FOCUS ON PRACTICE: Inclusion and museums: developing inclusive practice

Abstract

Recent policy on inclusion has had an impact on the development of museum galleries and related educational provision. Museums are used as learning organisations and, as such, need to consider how to create an inclusive environment. However, inclusive provision for people with learning difficulties in museums tends to be isolated and small scale, lacking the formal structure found within schools. While much can be learnt from the development and evaluation of practice in schools, there is little research or published literature that explores the inclusion of people with learning difficulties in museums. This article, by Hannah Shepherd, Exhibition Co-ordinator at Freeman College in Sheffield, analyses an example of a specific exhibit within a gallery development. This example reflects an approach that uses guidance from the literature to create a more inclusive experience for visitors, particularly those with learning difficulties. A case is made for the use of consultation and partnership to develop inclusive museum provision.

Education of Children With Disabilities in Nonformal Learning Environments: A Cross-Disciplinary Approach of Steam Education in a Technological Museum in Greece

“…Furthermore, access is undoubtedly the necessary condition, but it is not identical to active involvement and engagement or to social inclusion (DCMS, 2000;Rappolt-Schlichtmann & Daley, 2013;Spandagou, 2011). In order to respond to the heterogeneity of persons with disabilities and the diverse needs and characteristics of different persons -including children and school groups of children with and without disabilities -it seems that the principles of the theoretical approaches of Differentiated Instruction (DI) and Universal Design for Learning (UDL) are the most appropriate both in formal and nonformal learning environments including museums (Fletcher, 2013;Rappolt-Schlichtmann & Daley, 2013;Shepherd, 2009).…”

“…Although the aforementioned principles of DI and UDL concern formal education, in the field of nonformal learning environments (e.g. museums), these principles are considered as the most appropriate in order to respond to the diverse needs and characteristics of different persons as well as to the heterogeneity of persons with disabilities (Argyropoulos & Kanari, 2019;Fletcher, 2013;Nikolaraizi, Kanari & Marschark, 2020;Rappolt-Schlichtmann & Daley, 2013;Shepherd, 2009). As Shepherd (2009) asserts, museum professionals can learn and benefit from the principles of DI in order to design inclusive and meaningful learning experiences for children with diverse needs and characteristics.…”

“…Such theoretical frameworks are Differentiation Instruction (Gregory & Chapman, 2007;Tomlinson, 2001) and Universal Design for Learning (CAST, 2018). Principles of these theoretical models are both used or should be used not only in formal educational settings but also in nonformal learning environments (Argyropoulos & Kanari, 2019;Fletcher, 2013;Nikolaraizi, Kanari & Marschark, 2020;Rappolt-Schlichtmann & Daley, 2013;Shepherd, 2009). The present paper draws on the aforementioned educational theoretical approaches and practices.…”

A participatory approach to the evaluation of participatory museum research projects

“…Haworth and Williams (2012) describe how they used iPads or smartphones to enable people with intellectual impairments to follow trails in a museum by scanning QR codes. Shephard (2009) argued that while the MLA framework provides a starting point for developing an inclusive learning environment, without expert knowledge (e.g. of intellectual impairments) museum staff may struggle to implement successful methods.…”

A survey of networked and Wi-Fi enabled practices to support disabled learners in museums

“…The development of learning and teaching mediated primarily through language was focused on four teaching and learning strategies: 1) the DL being a passive recipient of language through exhibitions, where the social message produced by the designers was preeminent [26]; 2) the development of higher language and social skills [12] [13]; 3) teaching the contents of objects that are thought to be unperceivable through other means, such as painting to viewers with visual impairments, or articles where touch was prohibited [10] [11]; and 4) the interaction with virtual museums that can't be visited in person [14]. Furthermore, it was observed that articles focussed on direct sensory experience to develop discussions on teaching and learning through three different strategies: 1) the development of understanding through the stimulation of senses, where one sense was impaired [17] [25]; and 3) where it was felt that learning through language was impaired, the sensory experience of exhibits was designed to provide at least a partial substitution [23] [24].…”