Lets not forget about Diversify

So, before I started looking into it I didn’t really know much about Diversify. I knew that it supported people from BME (black, minority, ethnic) backgrounds into Museum employment and I knew it provided those people with an MA in a Museum related subject. Did I think that Diversify was the solution to workforce diversity in the Museum Sector? No. After reading the recent MA report saying that BME staff are still underrepresented after a twelve year development programme I was decided. I started to look into Diversify. I had a few issues with Diversify.

Number one was that the majority of the original intake had already considered a career in museums before they saw the advert for Diversify and 14 out of the 30 had volunteering experience in a museum. I understand the barriers that some of these people may have faced when it came to getting a paid job, but I still think it would have been interesting to see where these people would have ended up without Diversify. Something tells me that if they had already considered a career in the sector and some of them had volunteering experience in the sector then some of them would have ended up working in a Museum. It got me thinking, in 1993 when 2.5% of staff working in museums was minority ethnic, how many minority ethnic people were out there wanting but failing to find work in a museum? Probably the same representational amount as White British people. Maybe the problem isn’t minority ethnic people finding a job after studying its supporting minority ethnic people to be inspired to think of the museums sector as a career choice at a younger age.

Number two is that The Diversity Evaluation Report states that a few respondents had previously thought about a career in museums but ‘had been put off by the need for voluntary experience when faced with large student debts after graduating. Diversify was a way round this problem’. To me this is not a diversity problem; it’s a sector wide problem.

Number three is that now Diversify has finished, the MA ‘hope that UK museums are now at a stage where workforce diversification can be integrated into museum policy as a matter of course’. Really? So after twelve years and with minority ethnic people still unrepresented, museums are ready to do this when only 113 ethnic minority people and a small amount of museums have been involved? The programme was led by a policy maker, not museums. Where is the transition? There is a Diversify toolkit which is a detailed guide on creating positive action traineeships in your own organisations but what is its use if this framework has not worked over the past 12 years?

I think supporting a positive action traineeship in your own organisation is worthwhile. There are many benefits for both you and the trainee, but I would suggest these traineeships could be offered to people leaving school or after 16-18 year old education. Capture their imagination before they leave school and give them the opportunity to do something that they had never considered.

http://www.museumsassociation.org/careers/diversify

http://www.museumsassociation.org/news/16092010-minority-ethnic-staff-still-under-represented-in-museums

Introducing Museum Workforce.........

Well I suppose I had better tell you what this blog is all about.

I’m on the 2010 Renaissance North West funded Museology Professional Development Programme, and my personal project is to explore the theme of Museum workforce development. I feel really passionately about this subject as I entered the Museums profession via an odd route myself, stopping off in the housing, care and education sectors along the way. But that’s a story for later.

I have no Museum qualifications and I didn’t want to work in a Museum when I grew up – shock horror!! And yet I work in one. The majority of people that I encounter working in the same sector have at least an MA in a Museum related subject as well as their degree. Now, I’m not saying having gained that level of education is a bad thing, but should everyone who works in a Museum have or need those credentials? Do they need to be that specific? Who sets the standard, is it the employers, Universities or ourselves?

Who exactly is the ideal Museum professional and can they ever exist within our current set up?

Do our organisational structures and current views on professionalism get in the way of hiring people from outside of the sector who can bring fresh ideas to the table?

How realistic is it for a person succeeding in another sector to enter into the Museum workforce and transfer that success?

Which hurdle would they fall at? Lack of qualifications, experience, or the fact that they did not know where to look for the job advertisement?

Who decides what training is appropriate or necessary?

Is work experience measurable?

I know there are so many questions and that they would be easy to brush under the carpet in favour of dealing with the repercussions of the tough financial times we are all facing. I’m going to try and answer some myself but along the way I’m going to be video interviewing people working in the sector, students and policy makers to collect their thoughts and ideas about Workforce development.

I believe that if Museums are to survive they need the support of a diverse audience. I don’t believe you can truly have this without a diverse workforce.