Community Outreach Report How understanding partners’ priorities and profiles helps bring communities

and collections together

Nicola Bird and Caroline CheesemanJoint Museums Outreach ServiceOxford University Museums & Collections

November 2014

For further information, please contact:Joint Museums Outreach ServiceMuseum of Natural HistoryParks RoadOxfordOX1 3PWoutreach@oum.ox.ac.uk01865 282456

This report was compiled and written by:Nicola Bird and Caroline CheesemanCommunity Education OfficersOxford University Museums and Collectionswww.museums.ox.ac.uk/community-outreach

(c) November 2014

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Contents

Executive Summary 4

Introduction 6 Who we are 6 What we do 6

Why we do it 6 How we do it 7

Being part of the Joint Museums Education Service 7

Who we work with 8 Evaluation 8 Our partners’ priorities and how we help to achieve them 9 Additional observations 13

Conclusion 13 Recommendations 14 Appendix 1: Sessional feedback form 15

Appendix 2: Who we work with 16

Appendix 3: Our partners’ priorities 18 Appendix 4: What our partners value about our sessions 19

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The Joint Museums Outreach Service works on behalf of the seven Oxford University Museums and Collections, delivering free talks, object handling sessions, craft activities, and supported visits to a wide range of non-traditional museum visitors and visitors with additional support needs in venues throughout Oxfordshire.

This report is the result of evaluation undertaken for the period 1 April 2012 to 30 September 2013, during which time the Service delivered 326 sessions. The aim was to understand community groups’ priorities in working with the Service, as well as the resultant benefits for both the groups and the museums and wider university. The report outlines the Service’s strategic aims and working methods, provides an overview of target audiences and partner organisations, and highlights some key qualitative and quantitative observations.

What do the Museums and Collections achieve through the Outreach Service?The Outreach Service engages local people with the museums (and therefore the wider university) in meaningful, sustainable, and innovative ways whilst also working to break down real and perceived barriers. Venues range from children’s centres to care homes, and audiences include many marginalised groups, such as refugees, travellers, and prisoners. Sessions aim to encourage people to visit independently or to feel connected to the museums even if they cannot physically access the buildings. Evidence indicates that the Service maintains a high profile in the local community and that the museums are subsequently seen to support organisations throughout the city and county.

What motivates partner organisations to work with the Service?Partner organisations’ main motivations can be summarised under four broad headings:

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• Learning (skills and knowledge)

• Communication

• Confidence building• Being part of the (wider) community

78% of evaluation respondents highlighted the importance of learning during sessions. Accessing and inspiring learning are common priorities for groups. Learning through objects is a fresh approach for them, and they value its relative informality, openness, and flexibility, as well as its clear message that learning happens all around us, not only in traditional classroom settings.

78% of respondents observed positive communication during sessions. People shared ideas, knowledge, opinions, and experiences, thereby strengthening group cohesion. They also practised learned conversational skills such as turn-taking and listening: high priorities for many partner organisations because of their role in improving employment prospects, aiding recovery and therapy (mental and physical), and promoting positive verbal interaction between parents/carers and children.

90% of respondents linked the enjoyment, inspiration, and creativity experienced during sessions with increased confidence. This was particularly true when groups accessed the Service over a longer period. People felt more empowered to visit independently, developed shared experiences which in turn promoted a sense of belonging, and experienced an increased sense of wellbeing. Interestingly, this applied to group organisers and support staff as well as to participants.

82% of respondents commented on the sessions’ inclusivity. People accessing the Service can have the same or similar experience, either physically or virtually, as other people in the community, thus breaking down the marginalisation and exclusion they might otherwise encounter.

Executive Summary

They have been introduced to an experience which is unusual for them, each has said they would like to return to the museum and attend future organised events as well. One member of the group found that the experience was an eye opener for him to an area that he would [have] never thought he would be interested in and is now considering a brighter future for himself. Thames Valley Probation Service

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Additional observations There were two main additional observations.

• Group organisers and support staff are not necessarily independent museum visitors themselves. Although we target the group participants, we indirectly encourage staff to become museum visitors and champions, too, thereby extending our reach even further.

