Finding a new voice: lifelong learning experiences in museum volunteering

Abstract

‘Working with you all and finding my voice as an educator has changed my life’, one of the retirees said as we were discussing their experiences as museum volunteers. When I was given a two-year contract as a museum educator to contribute to the renewal of a maritime museum in Norway by designing and developing a broad ranging outreach programme, few resources were available. Consisting of retirees from the maritime industry, the Friends of the Museum enlisted as volunteers and so began a fruitful collaboration that would turn into friendships and impact all our lives. This article is a discussion of the lifelong learning potentials of museum volunteer work and how it may affect an individual’s identity. The article describes that collaboration and how the volunteers perceive their motives, expectations and experiences. It describes some of the effects it had on the museum and how the volunteers’ efforts were received, viewed in light of the employment of public pedagogy strategies in museums. This is a story of a few individuals, of one singular period, a small moment under a microscope that may suggest a larger picture.

Keywords:

• Museum pedagogics
• museum volunteers
• intergenerational practice
• adult learning
• lifelong learning