Country
Germany
Import/Export
Topic
Zero Project 2019/20
Transfer Model
Status
Capito, an Austrian/German social franchise network, and the State Museum of the City of Schwerin in Germany have joined forces to develop a training course for people with disabilities to conduct art tours in museums. The project creates job opportunities for people with disabilities and improves the accessibility of museums’ education content. There is further interest from museums and people with disabilities across Europe, including Belgium, Germany, Hungary, and Spain.
You can discover their presentation at the Zero Project Conference here
Solution
Two education experts from capito MV worked alongside a colleague from the education department at the Staatliches Museum Schwerin to deliver the training course. Trainees helped determine the design of the course and suggested key modules, for example, the use of digital media in art education.
In addition to art history, the course covers such competencies as communicating with different visitors and handling difficult situations. Some of the training materials are also available in easy language formats, and ten training workshops and digital learning units have already taken place.
The project works on several levels. People with disabilities experience cultural participation, function as inclusion consultants within the museum, and create an inclusive consciousness in society through their encounters with visitors and media appearances.
In October 2019, the Federal Academy for Cultural Education in Germany and the German Museum Association cooperated to develop a job description and training profile for people with disabilities to become museum guides. This project will support the development of more accessible training materials, for example, in easy language formats and with a read aloud function.
Impact
The project is currently developing a new job profile for people with disabilities in museums. The museum guides themselves have expressed a desire for further vocational training in the museum sector, and that desire is being pursued.
• Seven guides with disabilities have been trained since the project started in 2017
• More than 500 people have attended one of the 25 tours given by the museum guides trained by capito MV
Needs
We are looking for the following type of partners:
• Museums to employ the guides
• Trainers to educate the guides
• People with special needs interested to become museum guides
• Social investors
Transfer Model
We can support you to train people with disabilities as museum guides:
• Train the trainer concept
• Manual for training and accessible materials for all
We also offer coaching, seminars and workshops to help museums become more inclusive
