Slide from Keynote Museum Forum 2017 | Museum Education NOW!

1. Within & Beyond Museum Walls:
A Singapore Case Study
Alvin Tan Tze Ee
Assistant Chief Executive (Policy & Community)
National Heritage Board
Museum Education NOW!
Agenda, Practice, Conflict and Solution
2 August 2017

2. Established 1 Aug 1993
“6. The functions of the Board shall be:
(a) to explore and present the heritage and nationhood of the people of Singapore
in the context of their ancestral cultures, their links with South-East Asia, Asia
and the world through the collection, preservation, interpretation and display of objects and
records;
(b) to promote public awareness, appreciation and understanding
of the arts, culture and heritage, both by means of the Board’s collections and by such other
means as it considers appropriate;
[...]
(g) to advise the Government in respect of matters relating to the national
heritage of Singapore...”
The NHB Act

3. Monuments
Talent Development
National Heritage
Community Engagement Education
Preservation/Conservation
Museum Management
Research
Exhibitions
Stewardship
Places and Precincts
Partnerships
Publications
Content Creation
Cultural Diplomacy
Marketing Singapore
National Collection
Curation
Programmes
Roles of NHB

4. Built Heritage
Art
History
Documents
Artefacts
Anthropology
Culture
Education
Civilisations
War
Conservation
Museum Management
Ways of Living
Snapshots in Time Knowledge
Design
Film
Photography
Content Creation
Popular Culture
Intangible Heritage
National Museums & Institutions

5. Built Heritage
Art
History
Artefacts
Culture
Engagement
Civilisations
Moveable Heritage
Ways of Living
Snapshots in Time
Communities
Photography
Rituals & Traditions
Intangible Heritage
Mutual Understanding
Music
Place
Platforms
Community Engagement

6. More Singaporeans are going to our museums and
heritage institutions!
Today’s Heritage Landscape

7. NHB’s Museum Visitorship

8. NHB’s Student Visitorship
Student Visitorship to NHB Museums and Heritage Institutions
2014 2015 2016
267,473 272,606 284,000

9. NHB’s Outreach Figures
6118763
4697822
4954221
5169640
6235677
6471067
0
1,000,000
2,000,000
3,000,000
4,000,000
5,000,000
6,000,000
7,000,000
2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

10. NHB’s Education Framework & Strategies

11. Strategy 1:
Promote the use of our museums & heritage
sites as authentic learning resources
Singapore’s Little’s Treasures (SLT)
 SLT is targeted at pre-schoolers and seeks to encourage the active
discovery of Singapore’s multi-cultural heritage through purposeful
and engaging classroom activities followed by visits to the museums
and heritage institutions.
 It comprises a travelling trunk with handling objects (based on
NHB’s collection) and includes teacher training and visits to our
museums.
 SLT was awarded the Best Practice Award by ICOM CECA
(Committee for Education and Cultural Action) at the ICOM General
Assembly 2016 in Milan.

12. Strategy 1:
Promote the use of our museums & heritage
sites as authentic learning resources
117 pre-
schools
4,000 pre-
schoolers
236
educators
Ongoing & sustained efforts since 2014

13. Strategy 1:
Promote the use of our museums & heritage
sites as authentic learning resources
 NHB collaborated with the Ministry of
Education (MOE) in 2014 to integrate
museum and heritage content into the
school curriculum for all primary schools in
Singapore.
 The abovementioned museum and heritage
content are incorporated into the
Humanities curriculum (e.g. Social Studies)
and complements other subjects such as
CCE and NE that focus on cultivating life
skills and values.
 In fact, a total of 90 artefacts from ACM’s
collection have been incorporated into the
Social Studies textbooks of Primary 5 and
6.
Integration with School
Curriculum (Primary
Schools)

14. Strategy 1:
Promote the use of our museums & heritage
sites as authentic learning resources
 NHB also collaborated with the Ministry of
Education (MOE) in 2014 to integrate
museum and heritage content into the
school curriculum for all secondary schools
in Singapore.
 The abovementioned museum and heritage
content are incorporated into the
Humanities curriculum (namely History) at
lower Secondary level and complements
other subjects such as CCE and NE that
focus on cultivating life skills and values.
 As one of the learning sites under Historical
Investigations, NMS partnered MOE to
develop teaching resources and a learning
package for students.
Integration with School
Curriculum (Secondary
Schools)

15. Strategy 2:
Develop Signature Outreach Programmes
 NHB launched the Heritage Explorers Programme in
2016 and it aims to raise awareness of family,
community and national heritage amongst primary
school students through creative role-playing.
 Under the programme, students can choose to role-
play different heritage professions and experience first-
hand what it is like to be a curator, historian, designer,
educator and ambassador by completing a number of
simple tasks.
 To date, the programme has been adopted by 70
schools and reached out to more than 36,000
students.
 It was recently awarded the Best Practice Award in
2017 by ICOM CECA (Committee for Education and
Cultural Action).
Heritage Explorers Programme

16. Strategy 2:
Develop Signature Outreach Programmes
 NHB launched the Heritage Corners Programme in
2014 to encourage more schools to document their
history and heritage and, in doing so, cultivate a
stronger sense of identity and belonging amongst
students.
 The programme complements the teaching curriculum
and learning outcomes in MOE’s Character and
Citizenship Education and humanities subjects as
schools could leverage on the resources and objects at
these corners as part of their lessons.
 Under the programme, NHB provides a once-off
funding support of up to 50% of total project cost
(capped at S$50,000) per school.
 To date, the programme has been adopted by 62
schools (25 secondary schools, 34 primary schools
and 3 tertiary institutions).
Heritage Corners Programme

