Still the Uncertain Profession: The Current State of Museum Education Departments
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Authors
Kliebe, Lexie Smith
Issue Date
2006
Type
Capstone
Language
en
Keywords
Alternative Title
Abstract
The purpose of this master's project was to explore the current state of museum education departments from the perspective of education directors in mid-sized institutions in California. To this end, I sought to identify the current challenges and demands on these departments, such as the education director's priorities, financial responsibilities and measures of success. I was interested to discover if the comparison of museums' resource allocations to attendance and visitor services revealed anything about the positioning of education within museums.
There is a current debate among museum educators and administrators regarding several aspects of this topic. However, based on my preliminary research, only one formal study, The Uncertain Profession. Observations on the State of Museum Education by Elliot W. Eisner and Stephen M. Dobbs, has been conducted on this subject and very little has been published about it. Initial research for this topic did uncover the need to discuss issues occurring within mid-sized museums and to provide a public forum for educators to share their experiences and perspectives with the greater museum community.
Based on the format of qualitative research, this study did not test hypotheses but did evolved and developed throughout the process. It was my intention to highlight common issues and challenges facing museum no educators and bring them to the forefront of the museum community. Within museum education departments, I surveyed the range by which various directors define and achieve success. My aim, through detailed research, was to investigate the array of investments that California museums were making in their mission to educate the public. This was explored by comparing each individual education department to their museum's financial resources and visitation rates.