Museums on the curriculum – when children and young people make use of art and culture

What happens when children and young people are not passive recipients, but make active use of art and culture in the museums? A Danish-Norwegian book examines how dialogue-based teaching in Danish museums helps support pupils’ active learning processes. The new book shows how interaction and active participation make museums and the cultural heritage into a dynamic entity and part of our democratic culture.

The book is being published at the very moment when Christine Antorini, Minister of Education and Minister for Children, is heading the development of the New Nordic School. Dialogue-based teaching is very much in the Nordic tradition and in keeping with the aim of engaging all pupils in practical discussion and debate. Not only because it is exciting, but also because it increases the amount learned by all. At the same time it provides pupils with the experience of being involved in the common cultural material housed in museums and other cultural institutions. New Nordic School encompasses visions of an inclusive teaching system that goes far beyond the classroom framework. The museum gallery can be such a new setting.

Teaching in the Museum

The book Dialogue-Based Teaching. The Art Museum as Classroom takes a close look at the practice and considers how museum educators in seven Danish art museums meet children and young people. Through varied forms of tuition, the active participation of pupils and the use of art as their starting point, it is possible to experience how pupils become engaged in discussions about, for instance, history, sustainability and identity – themes that are relevant to their special subject and for their commitment to the society of which they are part. In Statens Museum for Kunst, for instance, pupils work with concepts of identity on the basis of Danish Golden Age art, contemporary art and their own photographs. And in Thorvaldsens Museum, pupils apply new words to the classical works and experience how they themselves can determine the order of the day for the way in which art can be discussed.

About the Authors

The book has been written by Olga Dysthe, Professor of Pedagogics in the University of Bergen and the author of the book The Polyphonic Classroom, Nana Bernhardt, M.A. in Art History and responsible for teaching and development in the Statens Museum for Kunst School Service, and Line Esbjørn, qualified teacher responsible for teaching and development in the Thorvaldsens Museum School Service.

The book, which enjoys the support of The Danish Agency for Culture and the Foundation for Danish-Norwegian Collaboration, is published in Danish and Norwegian and is published in Denmark by Skoletjenesten på Sjælland and the Unge Pædagoger publishing house. The seven participating museums are ARKEN, Designmuseum Danmark, J.F. Willumsens Museum, KØS – Museum for Kunst I det offentlige rum, Niklaj Kunsthal, Statens Museum for Kunst and Thorvaldsens Museum.

What they say about the book

“Indispensable! A reference book for all who work with children and young people in art museums. Sharp, thorough and informative.”
Line Daatland, Assistant Curator in the Bergen Art Galleries

“One of the most inspiring and professionally fascinating books I have read for a long time, with contents that are relevant far beyond the area of teaching in museums. Very inspiring reading!”
Ove Eide, Lecturer in Norwegian and Media Studies and Head of Development and Renewal at Firda School of Advanced Studies.

Dialogue-based Teaching. The Art Museum as Classroom
Authors: Olga Dysthe, Nana Bernhardt and Line Esbjørn.
256 pages with coloured illustrations.
Price: 198 kroner
Buy the book on the Skoletjeneste home page (NB in Danish): http://vetus.skoletjenesten.dk/sider/Boeger/kunst.html.