Memorandum submitted by the Heritage Lottery
Fund
1. BACKGROUND
TO THE
HERITAGE LOTTERY
FUND
1.1 The Heritage Lottery Fund (HLF) distributes
money from the National Lottery to heritage projects across the
United Kingdom. It is administered by the Trustees of the National
Heritage Memorial Fund, a Non-Departmental Public Body sponsored
by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport.
1.2 Our Strategic Plan 2002-07, Broadening
the Horizons of Heritage, identifies three broad aims:
— to conserve and enhance the UK's
diverse heritage;
— to encourage more people to be involved
in and make decisions about their heritage; and
— to ensure that everyone can learn
about, have access to, and enjoy their heritage.
We also aim to bring about a more equitable
spread of our grants across the UK.
1.3 Our funding supports all aspects of
heritage from museums and archives to nature conservation to oral
history and traditions; from local community activities to multi-million
pound capital projects (see Appendix A for details for our grant
programmes).
2. HLF'S FUNDING
FOR EDUCATION
2.1 HLF welcomes the Education and Skills
Committee's inquiry into Education Outside the Classroom. HLF
provides a significant amount of funding to support education
projects across all heritage sectors in the UK. Our submission
to the select committee is thus from the perspective of a funder
of a wide range of projects run by heritage sector organisations,
and others, which deliver education outside the classroom.
2.2 HLF defines education in broad terms
to include formal and informal learning across the lifespan. Our
funding helps individuals develop their understanding of heritage
in an active way appropriate to their needs, interests and background.
2.3 In formal learning, HLF-funded projects
usually link their work to a taught curriculum in schools, colleges
or universities and include activities such as:
— a school visit programme organised
by a heritage site;
— support and development for teachers
to work at a heritage site or with a heritage collection; and
— creating learning resources and activity
programmes.
2.4 In informal learning, HLF-funded projects
include organised activities and resources which help people understand
heritage sites or collections such as:
— heritage skills workshops;
— interpretation panels and leaflets;
and
2.5 Recent research into HLF funding for
education has shown that between 1994 and 2003:
— over £400 million of HLF funding
has been awarded to 1,166 education projects;
— we have funded over 220 education
spaces; and
— over 530 education posts.
Within this overall picture, a huge range of
educational activity and outreach programmes have been funded
which involve children and young people in schools and colleges
learning outside the classroom, for example, at museums, galleries,
wildlife sites and parks.
3. HLF'S RESEARCH
INTO HERITAGE
EDUCATION PROJECTS
3.1 In spring 2004, HLF commissioned the
Scottish Centre for Research in Education to undertake evaluation
of the impact of our funding for curriculum linked learning for
5-19 year olds. A sample of 50 projects, taking place across the
UK and involving all heritage sectors, is under evaluation. They
range from "Hands-On Heritage", a Groundwork project
involving young people in Cumbria, to a multi-cultural education
project at the Abbeydale Industrial Hamlet in Sheffield. This
research is still underway and a final report is due in summer
2005. However, interim findings from the first stages of the research
have been used to inform this submission.
4. DEFINING EDUCATION
OUTSIDE THE
CLASSROOM
4.1 From an HLF perspective, it is clear
that education outside the classroom is not necessarily outdoor
learning. Learning which takes place in museums, archives, galleries,
libraries, discovery centres and at industrial heritage sites
can be termed "education outside the classroom" but
does not necessarily have an outdoor element. To avoid confusion
we suggest that the Committee carefully defines what it means
by Education Outside the Classroom. To truly represent the range
of activity that happens outside of school, HLF would like to
see the widest definition adopted.
5. COSTS AND
FUNDING OF
OUTDOOR ACTIVITIES
5.1 HLF does not fund schools directly to
carry out heritage learning activities. Nevertheless, the scale
of our funding to heritage sector organisations and others for
work with the formal education sector is an indication of the
level of need which is not being met from elsewhere.
5.2 Education outside the classroom is often
run by charitable or voluntary organisations that do not have
access to core funding for their educational work. Set up and
delivery costs of education outside the classroom often have to
be found from short term project funding such as that provided
by the HLF. Absence of secure funding makes these educational
services vulnerable.
5.3 With HLF funding, sometimes heritage
organisations are able to offer educational services free of charge
(43% of the projects in our research sample made no charge). Where
a charge is made this is usually at a subsidised rate and does
not reflect the true cost of provision. Charges vary considerably
and appear to range from £1 to £5 per pupil for a half
day session. Yet such charges can be a barrier to participation
for some schools.
5.4 Heritage organisations and teachers
report transport to sites as another key barrier to participation.
Of the projects consulted in our research, 68% reported that coaches
and minibuses were the main form of transport used by their participants
to reach their sites. Where an HLF project has planned a programme
designed to widen access by reaching out to deprived or excluded
communities, HLF will support transport subsidies for schools
and youth groups.
5.5 Working outside the classroom generates
additional costs for providers beyond the obvious ones of transport
and service charges. On-site access to good quality learning spaces
with adequate toilets and covered spaces for lunch is essential.
