Announcing our new Teacher Fellowships
This new programme will enable secondary school teachers to undertake part-time secondments in museums, helping the host museums to develop their learning offer.
One of our priorities at Art Fund is to help museums engage the next generation – and strengthening the relationship between museums and schools is a key part of this.
So, today we’re delighted to announce the details of a new pilot programme: Art Fund Teacher Fellowships. With support from the Clore Duffield Foundation, this new programme will give teachers working in state secondary schools the opportunity to work part-time within a museum with a Clore Learning Space – helping the museum to develop their learning offer, build engagement with schools in their area, and enriching curriculum-learning in school.
The programme responds to and builds on research – also supported by the Clore Duffield Foundation – which informed the launch of our new Teacher Art Pass last year.
How the programme will work
The support from Clore Duffield Foundation will fund two Teacher Fellowships each year over the coming three years: 2024-5, 2025-6 and 2026-7.
Museums with a Clore Learning Space will be able to apply for a grant to cover the full cost of participating in the programme – including the costs of recruiting the Teacher Fellows, the salary cost to backfill their roles part-time within their school, and a training, CPD and travel budget for each teacher.
In addition, £4,000 will be provided to each host museum to support the costs of hosting their Teacher Fellow; and a budget of £15,000 will be provided to support the Fellows and their host museum to build engagement with schools, support school visits, develop new learning resources, and deliver museum-led activities in school.
In this first, pilot year (2024-5), the recipients are National Museum Cardiff and Watts Gallery – Artists’ Village.
And today, we are opening applications for the 2025-6 Fellowships, offering two grants of up to £61,750 to museums who wish to take part in the programme over the 2025-6 academic year.
To celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Clore Duffield Foundation, we are making a major new investment in cultural learning projects across the UK. We are delighted to be working with Art Fund to support Teacher Fellowships in Clore Learning Spaces to strengthen the relationships between schools and museums.
What will the Teacher Fellows do?
Working directly in their host museum, the Teacher Fellows will:
Support their host museum and its staff to develop and improve their learning offer, ensuring that it meets the needs of local schools.
Arrange and support school visits for both their school and other schools in their local area, across a range of age groups.
Build lasting and deep relationships between the host museum and schools in the local area.
Develop curriculum resources which highlight the relevancy of the host museum’s collection to different areas of the curriculum, encouraging school visits and ensuring that these are as beneficial and enriching as possible.
Ensure the practicalities of arranging a school visit are as simple as possible.
Work with the host museum’s staff, curators and artists to design and deliver museum-led activities within their school, enhancing the school’s learning offer in return.
Interested in finding out more about the programme? Find out more about Teacher Fellowships and how to apply.