• Many of our groups not only value, but often need a familiar person to accompany them on a first museum visit in order to ensure that the visit is successful. Having a person to welcome and guide them immediately removes real and perceived barriers, creating a more comfortable and inclusive atmosphere.

ConclusionThrough the work of the Joint Museums Outreach Service:

• more local people are inspired to visit the museums or to take part in related activities;

• the museums engage people who would not otherwise experience or learn through the collections;

• the museums are increasingly embedded within the local landscape of services and support networks;

• the museums (and university) can make a genuine difference to people’s lives.

RecommendationsThe Outreach Service should:

• ensure that its audiences and activities are better communicated to directors, bid writers, and other colleagues;

• continue to develop more strategic working with education departments and the Volunteer Service;

• use its experience of reducing barriers to inform and support policy implementation, to ensure

access for all;• continue to engage new audiences and evaluate

its services and impact;• help group leaders to maximise engagement

by hosting CPD workshops and producing downloadable resources;

• continue to work alongside support services in Oxfordshire, to remain part of the landscape for local people;

• continue to communicate its work within the wider museum sector.

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IntroductionThis report draws upon the work of the Joint Museums Outreach Service between 1 April 2012 and 30 September 2013, during which time it delivered 326 sessions. Evaluation begun in April 2013 confirms the Service’s important role in engaging local people in meaningful, sustainable, and innovative ways on behalf of the museums and wider university. Here, we hope to clarify that role by outlining strategic aims and working methods, providing an overview of target audiences and partner organisations, and highlighting some key qualitative and quantitative observations.

In particular, the report sets out to address two main questions:

1. What do the Museums and Collections achieve through the Outreach Service?

2. What motivates partner organisations to work with the Service?

Who we areThe Outreach Service consists of one full-time post shared by two part-time Community Education Officers, who are managed by the Head of Volunteering and Community Outreach and report to an overarching Education Steering Group. We work on behalf of all of the

Oxford University Museums and Collections – primarily the four ‘main’ museums (Ashmolean, Museum of the History of Science, Museum of Natural History, and Pitt Rivers Museum), but also the Botanic Garden, Harcourt Arboretum, and Bate Collection.

Various members of Education and other staff at each of the museums also have outreach elements to their roles, but this is the only post that focuses entirely on it. However, we work collaboratively with these colleagues in both the community and the museums, as and when appropriate.

What we doWe deliver free talks and object-based sessions to non-traditional museum visitors and visitors with extra support needs throughout Oxford and Oxfordshire. This includes adult community groups, adult learning groups, and family learning groups.

Why we do itOur strategic aims are:

• to broaden access to the collections, either through delivering sessions to groups in the community or through facilitating community groups’ visits to the museums

• to reach out to people who physically cannot or who for other reasons (e.g. cultural, socioeconomic, health) would not normally visit the museums; to break down real and perceived barriers to accessing the collections

• to work in partnership with local, regional, and national organisations and with local freelance artists; to use the collections to help them meet their aims and objectives (e.g. education, sociability, wellbeing, rehabilitation, integration)

• to strengthen and sustain links between people in the local community and the university; to foster individuals’ ongoing sense of ownership and

Community Outreach Report

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confidence as museum visitors• to work with colleagues to promote the museums as

free, welcoming, interesting, relevant institutions• to advise, support, and mentor colleagues working

with shared or similar audiences, whether in the community or in the museums

• to provide an alternative, supported route into museum volunteering for individuals who may struggle to access it through normal channels

How we do itThe vast majority (> 90%) of our work happens outside of the museums, i.e. in venues in the local community, and involves:

• delivering introductory object handling sessions• delivering themed object handling sessions,

sometimes with an additional creative element• delivering short courses or projects• presenting talks• participating in large community events

Where possible, we hope and anticipate that our visits out to groups will be followed by a visit in to one or more of the museums.

Some groups, we support during visits to the museums, providing an informal introduction and a tour or other activities. This has proven particularly successful with our programme of ‘VIP Visits’ by Julian Housing (supported housing) and Thames Valley Probation Service.

