I'm a small museum and Inspiring Learning for All seems aimed at large organisations. Is this the case?

• Inspiring Learning for All is aimed at supporting all museums, archives and libraries in developing inclusive learning services. It has been piloted with small community services as well as with large national institutions. The web site has been developed to respond to the needs of a wide range of organisations in terms of remit and size. Because of this, some of the language and processes may not seem immediately relevant to you. You may need to interpret these for your own circumstances. If you need help in this we suggest that you contact your Regional Agency learning and access team in the first instance. They may be able to put you in touch with others who can support you or who are going through the process themselves.

How long will it take us to work through Inspiring Learning for All?

• This depends on the scale of your organisation, on who gets involved and on how much you set out to achieve. Working through the Inspiring Learning for All checklists with your team will probably take two or three sessions of around a couple of hours each preceded by some individual familiarisation work. After this you will need to decide where to focus and this may mean further work with a wider team of colleagues. Once you have set priorities and an action plan this will need communicating, implementing and monitoring. It is likely that the plan you develop will include quick wins and longer term targets. Museums, archives and libraries piloting the framework and the generic learning outcomes committed very different amounts of time. As with everything, the more time and effort that YOU expend, the greater the overall impact is likely to be on your organisation, your services and the learning experiences of users.
  

I'm trying to persuade my head of service to take this on board but so far have had no success. What do you suggest?

• Persuading a senior member of staff to support and champion Inspiring Learning for All can make a real difference to its successful implementation across the museum, archive or library. It will help you to make a case to your senior colleagues if they can understand that working with the framework has the potential to raise awareness of the contribution that museums, archives and libraries make to broader learning agendas, which may release funding and recognition.
• However, it sounds as though they may need to understand more about Inspiring Learning for All and the role of museums, archives and libraries in supporting learning before they are convinced. The web site includes case-studies from museums, archives and libraries that piloted the framework that demonstrate how they have benefited. Also talk to your Regional Agency about the experiences of local pilots.
• We suggest you use these presentations and background information to help you make your case and build your confidence in persuading others.
• Download Convince colleagues.ppt and Internal advocacy.ppt from the Download library

How can we bring other colleagues on board?

• Inspiring Learning for All is about everyone's role in supporting learning - which is why all your colleagues will need to understand what this means and see how they might contribute. This may involve a major shift for some in how they see their role and carry out their responsibilities. It might also mean that staff with a learning remit have to redefine their roles in supporting learning, becoming learning champions and incorporating the contributions of colleagues from different teams into learning services. Start with raising awareness about the way in which your organisation supports learning and help them think about how people learn and the different learning styles. They will also need to be aware of how people have access to learning and the barriers that may prevent this. There are resources to help you introduce colleagues to the broader learning issues and to get them involved in Inspiring Learning for All.
• Go to these resources for more guidance and to find out how others addressed this:
  Talk about learning
• Download Convince colleagues.ppt and Learning styles activity from the Download library

How can we actively involve our service users?

• Inspiring Learning for All anticipates consultation and engagement with users to establish what users need and identify how they can contribute more actively to the delivery of your services. If you are involving users, be realistic about what you can achieve and the timescales for developing relationships. Working in partnerships with other community groups can help you to approach people who do not use your services at the moment and who have no previous relationship with you, and convert them into new users. One way to start consultation is to work with existing user groups such as homework club members or reading groups to ask them about their learning and then build on this to plan a more ambitious strategy to include hard to reach groups and non-users.
• Go to section 5 of the website and the module Consult with users and non users
  Consult with users and non users
  

What is the difference between an education policy and a learning and access strategy?

• A learning and access strategy sets out a plan for developing provision to inspire and support learning and increase access. It is about change and improvement rather than describing the status quo. A learning and access strategy is a working tool that identifies a vision for learning, sets clear aims and then describes how those aims will be delivered over a period of time. The term learning is used instead of 'education' because it emphasises that all users and staff collaborate in and benefit from activities which increase, skills, understanding, engagement and which change behaviour and attitudes. It also emphasises that these activities are centred on the learner's experiences.
• Many museums and some archives have produced education policies in recent years. These usually summarise overall philosophy, beliefs and general approach to education, - what 'education' means and how it relates to its other key functions. An education policy sets out the broad direction for education and covers areas such as audiences, market research, learning needs, types and quality of provision, exhibition development, evaluation, marketing, the availability of and implications for resources, training of staff and volunteers, and partnership working. In some museums and archives the term 'education' is used to refer to work with school groups rather than informal learning for all ages.

How can I use Inspiring Learning for All to develop a learning and access strategy?

• Several of the pilot sites developed a learning and access strategy based around the four key principles in Inspiring Learning for All including the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester (MSIM) and Warwickshire Library, Heritage and Trading Standards.
• Download Access and Learning awareness at MSIM and Developing a lifelong learning strategy in Warwickshire from the Download library. 
  

I've tried out the coding activity in the Measure Learning section and I'd like to talk to others about their experience. What should I do?

• In the first instance we suggest that you talk to your work colleagues and encourage them to do the same exercise. In addition you may wish to contact your Regional Agency to see if they are organising any networking events or workshops on using these materials. Your request may encourage them to set something up. Alternatively they may be able to put you in contact with someone in an organisation that is close to you who is also using the GLOs, to share your experiences.

We have used the Inspiring Learning for All checklists to identify areas for development, now we need money and people to work on them. How do we get funding to do this?

• MLA and Regional Agencies are working at national and regional levels to influence external funders such as the HLF, DfES and Learning and Skills Councils to adopt Inspiring Learning for All as a funding requirement. Many of the museums, archives and libraries piloting Inspiring Learning for All were able to secure substantial funding for projects to address the areas of development they had identified.
• Find out more in Increase learning budgets

We want to work on Inspiring Learning for All but we're all so busy we haven't got the time to make a start.

• Learning, outreach and access staff led the process in the museums, archives and libraries which piloted Inspiring Learning for All. Through talking about learning with colleagues, they were able to demonstrate that it was central to what everyone in the organisation does. Inspiring Learning for All is not essentially an add on process but a strategy for transforming your core activities to focus them on learning. It had the greatest impact where the pilot sites were able to embed it in their corporate priorities and projects - such as a service review, a new exhibition or learning resource or as a focus to work with new colleagues in a departmental merger.
• Go to these resources to find out more:
  Talk about learning
  Convince colleagues
  Create a learning environment
  Raise the profile
• Or download the Quick checklist from the Download library.
  

How does Inspiring Learning for All link to other standards?

• Some of the activities covered in Inspiring Learning for All can help you to provide evidence to demonstrate your achievements for other standards schemes, such as Investors in People, QAA (Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education), EfQM (European Framework for Quality Management), Best Value, PQASSO (Practical Quality Assurance System for Small Organisations) and Chartermark. MLA has recently undertaken a review of all standards schemes that have an impact on museums, archives and libraries. A summary of this is now available on the MLA web site.
  The consultation approach is key to taking forward Inspiring Learning for All as a requirement in undertaking Best Value reviews.
• www.mla.gov.uk/

What is the relationship between Inspiring Learning for All and Museum Registration?

• Using Inspiring Learning for All will not be a requirement under the revised Registration scheme. However, the Registration Scheme looks at a range of evidence, and if you have undertaken any of the activities for Inspiring Learning for All, this is likely to be good evidence to show you have met the requirements under Section 3 ("User services") which relate to learning and access. Your Regional Agency registration adviser will be able to discuss this with you in detail.