Abstract:

The aim of the paper is to show how changing the culture of education through integrating in formal education aspects of informal education using visual culture over the last five years. The European Commission sees combined formal education with informal opportunity to improve the quality of education. To informal education we may include museum lessons that use visual culture. The text will examine in what ways has the approach to visual culture in education undergone changes, and what educational range do institution offer schools. The paper will present the part of a report illustrating the relationships between museums as cultural institutions and schools at all three levels of education in the province of Malopolska.

The paper is the result of the project. The aim of the project is to show how the culture of education is changing through inclusion of components of informal education into formal education using visual culture, over the last five years (2010-2015).

Informal education may include classes that use visual culture - museum lessons. The project will examine how the approach in education towards visual culture (museum) has changed, and what range of programs is offered to schools by the museums. On the basis of the conducted analysis, the project will verify what programs addressing the schools are offered by the museums that directly coincide with the material taught in schools or as a supplement to existing curriculum. The project aims to check whether teachers have input into the offers provided by the museum, and if so - in what form. One of the objectives is to also develop good practice examples of cooperation between museum specialists and teachers in this regard.

The project pay particular attention to whether teachers benefit from the offer of museums located in the Malopolska region, and if so – what specifically guides educators in selecting a particular museum lesson, i.e. how the use of such lessons is seen as a kind of obligation, and how much stems from the belief the offer possess value and its meaning in the context of educating youth, or what topics in the framework of museum lessons are chosen, and to which museums are the students most often taken. Hence, it will also be verified at what period the museum excursions are held, during school time or on a weekend for example.

Another aim of the project is to examine whether schools in the neighboring provinces take advantage of the museum offers, and how these practices are symmetrical. And in the case where quantitative research will illustrate that there is a disproportion - e.g. more schools in the Silesian province takes advantage of the museums’ programs in the Malopolska province (especially in Krakow) than vice versa, consequently an explanatory analysis will be conducted to explain the reasons for this state of affairs – to find out for example how far is this resulting from attractive offers presented to schools or to what extent is it influenced by other factors (e.g. stereotypes).

Keywords:

Museum education, formal edukaction, informal education.