We also sit on, and are members of, various county-wide steering groups and networks with a community focus, including Oxfordshire Learning Network and Oxford Community Forum.

These latter two points together mean that we are well-placed to build and sustain links between museums and community organisations to their mutual benefit.

Being part of the Joint Museums Education ServiceAlthough our office is in the Museum of Natural History, we do not belong to any one museum in particular and do not have a director. This means that our team is simultaneously core and not core; we work for everyone, but many of our colleagues are unaware of our work and/or do not realise that we work on their behalf. It is therefore difficult for us to measure the extent to which we may or may not impact on any individual museum.

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On the plus side, by being part of a relatively independent cross-museums team, we can draw upon a wider pool of objects and expertise, bringing them together and presenting them under broader topics, e.g. Currency, Ancient Egypt, and History of Medicine. Whilst we also deliver museum-specific sessions, these cross-museum themes highlight the connections between the collections and ensure that they are all represented. The number and variety of topics means that at least something is sure to be of interest to new groups, whilst still maintaining the potential to introduce new objects for repeat groups.

Who we work withDuring the period Apr12 - Sep13, we delivered 326 sessions to 5,312 individuals.

The aim of our work is to reduce or overcome barriers that may otherwise stop people experiencing the museums. These include visual impairment, mobility issues, mental and/or physical illness, dementia, learning difficulties, homelessness, addiction, isolation, low literacy, English as a second language, being in prison, hospital, or care homes, and more. These are not mutually exclusive.

We categorise the groups and organisations we work with under eight broad headings:• Health and wellbeing• Libraries• Children and families

• Probation and prisons• Adult learning and adults with learning disabilities• Homeless and supported housing• Older people• Other

Although these categories are not mutually exclusive, and there are certainly grey areas, they allow us to frame and report our work in a consistent way. One element of our evaluation was to consider the extent to which our categories are more or less appropriate. Another was to try to capture some information about diversity within the groups and categories. In our work, we meet a huge range of people who we can consider diverse in terms of race, ethnicity, faith, disability, age, gender, sexuality, and class.

Evaluation In April 2013, we introduced two new evaluation tools:

1. an online survey sent out in April 2013: group leaders commented on groups’ general profile, priorities, and experience working with the Outreach Service during the previous year;

2. a session-specific form used between April 2013 and September 2013: group leaders commented on the group’s profile, aims, and expectations at a particular session, and provided observations on individual and group behaviour and participation during the session.

The opportunity for my class to be taught by someone else and obtain information gave the course a larger context and suggested the way learning can happen in many venues, not just a classroom. Skills for Life Class, Oxfordshire County Council

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We received responses from 40% (19 out of 48) of the online surveys and 63% (72 out of 115) of sessions.

The results enabled us to capture and structure informal comments, providing qualitative and some quantitative evidence of Generic Learning and Social Outcomes, as well as validation against targets and agendas set by Oxford ASPIRE, ACE, and the Museums Association.

They have also given us a new perspective on the Service and why others work with us. We know why we target the groups and organisations that we do, but how do they see themselves and what do they actually gain? We might target a group of elderly people and categorise them under ‘Older people’. But perhaps for them, their age is a given: it has nothing directly to do with inviting us to come. What the group members are looking forward to when they get together is not fussing about their age but enjoying a bit of a chat and learning something new. For both us and the session organisers, a real sign of success for such a group may be as simple as nobody falling asleep!

By understanding and complementing our partners’ definitions, aims, and priorities, we help to ensure that the museums are viewed in a strong, positive, and sometimes even strategic light. The museums become more than just buildings and collections – which people may or may not be able to physically visit – because the outreach sessions provide distractions, memories, talking points, shared experiences, knowledge, and inspiration, all of which align with various individual and group motivations.

Our partners’ priorities and how we help to achieve themOur evaluation suggests that by working with us, partners feel they can promote learning, communication, confidence, and a sense of belonging – often in a new and stimulating social context. The quotations used to illustrate and evidence each of these points below have been taken directly from the online survey and sessional feedback forms.

