Burns inspires young people to connect with museums

Transcript

Six speakers: Sarah Cowie (Senior Heritage and Learning Advisor); Rachael Stone (Primary school teacher); Gabi Gillott (Project Officer, Museums Galleries Scotland); 2 pupils; Chris Waddell (Learning Manager)

Sarah
The Trust has developed the Workforce for the Future project in partnership with Museums Galleries Scotland and supported by the Art Fund.
It's about bringing together pupils from a local primary school with a Trust property, so they can learn about a range of careers and jobs here at the museum and in the wider Trust.
The aims of the Workforce for the Future project are about connecting Robert Burns Birthplace Museum with a local school and really building that relationship between young people and the staff here.
For the young people, it's really about making the Trust and Robert Burns Birthplace Museum seem a welcoming place for them and introducing them to a range of different jobs and roles here, so that they can see themselves as a future  employee, also visitor and supporter.

The project will benefit young people, as we've seen here today, in building their confidence first of all to come into an environment like this, to present to other adults and to really know about Robert Burns and the local area.
It's also about building their employability skills, so a lot of the things we've seen here today involve those skills like teamwork and communication that will really set them up for a future career.
 

Rachael
It was really nice because the children have been learning about Robert Burns for the last 7/8 years of their life throughout the school curriculum.
It's been really nice that they've had more targeted information regarding the site and where he's from, and really getting to know in-depth information about him.
They have responded so well! I can't believe the enthusiasm. 
They're a lively bunch, but I think it's been harnessed in a really lovely way.
I think that's helped bring out their personalities, and it's allowed maybe the quieter ones to enjoy the research side of things and then really come to the fore when it comes to the tour element.
Listening to some of the feedback from some of the volunteers, it's been really nice to hear of some pupils who I would ordinarily describe as being quite quiet and shy, and they've been really confident speakers and I think that's been because they've built up so much knowledge over the last 6 weeks that it's given them the tools and the knowledge to go out and actually share what they know.
So, that's been really lovely for me to hear that, and all I've heard is really amazing feedback from the adults, so that's been really, really heart-warming.
 

Gabi
It's been really special to come along here today and inspirational to see how excited and confident the kids were when they were telling us the stories of the different sites here, including the weather vanes and the stories that were depicted there.
It's really clear to see that their confidence, their enthusiasm and their ownership over the site as well has grown in the time they've been here.  
 

Pupil 1
My favourite thing was that we got to do loads of different activities.
There was us learning how to light a fire, which could be very useful, especially when you're in wildlife and camping.
We also got to learn a bit more about Robert Burns, which is very exciting.
We also got to see the place and the cottage where Robert Burns was born, so I really liked that bit.
 

Pupil 2
When we got to light the fires, that was really cool.
We also learned to make dens and we used tarps and we pinned them to the trees with the pegs and then that was really fun.  
We knew the basic stuff but then we've learned a lot more and it's good to know all that.  
It's just interesting!
 

Chris
They jumped on it with some gusto; they really did!
I was surprised actually how they threw themselves into it.
I thought I'd have to cajole them a lot more.
Kids are savvy; they're really smart. They know when they're getting an opportunity and they seize this with both hands, and by and large they threw themselves into it.
There's some real characters there and those individual characters came through during the project.
We tried to give them a fairly broad spectrum of things to look at.
Obviously there was a lot from my side about heritage and museums learning, but they learned about collections care, they learned about integrated pest management -- we even had them looking for bugs and stuff on one day, which was hugely exciting for them.
We did a lot of outdoor learning as well.
Of course, that's a big part of what we do in the Trust.
They spoke to members of staff -- from people at front of house right up to our Ops Manager here -- and got a wee bit of an insight into what they do.  
And of course they learned how to write, deliver and research tours, which is again a huge part of what we do.
And, they did it fantastically!

I think it's really important for youngsters in this neck of the woods, and Scotland in a broader sense, to understand the value and the power of Burns. 
Burns as a man, Burns as a brand,  Burns as a literary entity, if you like.
That all sounds really highfalutin, but kids,  as I say, they're smart; they get it.
One of the things we really impressed upon them, as kids from Ayr, is the economic significance of Burns: what this place does, how it brings people to Ayr from all over the world, is hugely important, not just economically -- culturally, spiritually for some people.
They really understood why we celebrate him so massively.
They're talking about wanting to come back here, come back with mums, dads, grans, grandpas -- and engage more with it.
So, I've learned that as great exposure between us as an institution and certain groups can really work for us in the long term and it's why I think this has been such a valuable project.
We saw it today with the tours and stuff that they did.
It was great fun, probably the best thing I've done  in my time at the Trust.
I really enjoyed it.