There is a need for high quality, relevant and up-to-date learning
materials and lesson plans to ensure that site based learning
can be embedded into the curriculum. HLF has funded a range of
learning spaces from pond dipping platforms to flexible indoor
classrooms. Learning projects funded by HLF tend to be activity
based but often result in the production of additional learning
resources.
5.6 Anecdotal evidence from heritage education
officers suggests that many teachers lack the skills, equipment
and confidence to deliver high quality learning in the field and
appreciate the added value offered by a professional heritage
service. We suggest that it is unrealistic to expect classroom
teachers at primary level to have the necessary degree of expertise
in the full range of curriculum subjects which might be covered
in learning outside the classroom. Subject teachers at secondary
level may not have the particular expertise related to a specific
site or collection to extract the maximum benefit. There is a
need, therefore, for co-professionals who are experts in using
sites and collections for educational purpose to work alongside
classroom teachers to deliver high quality learning sessions.
Our research, and that of others (see, for example, Museums, Libraries
and Archives Council, What did you learn at the museum today?,
2004), suggests that children place particular value on having
access to such "experts" who share their specialist
knowledge and open their eyes to new ways of learning and, indeed,
new recreation and career opportunities.
6. THE PLACE
OF OUTDOOR
LEARNING WITHIN
THE CURRICULUM
6.1 Our research has found that HLF funded
projects that provide learning outside the classroom are helping
to deliver most curriculum areas, with the exception of Modern
Foreign Languages. The most commonly cited subjects were Local
History, History, Art and Design, Science, Geography and Environmental
Studies. Literacy, numeracy, PSHE and citizenship are also delivered
at heritage sites.
6.2 Heritage projects provide rich resources
for interdisciplinary and innovative learning experiences, stimulating
and exciting both teachers and students into new ways of thinking.
Heritage sites and collections provide a special experience which
cannot be duplicated in the classroom. Children and young people
are inspired simply by being in a place and seeing things that
are outside their day-to-day experience. Taking just a few examples
from the portfolio of recent HLF projects, such experiences include:
— the amazing scale, and hidden mathematics,
of Norwich Cathedral;
— the fragility and beauty of the dingy
skipper butterfly and its place in the ecosystem;
— the earth shuddering power of a beam
engine in full swing and the story this has to tell about the
early Industrial Revolution; and
— the horror of a slave chain.
6.3 As our research has shown, work outside
the classroom is inspiring oral and written language development,
understanding of mathematics and interest in science. It is also
supporting citizenship education. In participating in HLF funded
projects, children and young people are being offered the opportunity
to greater appreciate the value and importance of heritage to
our future well-being and sense of identity and understand our
individual and collective responsibility to define, value and
look after our shared environmental, cultural and social heritage.
6.4 Teachers report the difference such
visits can make in engaging those students who are less keen to
learn in classroom settings or who are studying alternative curricula.
Attitudinal and behavioural improvements in students can result
from learning in new and exciting settings. Heritage contexts
provide students with practical opportunities for group work which
have tangible outcomes, for example researching and designing
an exhibition at a museum or building and installing bat boxes
at a nature reserve. Such experiences can provide useful support
for young people in the transition to work.
6.5 Some other examples of HLF-funded projects
supporting education outside the classroom include:
— The Countryside is our Classroom
project (HLF award: £44,000) funded an officer to work with
the Bedfordshire Community Council to link farms and schools to
help children learn about healthy living, country life and how
food is produced.
— The Education and Community Action
project run by Lincolnshire Wildlife Trust (HLF award: £365,000)
has funded three education officer posts. They are providing a
wide range of learning opportunities for all Key Stages at wildlife
sites across Lincolnshire including pond dipping, species identification
and food webs for younger students and residential weeks supporting
biology field work at Gibraltar Point for older students.
— At Cressing Temple Barns in Essex,
primary school children working on the shelters unit of the geography
curriculum explore how the barns were constructed and then make
their own model timber framed building from real materials, and
learn some practical wattle and daubing techniques (HLF award:
£70,000) .
— The Cultural Co-operation Year Round
Education Project (HLF award: £409,000) delivers artistic
residencies to schoolchildren in London to explore cultural traditions.
The project includes provision for subsidised transport to take
children with special needs to museums.
6.6 Some projects have benefited from the
support of their Local Education Authority, for example in facilitating
teacher secondments to heritage organisations to develop curriculum
materials, providing a classroom space for an education officer
from a wildlife charity to carry out her teaching, or providing
access to INSET programmes. Other projects have found LEAs to
be uninterested and unresponsive.
6.7 HLF can fund projects that promote vocational
education. There is some indication that heritage sector organisations
are becoming more proactive in offering work experience placements
for young people at school and in college. Where this happens
it is usually linked to the business or leisure studies curriculum.
However, there is scope to extend this type of provision to other
curriculum areas linked to vocational GCSEs and A Levels, even
more so if the Tomlinson recommendations are agreed by the Government.
We would like to see more awareness within Education Business
Partnerships of the heritage sector as a venue for work experience
and hence, an increase in the number of opportunities available
to young people.