Learning (knowledge and skills)78% of sessional feedback observed knowledge-based learning; 65% observed skills-based learning.

The potential that museums have to inspire learning is a given for those of us who work in them. Objects and displays provide both a source of factual information and a focus for individual interpretation and reflection.

Accessing and inspiring learning, and developing the skills to learn, are also common priorities for many community groups, who clearly value our sessions as providing something different. Learning from objects is a fresh approach for them, and one that seems to work because of its relative informality and openness. Many

The unique opportunity for pupils to handle objects is very motivating. The sessions are always completely inclusive and individually adapted e.g. objects which can be taken to pupils who are in isolation because they are too ill to mix with other pupils mean that they can experience the same opportunities and engage in learning. John Radcliffe Hospital School

So good to see quite a challenging group become engaged in an activity. Family Learning Maths Class, Abingdon Children’s Centre

[The inmates] ‘presented’ their object to the rest of the class which was a new experience for most of them. They really listened well, which they don’t normally do. HMP Bullingdon

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of the people we meet have been disengaged from and/or experience barriers to education and learning. We provide an alternative approach in which all ideas, opinions, and reactions are listened to and in which the process of working out, proposing, or explaining an answer is as important as its factual correctness. Our sessions are intended to be inclusive and informative discussions rather than didactic lessons.

The relative informality also means that we can be flexible and responsive to individual learners’ needs and modes of interaction, as was the case when, for example, one autistic learner recorded a session on his iPad and was then observed replaying and responding to the video as much as he had responded to the physical objects in the first place.

Even for groups that are already engaged with learning in a traditional sense, the wealth of information held in the collections means that there is always something new to discover.

Learning can also be a physical process, especially for children. Touching, holding, and manipulating handling objects creates a sensory experience whilst simultaneously promoting investigative skills and spatial awareness. Equally valid, the use of craft tools and materials, such as scissors and glue, during creative activities provides the opportunity to develop independent manual dexterity (a high priority for many children’s centres).

By offering different routes into learning and

opportunities to practise different aspects of learning, the museums help groups to achieve their educational priorities whilst also eliciting a genuinely positive response.

Communication78% of sessional feedback identified communication skills as important.

People follow conversational discourse naturally when museum objects are the group’s focus. The ability to participate in discussion is itself a learned skill, and talking about objects facilitates the practice of questioning, presentation, turn-taking, and listening skills – in other words: effective communication. This in turn encourages individuals to feel more confident in sharing their knowledge, opinions, and experiences and to become more integrated in to the group.

When some children kept asking questions, the [museum] staff asked them what they thought the answer might be … which gave the children the chance to reflect upon their enquiry. This was a positive way of dealing with question asking and helped build confidence. Maple Tree Children’s Centre, Wheatley

[An aim for some:] to introduce them to a community environment where they can establish an ability to engage [and] learn and to encourage them into exploring opportunities for themselves in [the] future. Thames Valley Probation Service

Residents were able to remember the session and were heard telling staff and family what they had seen later that day. Chiltern Grange (dementia) Care Home

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Many of our groups value good communication skills because, despite being difficult to tangibly evidence, these skills can lead to other positive outcomes. Examples of these outcomes identified in the evaluation include:

• equipping people with skills that improve job prospects

• aiding therapy for people with physical and mental health issues

• supporting people to achieve qualifications in which these skills are assessed

• developing positive verbal interactions between parents/carers and children

One outcome that is more easily observed and captured is ongoing conversation after the session, i.e. participants continuing to talk about a session with friends, families, and colleagues.

This conversation benefits them for the reasons outlined above, and it benefits the museums by indirectly reaching a wider audience. The individuals recalling the session move from being participants to becoming advocates.

Confidence building90% of respondents linked the enjoyment, inspiration, and creativity experienced during sessions with increased confidence. In addition to encouraging individuals to vocalise their thoughts and to participate in group discussions, sessions also give them the confidence essential to explore new places and ideas.

