In this article, I analyse documents from the Pedagogical Museum of Paris, particularly the writings of Ferdinand Buisson (1878-1879), in which the author addresses not only the French experience but others too. This analysis allowed me to outline a network of transnational sociability composed by intellectuals, pedagogues, and people from public…

Within the prevalent logic of the neoliberal university, teaching and learning are subject to academic audits, performance indicators and quality assurance measures. These impact on the relationships between educators and students, placing an emphasis on self- over collective interests, aspirational mobility, and a culture of 'speed' and…

Museums and galleries have long welcomed, and long valued, visiting family groups, and many offer 'family workshops'. In practice, most workshops are primarily directed at children, and accompanying adults are left to observe. However, we suggest that in actively observing and also pitching in, adults too are engaged in learning. Using the…

This article details our exploration of the ways in which gender, militarism, and learning intersect in war museums in Canada, England, and Europe. We outline our theoretical framework of feminist antimilitarism, grounded in adult education; discuss research about museums in general and war museums in particular; and, explain our methodology of…

This is a case study of a hearing-impaired researcher who was coparticipant in a study of learners with sensory and intellectual impairments in six European museums. The fieldwork for this project was based in London, Madrid, Oviedo (northern Spain), and Vienna, with partners and technological and university partners in Spain, Serbia, Austria, and…

The experience of visiting a museum exhibition is inherently visual. Although blind and partially blind people are increasingly offered some access to collections through audio and tactile content and inventive and accessible programming, these initiatives are infrequent and often assume that the goal is to replace or compensate for the visitor's…

Gunther Kress's multimodal and social semiotic theory of communication has moved beyond the realm of linguistics, which originally framed his work, and has reached out to inform other fields, such as those of education, museum studies, as well as the humanities and social sciences more broadly. This article brings together our insights in relation…

This paper explores the multiple facets of curiosity stimulated by an exhibition at the Museum of London. The Crime Museum Uncovered displayed real objects used in crimes in London over the past 140 years. Visitors were presented with questions about the exhibits: 'What does it mean to put these objects on public display?' 'In what ways can the…

Influenced by needs to legitimise large collections and the position as public institutions, art museums today are searching to develop rigorous public strategies in order to increase numbers of visitors and public impact. Education is part of those strategies, and the need to discuss art education in relation to publicness and criticality arises.…

The quote in the title of this paper is taken from the first line of Marc Depaepe's article "An Agenda for the History of Colonial Education", published in "The Colonial Experience in Education" (Ghent, 1995). This presentation takes as its focus the informal learning space of the museum and the art gallery, and the emergence…

Research has highlighted that engagement with science is highly gendered and that the masculinised culture of science makes it difficult for many girls/women to engage. Meanwhile, a growing body of research has explored the potential of out-of-school spaces to provide more equitable engagement opportunities. In this paper, I examine engagement…

In this paper, we will describe, justify and critique a participatory approach that we have developed in order to evaluate the success of a participatory research project that was exploring ways of making museum learning experiences more inclusive for adults who have a diverse range of access preferences. Because we were researching in a unique…

This article analyzes an educational initiative between Kew Gardens, Royal Holloway, University of London, and two London primary schools. The schools, located in areas of high ethnic diversity, worked with the members of the Mobile Museum project team -- including the Learning Department at Kew and researchers at both institutions -- to create…

Although burdened by legacies of elitism, exclusion and paternalism, some public museums are attempting to respond to the socio-environmental problems currently facing our planet by developing critical non-formal educational activities to foster consciousness and change. This article explores one such response; a six-week non-formal course…

Literature that addresses young children's learning in galleries and museums typically concentrates on what is already offered and discusses what has proven to be effective, or not, in accommodating their needs. This article offers insight into how objects can be explored with early years children at school, to create greater understanding of…