In article <l03010d00afed9eaa7a5f@[194.154.100.240]>, Colin Hynson <[log in to unmask]> writes >I was wondering whether anybody on the Museum-L list may be able to help me. > >I am starting to do some work on how rural life/agricultural museums may >help with the training and education of adults - particularly with the >long-term unemployed or those interested in training for a career in the >countryside. > >If there is anybody out there who works in an agricultural museum and has >spent some time working with adults, then I would very much like to hear >about it. > In Britain, I've experienced, and read about, various programmes which have supplied to training for adults in museums (benefits to individuals outside defined projects seem to be ignored). There are, I believe, three things which are fundamental to the success, or otherwise, of projects. Firstly: the commitment of the host organization. Secondly, the target. Thirdly, the people working on the project. I encourage you to look at the goals of people coming onto the project: only sometimes will this be employment, if it is, you need to look at what employers want: if they want degrees in biological sciences, then deal with that - only take people on with such degrees, or tell the people up front, 'this is a programme to help you into a degree programme'... I've had programme entrants who have very low self esteem, who wouln't have dreampt of volunteering, but have quicly found that what they really want to be is a volunteer (i.e. they don't care whether they get a job or not at the end, they don't care whether or not they get a qualification, but what they do care about is that their time is used by the museum to its benefit). If you are serious about wanting to set up a project, I do encourage you to look for European partners: EU funding goes outside Europe, in multi- national partnerships. The partnership _could_ work in this way: you set up a 12 month scheme, whereby the penultimate month is spent in (pulling countries out of the top of my head) Poland or Portugal. Also, you have students from Poland or Portugal, working with you for a month. I know that many rural areas in the US have strong European links: where are yours? - exploit them! Do you have national bodies, or local bodies, which award qualifications in this area? I have found, personally, that the least-win situation is when someone who felt they had nothing to offer the museum does valuable volunteer work, and gains in self-esteems, in basic computer skills. From there, it's up. Best wishes, -- Pat Reynolds [log in to unmask] Keeper of Social History, Buckinghamshire County Museum "It might look a bit messy now, but just you come back in 500 years time" (T. Prattchet)