Our typical way of working – involving multiple visits and the gradual introduction of new material and concepts – is valued by many of our groups because it helps to build confidence, rapport, and trust over a period of time and in familiar surroundings. A sense of continuity is similarly valued; if we do arrange a visit to one of the museums, we ensure that a friendly face is there to greet the group – usually one of us, but possibly also a colleague who has accompanied us on a previous outreach visit. The museum is then already viewed as safer and therefore more welcoming.

Again, groups value this ongoing relationship and subsequent increased confidence because of associated positive outcomes; people:

• feel empowered to visit places of interest as part of a group or on their own

• develop shared experiences that promote a sense of

One child, who did not feel ready to handle the bugs when they came a couple of months ago, was today able to handle them and mum was delighted. She had grown in confidence supported by the museum staff. Maple Tree Children’s Centre, Wheatley

Many in our group [are] unable to get to a museum, so the fact that this Service comes to us is important and appreciated. McMaster House, for older people

Sharing ideas on objects, provenance and uses – several learners drew on their own cultural background and shared this with the group. Family Learning, English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL)

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belonging to a group and/or provide an alternative ‘something in common’ beyond whatever it is that basically defines the group, e.g. old age, mental health, homelessness

• experience an increased sense of wellbeing, which can in turn have a positive knock-on effect on other aspects of their lives

Being part of a wider community82% of sessional feedback observed people connecting with the museums on a more general level.

As the main public facing part of the university, the museums have an important role in both engaging and serving the local community. They are part of the city and county landscape, and local people should feel a sense of ownership over them, as well as an ability to visit them freely and promote them widely.

By taking the museums out and working with partners in the community, we go some way to crossing the Town and Gown divide, as well as tackling other barriers to do with time and travel costs and simple lack of awareness.

We go to events that are specifically about the local community, e.g. Cowley Road Carnival and Oxfordshire Play Days, but we also visit more marginalised groups, urging and inviting them to feel part of something bigger. People who cannot physically be part of the community because they are in dementia homes, hospital, or prison can still experience the museums even though they may never visit the buildings. For others, access to the collections can create connections on an even wider,

global scale. Refugees and English Speakers of Other Languages can see objects from their own cultures and countries alongside objects from other peoples and places, including from Britain and even Oxford. In this respect, the museums become something of a melting pot for local audiences.

For many of our groups, attending outreach sessions and visiting museums is simply recognised as engaging with a ‘normal’ pastime – although possibly one that they would not previously have considered open to them. Feedback from the probation and prison services suggests that promoting inclusivity in museums has a direct and positive impact on individuals with criminal records: they view the museums as more welcoming and museum visits as a more productive way to spend their time. They also feel better able to bring their families to the museums, which may in turn provide opportunities for positive communication and interaction as described above.

Families gained knowledge of what was on offer in the local Oxford area … There were lots of positive comments and it was nice to hear [parents] talking about getting out and about in Oxford to see what is on offer. Florence Park Children’s Centre

The guided tour of the museum was well conducted and all clients were interacting at a reasonable level and asking questions. It was great to have, as many of our clients lack literacy skills and would lack understanding in what can seem quite a complex subject. Thames Valley Probation

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Additional observationsThere were two main additional observations made clear by the evaluation.

Firstly, group organisers and support staff are not necessarily independent museum visitors themselves. In fact, many needed directions to the museums when visiting with a group or were confused as to which museum was which or by the fact that there was more than one. The evaluation has revealed that although we tend to target groups from the bottom up, support workers and managers are also engaged – sometimes for the first time – and with similar positive results.

Secondly, for many of our groups, having a person to help interpret museum collections, exhibitions, and buildings is not just desirable, but essential. For people who lack the language and literacy skills to read panels and labels,

facilitation by an appropriate member of staff helps to overcome real (but often hidden) language barriers. They can practise some of their verbal communication skills instead, by asking questions and discussing. Similarly, having someone to introduce groups to the space and guide them around helps them to start to engage with and interpret the displays instead of worrying about more practical concerns like what to look at and where to go.

