A New Role for Museum Educators: Purpose, Approach, and Mindset, edited by Elizabeth Wood. Oxfordshire: Routledge, 2023.
REVIEWED BY RINI SHIELDS
Elizabeth Wood’s A New Role for Museum Educators challenges us to take a critical look at theoretical foundations of museums’ educational purpose as well as new charges towards social justice and community inclusiveness. The book compiles essays from educators from across the field.
No one is arguing against museums’ role as an educational center, however each essay challenges us to consider raising the position of community partnership and stewardship in their mission. Already, museums have begun the necessary work to move past and heal from their colonial beginnings. Wood argues that this understanding has been the “undercurrent of museum educators’ point of view” (185). Increasing the museum’s commitment to their communities, especially underserved and marginalized communities, the book emphasizes the role museum educators play in “building institutional learning frameworks” (187) across all departments. “Being able to articulate and describe one’s approach to museum education requires understanding the theoretical basis for how learning happens, and, more importantly, what that learning should look like in a museum setting” (86).
The book is divided into three sections. The first examines the pedagogical legacy of Tilden, Peale, and Cameron and how they continue to be relevant. It also includes two newer frameworks, Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy by Kalia Vue, and “learningscapes” from Donnelley Hayde, Laura Weiss, and Joe Heimlich. Building on constructivist foundations, these strategies highlight the visitor’s individual motivations, expectations, and background as crucial parts to the learning process. One of the strengths is the reminder that the key to creating a space for dialogue is to not only share our own truths, but to ensure that we are listening to the truths of others (80). It is through these dialogues, with each other and with the objects in the collections, that knowledge can be shared.
Section two presents methods for experiential learning from exhibitions to collections to collaborations, as well as looking inside the museum at docents and volunteers. Particularly poignant is Salvador Acevedo’s realization that too often institutions focus on solving problems, rather than understanding the needs of their audiences (or those they are trying to appeal to) (90). This is a rich section grounded in actions and tools that museum educators can use to enhance the meaning-making experience of visitors. These methods reinforce the theoretical scaffolding of relevance and dialogue – making space for polyvocal meanings and interpretations.
Lastly, section three examines the mindset of the museum educator. The contributors show how museum educators model “equitable and inclusive teaching” (186). This section gives us the self-reflection that is called for in section one. From their experiences, we can see the theories and methods in action. COVID-19 changed many museums, and educational departments were not immune to cuts and closures. If the museum is to hold true to the responsibility to be educational centers, as has been the decree from the American Alliance of Museums since they released Excellence and Equity in 1992, the role of the museum educator becomes ever more important as a “model for the institution [on] how to create inclusive and purposeful programming” (269).
While there are plenty of buzzwords throughout the book, those do not distract from the goal “to bring the eyes of the visitor to the core of what the museum’s praxis is about” (93). There is no one or all-encompassing method or path. Instead, the book provides a groundwork in theory and a handful of case studies by the contributors, such as the Frye Art Museum’s Alzheimer’s Café (194-196) and the American Museum of Natural History’s teacher residency program (201-207). Each institution is left to identify the needs within and outside of their walls, and from there determine how best to address these. While the book does fall short of what to do when these needs cannot be met through education alone, adding in mutual aid types of programming would be outside of the scope of the book. Such programs should, though, be done in partnership with educational goals. The book works best as a foundational resource for museum staff to guide you in the creation or expansion of your programs versus a step-by-step plan, which would not be able to consider your institution’s specific needs, audience, or budget.
Wood, and the contributors, effectively position the museum educator in a vital role – serving not only the museum audiences, but also peers among staff. The success of the museum’s mission is in being “an active and committed partner” that shares authority in knowledge (186).
Rini Shields is a first-year MA student in the IU Indianapolis Museum Studies Program.
