a sheet, or carry out some specific research, you should go through this with them before the visit, and ensure that they understand the task. Even then, they may well be confused by the setting, and so it is worth repeating instructions once you are in the gallery.

Also make sure to brief your helpers/parents. They will be in the situation of being expected by the children to know what is going on, what is happening next, and how to answer the questions on the sheet. It may be possible to call a pre-trip meeting, or you may just have to send them information. Either way, it is worth remembering that they are giving up a day to come on the trip, that they almost certainly want to be involved but that they may not be entirely confident, and that without their help your trip would not be happening at all.

The Visit
In terms of organisation it is worth devolving responsibility for groups of children to your helpers so you don’t have to count 30, or more, yourself. Make sure you have enough helpers – most museums offer them free entry.
When you enter the museum it is worth orienting yourself and your pupils, i.e. location of the meeting point, cafe, shop, toilets, lunch area, etc.

If you are having a museum-led session you should be prepared to take a back seat and allow the educator to lead the session. There are two ‘criminal’ activities committed by teachers/helpers which create a bad impression:
- Not showing interest. Teachers or helpers who are clearly not paying attention, or worse, who are chatting among themselves at the back, produce the same reaction in the educator as it would do in you if it happened in your lesson! It also shows your pupils that the session is not really important.
- trying to lead the session, by answering the questions before the children have a chance to. Leave it to the educator who knows what he/she is doing and is not judging you by the degree of knowledge of your pupils. If there is a ‘mystery object’ exercise, please don’t tell your pupils the answer.
However, you can be extremely helpful by joining in with group work, looking after children with special needs, and dealing with any discipline issues. It is still your class, and your responsibility.

Make sure you supervise your pupils in the shop. As you will know, younger children have little concept of money, and transactions can be painfully slow. Some museums offer pre-ordered ‘goody bags’ for a fixed amount, and this may be the easier option.

Follow up
Follow-up activities are important as they give emphasis and status to the visit, and also tie it in with the curriculum. At least one lesson spent on a debrief – diary of the day, my favourite object, further research using the museum website – would be worthwhile.

Conclusion
Don’t be frightened off by all the above. Visits to museums are a hugely significant and valuable part of the academic, social and spiritual development of children, no matter how it may appear to you at the time. Such visits will stick long in their minds, and can provide an important focal point for the term/year’s work.

Above all, enjoy it yourself! Without doubt you will be exhausted at the end of the day, but with careful organisation this need not be as a result of stress.