6.8 Heritage organisations often build on
contacts with young people in formal educational settings by offering
"progression" activities such as volunteering, participating
in youth forums and young people's clubs. We believe that enabling
young people to build a longer term relationship with heritage
organisations can have a profoundly beneficial effect on personal
development and raise aspirations. This has been demonstrated
by a separate strand of research at HLF which is evaluating our
Young Roots grants programme. Young Roots aims to promote the
involvement of young people (aged 13-25 years) with the heritage
of the UK. The scheme is subject to a four year longitudinal evaluation
which will consider the success of the scheme in meeting its aims
and explore the impact of the scheme on participants, on communities
and on partner delivery organisations.
7. QUALIFICATION
AND MOTIVATION
OF TEACHERS
7.1 Continuing Professional Development
(CPD) for teachers to help them make effective use of heritage
sites and resources to deliver out of class activities is provided
by many of our grantees. CPD activities take the form of INSET
days, open evenings, advisory groups brought together to design
curriculum materials, secondments, formal training and student
teacher placements. Grantees report that teachers often lack confidence
and experience in working out of class and rely heavily on the
expertise of heritage education staff. Team delivery by teachers
and these co-professionals helps to build confidence and share
good practice.
7.2 Projects in our research have reported
that they would like more input to CPD programmes to explain what
is on offer and to develop innovative ways of working together.
With CPD becoming the responsibility of the Teacher Training Agency
there is an opportunity to open up development opportunities to
all providers of curriculum-linked learning whether they are school
based or based in heritage or other organisations.
7.3 In the Mermaid's Purse project (HLF
award: £88,200), the HLF-funded education officer worked
with teachers and their pupils from a range of schools and with
staff at St Martin's College. The project developed and piloted
learning activities linked to environmental issues at Morecambe
Bay, using an innovative teaching approach based on principles
of philosophical enquiry. The young people learned about the complexity
of the ecosystems within the Bay area and also extended their
critical thinking skills. As part of the project a learning pack
was made available to teachers across the counties involved and
to new teacher trainees. Innovative, risky activities such as
these build capacity within the teaching community and promote
a willingness to explore new methods of curriculum delivery, increasing
motivation of teachers and students.
7.4 Teachers need good support from school
managers and earmarked budgets to encourage them to undertake
education outside the classroom and get the most out of these
experiences. We suggest that more could be done to encourage all
schools to participate in these valuable enrichment activities.
8. FEAR OF
ACCIDENTS AND
THE POSSIBILITY
OF LITIGATION
8.1 Our grantees report concerns that health
and safety guidelines constrain visits to heritage sites. Whilst
children, their parents and teachers have the right to expect
safe practices to be in place, there appears to be a tendency
to assume that all out of classroom learning carries the same
degree of risk. In extreme cases this has led to schools adopting
a "no visits" policy. Many of our heritage sector grantees
are supporting their teacher colleagues by carrying out their
own risk assessments and making these available for schools to
use, thus alleviating some of the work involved in meeting health
and safety standards.
Dr Sharon Goddard
Education Advisor, Policy and Research Department
APPENDIX A:
THE HERITAGE LOTTERY FUND'S GRANT PROGRAMMES
Repair Grants for Places of Worship
This is a replacement for the Joint Places of
Worship Scheme (which only applied in England) and aims to manage
the enormous demand for our funds in this area of heritage. The
new scheme will focus on urgent repairs and bring about a better
balance between funding and conservation priorities across the
UK.
Heritage Grants
This programme offers grants of £50,000
or more to organisations which aim to look after and enhance the
UK's heritage; to increase involvement in heritage activities;
and to improve access to and enjoyment of heritage. It caters
for a wide range of projects, including the very largest and most
complicated.
Project Planning Grants
These grants of between £5,000 and £50,000
are available to help in the early planning of projects which
are expected to lead to an application for a Heritage Grant.
Your Heritage
This programme offers grants of between £5,000
and £50,000 for projects which either care for heritage or
increase people's understanding and enjoyment of it. Projects
should also make it easier for people to gain access to heritage
and benefit the community and the wider public. The application
form is much simpler than that for Heritage Grants.
Young Roots
Young Roots promotes the involvement of young
people, 13 to 25 years old, in their heritage. The programme offers
grants of between £5,000 and £25,000. To be eligible
for a grant, a project must increase opportunities for young people
to learn about and get involved in their heritage, and be delivered
through partnerships.
Awards for All
We run Awards for All along with other Lottery
distributors at a local level. Through this scheme, we give grants
of between £500 and £5,000 to small community groups,
including new groups. We can fund up to 100% of the project costs.
Local Heritage Initiative
This initiative helps local groups to investigate,
explain and care for their local landmarks, landscape, traditions
and culture. Through grants of between £3,000 and £25,000,
the scheme helps local groups with a range of small-scale projects.
The scheme is run on our behalf by the Countryside
Agency in England and is being piloted in Scotland by partnerships
led by Scottish Natural Heritage, and in Wales by the Countryside
Council for Wales.
October 2004
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