Museum educators' personal theories of teaching: a multi-case study
Keywords: pedagogy
education
museum

This multi-case study creates a better understanding of the relationship between four museum educators’ personal theories of teaching and their practice in university museums. The question that frames this study is, “How, in a university museum setting, do museum educators’ personal theories of teaching relate to their educational practices?” The aim was to produce an account of museum educators’ personal theories and practices in university museums and interrogate what factors may influence the relationship between the two. While there is some literature about the personal theories and practices of museum educators, no studies have been found that examine museum educators working in university museums in the United Kingdom. This study addresses this gap by exploring four museum educators’ personal theories and practices in three museum educational programmes in two university museums in a university city.
This study is positioned within a qualitative tradition. Data for this study was collected using semi-structured interviews and observations. In total four pre-interviews, 24 observations and 24 post-interviews were conducted with four museum educators in two university museums in a UK city. Thematic analysis was the approach taken for the analysis of each case study.
Findings in relation to the museum educators’ personal theories suggest that there were important similarities in the museum educators’ personal theories. All the museum educators’ personal theories consisted of elements relative to knowledge, learning and learners, and the facilitation of a positive learning environment. The museum educators’ personal theories of teaching relative to the nature of knowledge, learning and learners, varied per the discipline of the museum they taught in.
It was found that personal theories were influenced by the museum educators’ shared background as former school teachers and, for some, their accumulated experience teaching in university museum settings. Thus, they tend to foster educational settings with characteristics typical of formal learning environments.
The key finding in relation to the research question of this study, is that in a university museum setting, the personal theories of teaching of the museum educators were often aligned with their practices; in some cases, they were not. Whether the museum educators could align their practices with their personal theories of teaching appeared to depend on the sociocultural context they worked in. Despite, as previously noted, similarities in the four personal theories of teaching (i.e. relative to knowledge, learning and learners and the facilitation of a positive learning environment), there were differences in how these were translated into practice by each museum educator.
This research contributes to the field of museum education by: i) enhancing our understanding of museum educators’ personal theories of teaching and practice in university museums; ii) providing fresh insights into the relationship between the personal theories of teaching and practice of museum educators working in university museums and; iii) adding to our understanding of the breadth of learning environments in museum education. The findings of this study are significant because they enrich the empirical knowledge and understanding of museum educator teaching in university museums. This study provides insights that may benefit the training and professional development of museum educators in university museums.