Image - Pupils from Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children who interpreted an Assyrian relief for The British Museum's accessibility project. Courtesy British Museum/Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children

The British Museum has initiated a ground-breaking project to involve deaf children. Aimed at making some of the museum’s collections accessible, it also allows the children to be involved in the interpretation of objects and exhibitions.

With children focusing on objects relevant to their school studies, this is a second strand to the already well-established BSL interpretation of ‘highlight objects’ available on the British Museum's website.

The project involved collaboration between several of the museum’s departments and a wide range of staff. This was in addition to working with the teachers and students from Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children in Camden, London and the production company, Remark!.

The outcome is that the children have added their own BSL interpretations to a number of items in the museum’s collections. There are currently 20 items that can be viewed with BSL interpretation on the museum's accessibility web pages - both those in the main BSL interpretation project and those interpreted by the children.

A still from one of the films made by the British Museum and Remark! Courtesy the British Museum

Involving 16 children with a broad range of abilities, the project also included some with additional learning difficulties and complex needs. Some students were not filmed but were involved in the preparations and a special day at the museum.

Working in collaboration with the staff at Frank Barnes, which is one of only a few schools who work bi-lingually with spoken English and BSL, the museum staff helped the children to prepare their ideas and practise their presentations.

Staff from the production company Remark!, who are all BSL users, visited the school prior to filming to get the children used to the idea of appearing in front of the camera.

While the initial idea was to build on the pioneering Deaf Studies schemes of work staff at Frank Barnes have been devising for inclusion in the National Curriculum (NC), it became clear that making broader links to the NC topics that the children were studying would be more pertinent.

Those studying The Greeks in history worked on the Parthenon and Athena’s birthday procession. Similarly, interpretation of Nigerian ceremonial headdresses added to the Design and Technology project of other contributors. The youngest students to be involved were studying animals in science. The Assyrian lion hunt panel was the focus for their presentations.

The museum’s E-Learning Editor, Carolyn Howitt said: “We wanted it to be meaningful. We really worked with the school on that.”

The project gave a chance for the children to add to their learning about a variety of topics. Courtesy the British Museum

In terms of other areas of the curriculum, the activity clearly contributed to Speaking and Listening skill development – the children are shown on the films making astute, detailed and articulate observations.

The children not only were able to use the museum to extend their learning, but for Carolyn, she felt the project meant, there “was just a big wow factor.”

“Afterwards, they had a special assembly where they showed the films. They got real kudos,” added Carolyn.

BSL interpretation has become a growing area when it comes to increasing accessibility to museum collections and one-off events. Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service has for instance this year devised a programme of summer activities with BSL interpretation aimed at both adults and children.

Sophie Weaver, Colchester and Ipswich Museum Service Access Officer said: “I am delighted that we are able to offer BSL interpretation at such a variety of events over the coming months. It means that deaf visitors to our museums will have the opportunity to participate more fully than ever before in our main events and activities. This reflects our continued commitment to access and inclusion.”

The British Museum’s project however involved children interpreting for other deaf visitors and creating a permanent accessible record. This is a first, which meant Carolyn and her colleagues were breaking new ground.

“I did some research a while ago looking for other people who had done this, to get advice really," added Carolyn. "I still haven’t found anyone.”

Students aged between eight and 11 took part in the project. Courtesy the British Museum

For inspiration behind the idea, Carolyn, gives full credit to the late Jodi Mattes, after whom the Jodi Awards for museum web accessibility are named.

Her pioneering work at the British Museum was the catalyst. “Her passion for accessibility got us fired up,” said Carolyn. “If it wasn’t for her we wouldn’t have got going. She was a real doer. She wouldn’t just let us talk about it. We are committed to accessibility - everyone, not just the schools team, but everyone. She left a real legacy and she would have been thrilled with this.”

Carolyn can claim the prize however for getting this project off the ground and initiating the programme. She however gives full marks to the teamwork and collaboration involved between both museum departments and external partners such as the teachers at the school and the director of Remark!, Mark Nelson. “We all had a common purpose,” she said.

“There was a lot of team work on the day,” remembers Carolyn. “There was the schools team looking after the children and the wardens were on hand. The curatorial staff were great and did question and answer sessions in front of the objects.”

Image - Back at school, the children used their creativity to reinforce their learning. Courtesy British Museum/Frank Barnes School for Deaf Children

“The curator of the African headdresses arranged for the artist who collected some of the pieces from Nigeria to come in. The children were star struck. They asked her lots of questions about who had made them. That was brilliant and a nice surprise.”

Working with the children also raised further issues of accessibility. Carolyn explained: “Part of the museum’s plan is to open up to different audiences and local audiences. We are a London museum but only one of them had been to the museum before. Although these are London children, it wouldn’t have occurred to them to come along. We hope they will keep it up and visit regularly.”

This is highly likely in light of Museum Archive and Libraries Council (MLA) research. Their August 2007 report Who’s Visiting and Who’s Not? showed that museum visits as children, either with parents or on school trips, increases young people’s desire to return.

While this was a small project, Carolyn hopes to pursue the threads that came out of it. “Doing anything for the first time is the hardest. Now we know how to do it.”

And another legacy involves the effect working closely with the children had on the staff. Carolyn said: “It was great to have a project that everybody worked on. Everyone could see how worthwhile it was. It was very morale boosting.”

Find out more about the British Museum's work with BSL on the British Museum website