ConclusionThe Joint Museums Outreach Service engages new and diverse audiences for the Oxford University Museums and Collections. These audiences comprise not only targeted ‘non-traditional’ visitors but also wider support staff, friends, families, and colleagues who may themselves not have visited the museums before. A ripple effect can then occur.

More local people are inspired to visit the museums or take part in related activities.

For example, following a bug handling session with the Outreach Service at a children’s centre, families may be inspired to visit the Museum of Natural History to discover more, or they may connect with entomology by looking for bugs in their garden or during their walk to school – activities and learning for which the museum’s collections were a springboard.

The museums are increasingly embedded within the local landscape of services and support networks.

Aligning the Service with partners’ priorities around learning, communication, confidence, and integration helps to strengthen the positive view of the museums as a resource, as well as trusted, safe, and interesting

Students are now aware of the museums and in a class discussion [said that they] want to visit museums with children / family. HMP Bullingdon

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places to spend time. It provides an alternative museum experience for individuals and new routes to engagement for both partners and the museums themselves.

The Service widens the museums’ and university’s reach in the local community.

Key to the Service’s success is its relatively informal, flexible, and open approach, its willingness to develop and maintain relationships with groups over time, its work with museum colleagues to facilitate the transition from ‘sessions out’ to ‘sessions in’, and its understanding and acknowledgement of the many and diverse barriers that people face. The museums’ open doors actively invite visitors to engage with the knowledge, ideas, understanding, and research for which the university is famous. By working to reduce the real and perceived barriers to accessing the museums that people experience on an individual, group, organisation, and community level, the Joint Museums Outreach Service helps more visitors across the threshold – physically or virtually – thereby strengthening the museums’ positive role in wider issues such as community cohesion, inclusivity, accessibility, and lifelong learning.

RecommendationsWithin the Oxford University Museums and Collections, the Service will encourage and promote:

• better communication about its audiences and activities to directors, bid writers, and other colleagues;

• awareness and reduction of barriers faced by visitors, by informing and supporting the implementation of access policies across the sites;

• more strategic working, particularly with education and other public engagement staff;

• ongoing reflection on audience profile and evaluation methods.

For partners working with the Service, it will:

• raise awareness of the power of learning from objects;

• highlight / embed the museums in the local network of services within Oxfordshire;

• ensure that the Service’s approach is explicit so that relationships are clear and genuine.

Within the museum sector, it will:

• communicate its work in discussions around accessibility, wellbeing, and wider community issues.

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Appendix 1: Sessional feedback form

Museum Outreach Session Evaluation Form

Museums outreach session evaluation form Group:

Organiser: Date:

Session name / focus:

1. Please describe the profile of the group (eg; race, ethnicity, faith, disability, age, gender, sexuality, class)

2. What was your aim for this session when working with the outreach team?

3. What did you expect from the session? 4. Is there anything we could do to improve this session (or future sessions)?

5. Please give examples of any observations you made under the following headings:

Enjoyment, inspiration and creativity

Learning - knowledge

Learning - skills

Engagement

Communication

6. Would you use the service again? Why or why not?

7. Please describe any observations which indicate the participants are more likely to visit the University Museums.

8. Any other comments?

Appendix 2: Who we work with

The diversity within, and overlap between, the eight categories we devised in order to report on our work means that they are really only useful as a broad and general framework. By asking group leaders to describe profiles and priorities as part of our evaluation, we have seen that how we categorise certain groups does not necessarily match how they might categorise themselves.

For example, we include Dovecote Day Club under ‘Older people’ but the group leader describes the profile as ‘Elderly people with mental health needs (primarily dementia)’ with a general aim of ‘Entertainment and stimulation’. Thus, the group might fit equally well under ‘Health and wellbeing’.

In many cases, our categories do correspond, and even where they do not, by recognising possible mismatch and ensuring that we are consistent, we prevent it becoming problematic. It is nonetheless something to bear in mind in moving forward with reporting and evaluation.

Below is a breakdown of the types of different people and groups we work with, as well as a summary of the basis upon which group leaders describe their groups’ profiles in sessional feedback.

