The fact that I have a PGCE (Postgraduate Certificate in Education) sometimes comes as a surprise to people taking a look at my professional background. I really enjoyed my sixth form work experience in the education department at Bradford Industrial Museum and so, after studying history at university, I took a PGCE specialising in primary education and history to help get into museum and heritage education.
I started off behind the scenes, creating materials to support curriculum delivery that could be used by teachers and freelance educators and artists. Early on I discovered that I really loved the informal learning side of the work which included things like developing trails and activity packs for children and families, as well as community learning projects involving writing and researching website content.
That experience was turned out to be useful when I moved into broader charity communication roles and was working on projects like developing a website content strategy aimed at engaging new audiences, or making specialist or technical information more accessible via website features and explainers. These are things that lots of charities do without necessarily thinking of them as informal learning.
What is informal learning?
Informal learning is basically any form of learning that takes place outside of formal settings like classrooms. It tends to be driven by curiosity rather than a syllabus and often takes place during leisure time. In museum and heritage education it might look like activities for families, talks, handling sessions, interpretation panels, or events for groups like book clubs. Informal learning projects understand that people bring different levels of interest and prior knowledge and can be a good way for organisations to attract new audiences.
What might informal learning projects look like?
Museums, galleries and heritage sites might feel like natural places for informal learning projects but lots of different kinds of not-for-profit organisations can develop them. To take a community garden as an example, informal learning ideas might include:
- A series of blog posts with growing tips
- Relaxed sessions where people can learn practical gardening skills
- Cooking groups or recipe cards to help make use of the produce
- Nature spotting activities for children
- Information boards
- A pop up exhibition about the stories behind some of the fruit, vegetables or plants
Some of these could help introduce new audiences to the project, including families, and people interested in cooking or garden history.
For campaign based charities informal learning might look like explainers, step by step guides, infographics or getting involved toolkits. These projects are often about explaining issues or technical information in an accessible way, helping people with differing degrees of understanding and interest engage with the work.
Charities involved in this kind of area may also look to engage children and families with some areas of their work. For example, whilst I was working at CPRE Bedfordshire I created a hedgerow explorers guide, an activity booklet full of puzzles and creative activities for children as part of engaging communities with both local planting projects and a national campaign to increase the number of hedgerows.
Looking for the informal learning opportunities for your project or organisation can be a great way of reaching new people and deepening engagement.
Read more
Helping charities and community groups use local history to engage new audiences.
Ways I can help you
- Identifying informal learning opportunities for your organisation or project
- Project work (e.g. booklets, exhibition guides or other interpretation material) and researching and writing features for your website, newsletter or other publications
- Content ideas and strategies to help you communicate your project
- Copywriting and editorial support
If you’d like some help with an informal learning project then please get in touch.
Shelly Dennison 