17. Strategy 2:
Develop Signature Outreach Programmes
 NHB’s heritage institutions work with schools on a
regular basis to train students as docents for both its
permanent galleries as well as its travelling exhibitions.
 Under this programme, NHB’s curators will provide all
the necessary content as well as conduct the training
for students. They will also work with the teachers and
students to prepare the scripts for all student docents.
 These student docents will then conduct guided tours
for VIPs, visitors to heritage institutions/exhibitions as
well as their fellow students during special occasions
such as Open Houses and exhibition launches.
 To date, NHB’s heritage institutions have worked with
18 schools and trained a total of 934 student
docents.
Student Docents Programme

18. Strategy 2:
Develop Signature Outreach Programmes
 NHB’s heritage institutions work with schools on an
annual basis to co-curate and co-present travelling
exhibitions.
 Under this programme, NHB’s curators will work with
teachers and students to conduct research, prepare the
exhibition text and design the exhibition panels.
 The heritage institutions also provide funding support
for the fabrication, transport and installation of all such
exhibitions and will train students to act as student
docents to conduct “soap-box” tours.
 To date, NHB’s heritage institutions have worked with 8
schools to co-curate and co-present a total of 11
travelling exhibitions.
Student Curators Programme

19. Strategy 2:
Develop Signature Outreach Programmes
 NHB launched the Heritage Trail Adoption Programme in
2013 to encourage more schools to discover the heritage
of their neighbourhoods and to train students to be trail
guides for their peers and community.
 The programme complements the teaching curriculum
and learning outcomes in MOE’s Character and
Citizenship (CCE) Education (e.g. moral values, human
resilience, soft skills etc) and humanities subjects (e.g.
history, social studies etc).
 Under this programme, NHB provides content for the
tours and training for teachers and students in terms of
guiding techniques.
 To date, the programme has been adopted by 26 schools
(15 secondary schools, 4 primary schools and 4 tertiary
institutions) and close to 1,000 students have been
trained as trail guides.
Heritage Trail Adoption Programme

20. Strategy 2:
Develop Signature Outreach Programmes
 The National Heritage Badge Programme is targeted
at secondary school uniform groups including NPCC,
NCC, NCDCC, SJAB, Red Cross, Girl Guides, Boy
Scouts, Boys Brigade and Girls Brigade.
 It aims to recognise students who have the passion,
commitment and drive to share their knowledge of
Singapore’s history and culture with their peers.
 Under the programme, students can work on their
own or in groups to complete a range of tasks on a
heritage topic (including research, trail, documentary
etc.)
 It is a badge of distinction that is awarded to an
estimated 3,000 students every year.
National Heritage Badge
Programme

21. Strategy 2:
Develop Signature Outreach Programmes
 The Youths Take Over! programme allows students to
take over the operations and programming of our
heritage institutions for one weekend (or more) and
seeks to expose youths to museum work.
 Under the programme, students could “take over” the
operations of the museum (e.g. visitor services),
develop programmes and/or act as facilitators for these
programmes under the supervision of museum staff.
 NHB’s heritage institutions piloted the programme in
2015 and, since then, have collaborated with 4 schools
involving a total of 418 students.
Youths Take Over! Programme

22. Education Strategy 3:
Build Capability for Sustainable Engagement
 NHB offers professional development programmes for
teachers to raise their capabilities so that they can
deliver quality lessons that maximise their students’
learning.
 These programmes equip teachers with the
necessary content and strategies for heritage
learning, familiarise them with our museums and
heritage institutions, and/or pair them with
heritage/museum professionals to co-design
innovative lesson plans.
 To date, NHB has trained more than 500 teachers
from the Ministry of Education.
Capability Development Programmes

23. Education Strategy 3:
Build Capability for Sustainable Engagement
 In addition to the resources provided by NHB for
capability development programmes, NHB has also
recently launched a Heritage Educators’ Guidebook in
2017.
 The guidebook provides schools and teachers with a
step-by-step guide on how to develop a heritage
corner and/or a heritage trail. It also provides
information on the NHB grants that are available to
support such projects.
 Through the guidebook, NHB hopes to create a
network of empowered educators who are able to
develop educational and engaging heritage projects
or learning experiences independently.
 To date, NHB has distributed the guidebook to all 370
schools in Singapore.
Training Resources

24. Strategy 3:
Build Capability for Sustainable Engagement
 2014 – 1st
museum studies
module at
university level
 Partnership with
School of Social
Sciences
 3 yearly runs
 127 students
 Lectures &
Practicum
sessions
 Attachments to
NHB
 Establish MOU
(3+2years)
 2015 – 1st
heritage module
at polytechnic
level
 Partnership with
Centre for
TransCultural
Studies
 2 runs per year
 270 students
 Tutorials &
Placement
program
 Trained 13 TP
Lecturers
 Establish MOU
(3+2years)
 2016 – 1st
module on
heritage trail
programming &
implementation
 Pilot run with 59
students
 Leverage
HeritageCares
and guided 152
beneficiaries
 Signed LOA with
minimum
funding
 Working on
MOU
 2016 – 1st
collaboration
 Partnership with
Lifeskills, School
of Business &
Services
 ITE Lecturer on
IA to co-develop
module
 Adopted Ang Mo
Kio Heritage
Trail
 Working on
Letter of
Collaboration
(similar to MOU)
Jeffery Tan, PhD
ViceDean
School ofArts Management,Dance & Theatre
jefferytan@nafa.edu.sg
Tel:+65 6512 4198 | Fax:+65 6336 8021
Ongoing

25. Questions & Answers