What does a Community and Family Learning Officer do?
March 14, 2008 About my museum job, Specialist projectsThis week we talk to Isilda Almeida, Community and Family Learning Officer at the Museum in Docklands.
Job title: Community and Family Learning Officer
Department: Museum in Docklands Access and Learning
What is your role as a Community and Family Learning Officer?
I am responsible for the creation and delivery of the Museum in Docklands’ community programme, the family learning programme, outreach, early years learning and schools community special events. I organise festivals such as Chinese New Year and coordinate the budget for the above programmes.
As part of my job I initiate and or support partnerships with external organisations and projects ensuring they are reflected onto the Public events programme.
What where you doing before this?
I came to the UK to take a Master of Arts in Museum Studies in 2001. I came to London to do my placement at the Museum of Childhood and I ended up staying after that. My first paid job in London was working at an Art Gallery in Hackney. Simultaneously I freelanced in some of the local museums.
Why did you decide to be a Community and Family Learning Officer at the Museum?
I have decided for a career in Museums when I was doing my first degree on Culture Studies in Lisbon. Since then I have worked for the Gulbenkian Foundation and for the Portuguese Ministry of Culture Museum’s Institute.
What do you love about your job?
This job gives an opportunity to be creative and innovative whilst dealing with interesting issues such as heritage and identity. There are always new initiatives and projects to contribute to. The two things I enjoy the most are the fact that I am continuously learning and the work with families; seeing how they, and mostly the children, interact with the Museum.
What do you hate about your job?
I dislike the barriers imposed by lack of funding and or time.
What is the strangest or funniest thing that has ever happened to you in this job?
One morning after teaching a Foundations stage session I felt my leg trapped in a little girl’s arms. She was very small and whilst holding on to my leg she looked up and said ‘Can I stay with you?’. The teacher had to come and pick her up because she didn’t want to leave.
In general there isn’t a single day in which I don’t have a laugh.
What was your best day like?
My best days each year are during Chinese New Year. It gets more exciting every year and I thrive on the Community leaders’ enthusiasm. It is extremely rewarding also because it is attended in large numbers.
Where are you going in the future?
I want to do a placement in a Museum in another part of the world, possibly the USA to broaden my experience of Museum practise.