Why take part?
We heard about Takeover Day because we have taken part in the past and members of our team attended Kids in Museums digital planning sessions.
It is important to National Museums Scotland to hear and share the voices of young people so that we can best represent them now and in the future.
Our Climate Emergency Films project with Castlebrae Community High School was drawing to its conclusion and we wanted an event which would allow the young people to visit the museum and reflect on the project. Takeover Day allowed us to make this event larger with a full day’s schedule of activities, photography and social media coverage, allowing the school to get the most out of the project conclusion. Working on a collaborative project throughout lockdown had many logistical challenges and Takeover Day gave us an opportunity to celebrate the successes of the project and reflect on how we can continue to improve our approach to sustainability and environmental impact in the future.
Who took part?
Our Takeover Day event involved 24 second year pupils (aged 13-14), many of whom had taken part in the Climate Emergency Films project over the previous year.
Edinburgh Film Company, who helped to develop the films, also came along to meet the pupils.
What did they do on the day?
Arrival
The day began with the young people arriving at the museum and having a snack. We wanted it to be a relaxed introduction as it had been over two years since any of them had been able to go on a school trip and being in busy public spaces again could be daunting for some. Pupils undertook a quick pre-event survey.
Film screening and Q&A
Pupils then headed to our auditorium for a screening of the Climate Emergency Films they had helped us to develop over the previous year. After watching the films, the young people met Luke from Edinburgh Film Company who had worked on the films. They had the opportunity to do a Q&A with him about the films as well as his career journey and how the creative industries play into understanding the climate emergency. The Q&A was done using an online platform in which the young people could use phones or tablets to type in questions, vote on polls and use word-clouds to see common themes.
“We greatly enjoyed Takeover Day and had some fantastic input from our ‘climate ambassadors’ about the future of museums and the environment.”
Lunch
We then broke for lunch which was provided for the young people. During the lunch break section of the day, pupils were invited to take part in ‘And If Not Now When’, an immersive sound and film installation in the museum. This was a response, by Edinburgh artists, to the urgency of the climate emergency, which was timed to coincide with COP26 taking part in Scotland. Many of them really enjoyed it and gave great feedback to the organisers.
Exploring the museum
In the afternoon the group had the opportunity to explore the National Museum of Scotland galleries, seeing some of the objects featured in the films and getting a feel for how the museum presents itself to the public. They were asked during this time to take particular notice of anything they felt related to sustainability or the climate.
Consulting with the senior leadership team
Once they returned to the auditorium they were met by members of our senior leadership team. The group were then able to feedback to our Director of Public Programmes and Director of Collections about how they felt the museum was responding to the climate emergency. There were some things they thought National Museums Scotland did well from a sustainability perspective and some they did not. They also had discussions with the directors about their career progressions and the sector in general.
End of the day
The day rounded off with a conclusion survey and some group conversations with our evaluator.
As the visit took place on 4 November, we then shared photos and highlights of the day via our Twitter account @NMSEngage during Takeover Day on Friday 12 November.
What happened next?
We greatly enjoyed Takeover Day and feel it was a great conclusion to a productive project. We are still collating our final evaluation of the event but given the quality of the questions submitted and the length of time the young people asked to extend the Q&As by it appears to have been productive from their side too. It has helped us to strengthen our partnership with the school and we hope to be able to continue working with them in the future. The films, and accompanying notes, that were launched on the day can be viewed on our website.
Tell us about your planning and budget for Takeover Day.
Takeover Day allowed us to have a specific date we could plan well in advance giving us enough time to bring in any additional resources that were required. We had been keen to welcome the classes to the museum for a launch of the resource as soon as restrictions allowed however it had proven difficult to find a time and date that suited everyone and was in line with restrictions at the time.
We began planning the logistics of the day about two months in advance in order to give us plenty of time for the council to approve the school’s risk assessments.
We met the teacher online once while planning the event and otherwise were able to organize everything with partners and museum staff via email. We had two team members responsible for organising the event and they spent a few hours a week on planning.
We applied, and were successful in our bid, for Museums Galleries Scotland ‘Climate Beacons Ideas’ funding. This funding supported the Takeover Day event and part of our October half term programming. We spent the budget on transport for the school to and from the museum, catering for all of the young people involved to give them both a welcome snack and a sustainable lunch. We also used our funding to have a photographer capture the day and have an external evaluator work with us and the school to find the impact of the event on the young people involved, and to ensure we can continue to improve our approach to future projects.
Any learnings or top tips to share?
The key learning point for us this year was how out of practice pupils are with school trips. For all of our S2s this was their first trip since primary school. In future we would build in more opportunities to prepare the young people for the trip, the timetables for the day and expected behaviours. 2021 was a unique situation in this way but it may be something we consider moving forward in the next year or so.
Top Tip: Online platforms such as Slido or Mentimeter, which allow live Q&As as well as polls and word-clouds, can be a great way to break the ice and get the ball rolling with shy teenagers. Once they’d answered the first few questions many pupils felt confident enough to raise their hands and ask a question in person.
Tags: Climate Emergency, Scotland
Categories: Climate, Takeover Day Case Studies
Audience: Secondary school
