The V&A and Kensington and Chelsea College (KCC) are working together to deliver NVQs and Creative Apprenticeships to people working in the cultural and arts sector and wider business community.
The Launch of the partnership between the V&A Cultural Heritage Assessment Centre and Kensington and Chelsea College will be at the V&A on 23rd October 2008.
In May 2008 29 candidates completed their NVQs and Damien Whitmore V&A Director of Communications presented them with their certificates at the annual award ceremony.
External candidates were from:
Julius Bryant explains that people from all walks of life end up working at teh V&A: "We employ people with backgrounds in everything from fine are to computer technology - we have collections to suit almost everyone, including digital art".
YGMG5 is a real inspiration, run by the V&A and the British Museum, amongst others. They offer a training and mentoring program to students in their last two years at school. They take them behind the sceens of the most famous galleries and museums in the UK, and let them work in various different environments, getting the feel of how these wonderful institutions work.
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Veronika Harris, the V&A's head of training and development, on its employer-led qualifications
The Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has become the first UK museum to have its in-house training programme nationally accredited by the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA).
The museum's development programme for assistant curators has been running for 10 years and is equivalent to an NVQ level 4. Designed by the V&A, the scheme combines on-the-job training with academic study and covers skills such as working with collections and looking after visitors.
V&A becomes first museum to have in-house training accredited nationally
The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) has today announced that the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) has become the first museum able to have its in-house training nationally accredited.
The museum's in-house training already sets the standard for curatorial training nationally, with both V&A employees and other museums undertaking their training programmes. By working with exam board EDI to develop the new qualification, the V&A will be able to have this training recognised as a nationally accredited qualification for the first time.
Curatorial training used to be reserved for the educated elite. Now there's a career for anyone who can earn it, thanks in part to the V&A's newly QCA accredited training.
Curatorial training is one of those arcane internal processes that happen within museums and galleries with the public, mercifully, knowing nothing about what goes on. Their only awareness is when the training results in a display they can see, a label they can read and understand, and a sense of the uniqueness of the objects. And each museum seems different in its style, its scholarship, its narrative – a very particular kind of training.
This conference presents the latest thinking and offers practical examples of how front of house staff can work beyond their traditional roles. It looks at the benefits of professional customer care and provides design solutions to unfriendly environments and poor signage. It will also show how well-trained and empowered staff can respond positively to many of the current agendas.
If you are looking to improve visitors' experiences, foster shared skills and utilise your organisation’s resources then attendance is a must.