People • Parents / carers and under 5s (including young mothers, male carers)• Families• Older people in supported housing, care homes, dementia nursing homes, day centres• Older people accessing community groups (U3A / retired association / WI)• Adults in prison or on probation • Children and young people in hospital school• Young people and adults suffering with mental health difficulties• Adults recovering from neuromuscular, brain, and spinal injuries• Adults with learning disabilities and difficulties• Adults attending accredited classes including literacy, maths, and ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages)• Individuals experiencing homelessness or in supported housing• Settled refugees or those seeking asylum • Traveller communities

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98

27

58

22

31

51

309

Categorisation of groups visited in 326 sessionsApr 12 - Sep 13

Health & Wellbeing

Libraries

Children & Families

Probation & Prisons

Adult Learning & ALD

Older People

Homeless & Supported Housing

Other

Groups and organisations, as we categorise them:

Health and Wellbeing • Oxford Centre of Enablement • John Radcliffe and Warneford Hospital Schools • Mental Health Charities (Mind, Restore)LibrariesChildren and Families• Children’s Centres• Oxfordshire Play AssociationProbation and Prisons• HMP Bullingdon• Thames Valley Probation ServiceAdult Learning and ALD• Oxfordshire Skills and Learning Service • Family Learning• Adults with Learning Disabilities (charities, NHS,

Foundation Trusts)Older People• Care homes, dementia nursing homes • Age UK

• U3A, retired associations, stroke clubs, Women’s Fellowship, church groups, Women’s Institute

Homeless and Supported Housing• Thames Valley Probation Service• Crisis Skylight• Oxford Homeless PathwaysOther• Refugee Resource• Travellers groups• Community Dementia support groups (young people)

How group leaders profile their groups Number of mentions in sessional feedbackGender 14Ethnicity 22Families 8Age: Children 21 18-70 17 Older People 10Disability 2Unemployed 4Confidence 1Medical Needs 1Learning Disability 5Vunerable Adults 2Prisoners 6Faith 6Sexuality 1Dementia 1Travellers 1Homeless 2Mental Health 3Educational Attainment 1

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Appendix 3: Our partners’ priorities

The online survey and sessional feedback forms asked group leaders to comment on their aims and priorities both generally and specifically. This provided an insight in to each group’s wider mind-set, as well as in to its reasons for engaging the Outreach Service to deliver particular sessions.

The most common aim referred to in the online survey was learning and knowledge-sharing (47%). Others included interaction and discussion, access and stimulation, enjoyment and discovery, and general wellbeing.

Similar trends emerge from the sessional feedback. 50% of group leaders reported that they engaged with the Outreach Service in order to introduce participants to the museums as part of the wider community. And, again, 47% engaged with the Service with a focus on learning and education.

Other aims included:

As a means to encourage parents and children to interact 32%As a platform to encourage discussions 29%For enjoyment 25%To stimulate different approaches to learning 20%To handle objects 15%To encourage service users to become independent visitors 13%

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Appendix 4: What our partners value about our sessions

The online survey asked respondents to indicate how valuable each of various common session elements was for their groups. The results emphasise the degree to which groups particularly value the opportunity to discuss interesting topics, handle real objects, and discover new information.

Not valuable Neutral Valuable Very valuable Total Average Rating

Craft activities 21.05%4

15.79%3

26.36% 5

36.84% 7

19 2.79

Touching objects

0%0

5.26%1

21.05%4

73.68%14

19 3.68

Talking with each other / group discussions

0%0

0%0

26.32%5

73.68%14

19 3.74

Being welcomed into a museum setting

5.26% 1

21.05%4

31.58%6

42.11%8

19 3.11

Establishing a contact from the museums

5.26%1

5.26%1

36.84%7

52.63%10

19 3.37

Being able to find out more

0%0

5.26%1

31.58%6

63.16%12

19 3.58

The lower value placed upon craft activities reflects the fact that these are more often used with family learning groups, whilst the majority of respondents (74%) were from adult groups. Similarly, the lower value placed upon being welcomed into a museum setting reflects the fact that most of our work takes place in the groups’ own community venues.

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