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Kate is the strategic lead on research relating to learning and engagement practice at the Fitzwilliam Museum. She has a particular interest in collaborative action research and its’ potential to stimulate change and improve practice which we have been exploring through the Nursery in Residence, Lines of Enquiry and It’s Our Museum Too projects. Kate leads the Inspire teacher training programme which encourages creative teaching and learning using objects and images.
Kate holds a PhD in the Development of Visual Literacy in Young Children, and a BEd in Art and Early Years Education, both from the University of Cambridge. She is a member of the National Society for Education in Art and Design (NSEAD) council, Affiliate of the Chartered College of Teaching and is East Area rep for engage, the advcoacy organisation for gallery education and member of the United Kingdom Literacy Assocaition (UKLA). She has contributed chapters to books on multi-modal literacy in children and worked as a researcher for Tate’s Young Cultural Creators Project. More recently she has led learning research and evaluation projects on behalf of the University of Cambridge Museums including the AHRC follow-on funded Practical Evaluation Project.
What do teachers want from an online museum professional development programme?
Our 2021 teacher enrichment programmes had been planned. Then moved online and planned again. How were we going to bring the wonder of the University of Cambridge Museums and Botanic Garden into classrooms digitally? How could we inspire teachers to use our collections to connect creatively with nature while the country was under lockdown and museum buildings were closed?
Inspire Nature was the result: 5 bespoke online training sessions for primary teachers involving 9 collections and 15 educators from across the museums and Botanic Gardens. We will share our findings from the project.