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Module description

Work placements are a vital part of the Museum Studies programme. Students are required to undertake a minimum of twenty days of supervised placement project with a museum or related organisation as a compulsory and assessed part of the degree. Recent placements have taken place in a wide range of museums and professional organisations, including: Brent Museum, Jewish Museum, British Museum, Florence Nightingale Museum, the Freud Museum, Royal College of General Practitioners Museum,Ìý Royal College of Physicians Museum, Wimbledon Lawn Tennis Museum, the Museum of London, RAF Museum, Kew Herbarium at the Royal Botanical Gardens, Marx Memorial Library, St Paul’s Cathedral, Horniman Museum and Gardens,Ìý Mall Galleries, Wallace Collection, ICOM UK, and ¹û¶³Ó°Ôº Museums & Collections.ÌýÌý

Aims

This course aims:

· To support students’ personal and professional development

· To facilitate a smooth transition from academia to the workplace & help students launch their careers

· To help students apply their degree to their job/placement project

· To help students become confident about their knowledge, skills and experience and how they can highlight them to prospective employers

· To help enhance their CV and job applications

Objectives

On successful completion of this course you should be able to:

· Understand your strengths as well as areas that you need to develop further

· Present your strengths, knowledge, skills and experience in your CV and at job interviews

· Have some understanding of how complex systems like museums operate and where you fit in that structure

· Develop personal and professional skills and ethical attitudes relevant to working in a museum or other similar cultural organisations

· Locate, select and analyse information relevant to a practical task

· Construct arguments and communicate effectively both verbally and in writing

· Demonstrate a range of personal transferable skills, including in time and work management and in written communication

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of this course you should be able to demonstrate:

Knowledge and understanding:

· Students will learn how to work as part of a team to achieve specific tasks

· Students will learn how to manage resources

· Students will understand how museum departments function and how they relates to other departments

· Student will understand how the wider social, political and economic context affects museum work

· Students will reflect on the knowledge and skills gained during their placement, how these build on other MAMS modules, and on how their placement experience impact their museum practice

Skills:

· Students will apply existing IT skills to their job

· Students will develop new IT skills

· Students will develop presentation skills

· Students will develop reflective practice skills

· Students will develop interview and CV writing skills

· Students will apply their (written and oral) communication skills in their work environment

Attitudes and behaviours:

· Students show commitment to the ethical standards of the organization and their profession

· Students will be polite and courteous to their colleagues and to visitors

· Students will be passionate about their work

· Students will show responsibility for their work-related tasks and their actions

· Students will aim to produce work of high standard