Tree of learning

Museums, libraries and archives have been wrestling with the problem of measuring engagement for several years. When asked their views of an exhibition or activity, people will often say “It was really good!” or “It was really interesting!” Hopefully it was good and interesting, but how can we get beyond that to what people really think and the impact which the event has had on individuals? How can we demonstrate the value of the activities of museums (and other cultural and heritage organisations) to local communities and different audience groups? Funders will want to know whether or not their money is being well spent, and will want the information in terms relevant to their activities. To this end, the Museums, Libraries and Archives Council (MLA) has developed two frameworks to measure the impact of the work of museums, libraries and archives on individuals and communities – the Generic Learning Outcomes (GLOs) and the Generic Social Outcomes (GSOs).

Branching out

Using the GLOs and GSOs together has been an effective way of evaluating ‘Woodhorn Our Woodhorn’ (WOW), and showing its impact on individuals and community groups. WOW was a family history project which aimed to re-engage people in Wansbeck (in southeast Northumberland) with their heritage, their families and the ethos of work, all of which used to be very strong in this former mining area, and with Woodhorn, Northumberland Museum, Archives and Country Park. The neighbouring wards of East Ashington and Newbiggin are amongst the most deprived wards nationally; there are high levels of unemployment and low levels of skills. The WOW project aimed to encourage residents actively to participate in family history by creating tree-shaped family trees, devised by visual poet Ira Lightman, and ‘tree shirts’. Five hundred people took part, and their tree-shirts were displayed at Woodhorn along with a digital ‘walk-through’ forest of family trees. The project was funded by the Wansbeck Initiative, the Local Strategic Partnership for Wansbeck District.

The GLOs and GSOs are also being used to evaluate Durham County Council’s Community Heritage Project, a Heritage Lottery-funded project to increase the skills and capacity of some 80 local heritage groups in the county. The evaluation shows that participants have developed knowledge and skills, and have become more involved in their local communities. The heritage groups have had positive benefits on the wider community, such as involving young people in a churchyard restoration. The GSOs are linked to the themes of the Co Durham Local Area Agreement and to the relevant National Indicators. This information can be used to inform policy development within the county council, which will become a unitary authority from April 2009 and is thus undergoing a period of transition.

Inspiring learning for all

The MLA developed the Inspiring Learning for All (ILfA ) framework to improve the services offered to visitors and users, and measure the impact of these on people’s learning – including how the organisation itself learns and improves its practice – through the GLOs: knowledge and understanding; skills inspiration, creativity and enjoyment; attitudes and values; activity, behaviour and progression. In the ILfA framework, learning is defined as “a process of active engagement with experience. It is what people do when they want to make sense of the world. It may involve the development or deepening of skills, knowledge, understanding, awareness, values, ideas and feelings, or an increase in the capacity to reflect. Effective learning leads to change, development and the desire to learn more.”

Visitors may not come to museums and other organisations with the intention of learning anything – they may just be looking for an enjoyable day out. Many people, who have had a poor experience of school, may find the idea of ‘learning’ positively off-putting. Nevertheless, visitors are more than likely to leave having learned something, even if it was not what either they or the organisation intended. A school’s visit will be planned with certain learning outcomes (for example, that pupils should learn about aspects of Anglo-Saxon life). Hopefully all the children will achieve the intended outcomes, but children are likely to learn all manner of other things as well, which are specific to the individual and based on their existing knowledge and understanding of the world. Statements about people’s learning (even if they do not perceive that they have learned anything) can be mapped to the GLOs, which are explained in greater detail on the ILfA website.

Second tier outcomes

Museums, libraries and archives are increasingly involved in community activities, as well as working with individuals. MLA’s GSOs are a means of showing the impact of their work, linked to other areas of government policy, such as Every Child Matters and Local Area Agreements. The GSOs use a common language and set of reference points which people outside the sector will also be familiar with. The GSO framework has three First Tier Outcomes, supported by a number of Second Tier Outcomes.

Stronger and safer communities: improving group and inter-group dialogue and understanding; supporting cultural diversity and identity; encouraging familial ties and relationships; tackling the fear of crime and anti-social behaviour; contributing to crime prevention and reduction.

Health and well-being: encouraging healthy lifestyles and contributing to mental and physical well-being; supporting care and recovery; supporting older people to live independent lives; helping children and young people to enjoy life and make a positive contribution.

Strengthening public life: encouraging and supporting awareness and participation in local decision-making and wider civic and political engagement; building the capacity of community and voluntary groups; providing safe, inclusive and trusted public spaces; enabling community empowerment through the awareness of rights, benefits and external services; improving the responsiveness of services to the needs of the local community, including other stakeholders.

Although the GLOs and GSOs were designed for use in museums, libraries and archives, they could be used equally well in other arts organisations and settings. The frameworks can help to provide evidence of the efficacy of the organisation’s work which will be of benefit to users and the organisation itself, and can be used as an advocacy tool to encourage support by funders and other potential partners.