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Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to explore educational outcomes of the Renaissance project in England and to present its implication for the Korean context. The Renaissance project was implemented by the British government in order to enhance learning from museum experiences and embrace minority groups by supporting and re-generating regional museums in England. From 2002 to 2008, DCMS and MLA have injected 150 million Pounds to museums in nine regions in England. The core concept of the project is the 'Hub' which is a network of the 'flagship' museums in the region. First, the central government intensively supports flagship museums in that region. Then, the flagship museums, whose facilities and standard have been significantly improved through the project, help other museums in the region by training staff and supporting programme development. This way, the flagship museums have improved their facilities and developed education programmes which are suitable for their context. As a result of the project, 3.5 million students under 16, visited 'hub museums' and 1.2 million students attended museum programmes between 2005 and 2006. In 2005, the number of museum visit of the ethnic minority groups increased 18% in comparison to that of 2002. Within museums, over 580 new members of staff were recruited and over 7,000 museum staff were trained in hub museums. Throughout the project, regional museums tried to encourage local people to visit museums and enhance educational outcomes from their museum visit. According to the research by RCMG of University of Leicester, about 90% of KS2 and KS3 students responded that their museum visit was enjoyable and helpful for their school work. Besides, over 50% of the students replied that their educational motivation was improved after their museum visit. It was found that intellectual and emotional learning occurred in various dimensions as a result of their museum experience. In Korea, there is also a severe disparity in economy and cultural facilities among various regional areas. Therefore, it would be necessary for the central government as well as the local government to support the regional museums in order to enable them to design exhibitions and education programmes which meet the cultural and educational needs of the locals. The Renaissance project which preferentially supported museums in the deprived regions in order to improve cultural and educational environments of the region would be a good example to the Korean government and museums.