VOLUNTEERS IN MUSEUMS AND CULTURAL HERITAGE - Amitié

58 WORKING WITH VOLUNTEERS IN MUSEUMS AND CULTURAL HERITAGEEvaluation of the training programmeThe first workshop was attended by 17 professional workers from 14 Slovene museums, of whom15 gave writtenfeedback concerning the workshop. Overall, they were highly satisfied with the programme, content, trainersand material. Timing was a big challenge, since it was difficult for the participants to organise four freedays, but this is linked with the greatly increased scope of the work in all the Slovene museums (and with anongoing policy of not employing new workers when older ones retire). The participants’ response to the question,“What do you consider the main advantages of this training?” emphasised the following points:• Gaining necessary information, knowledge and self-confidence for work with individuals or a group of volunteers;• Creating a positive attitude to volunteer work in the museum environment;• The theory presented of the fundamentals of working with the public (including volunteers);• Transferring information and experience into practice;• New knowledge, ideas, approaches, acquaintances and contacts for further cooperation, where to go forhelp if necessary;• Networking, exchange of opinions and experiences, the confirmation that our work is correctly oriented;• Much new content, knowledge, practical experiences;• Concrete ideas, how to address potential volunteers;• The material given, colleagues’ experiences, ideas produced during the workshop.The answers to the question “What would you like to improve (about the training programme)?” included:• Building on the lectures about the fundamentals of communication and more examples from practice;• A more suitable time framework, especially shorter workshops;• More such training in the sense of refreshing knowledge already obtained;• Nothing at the moment, perhaps something will show up in further work.Participants also suggested areas for further activities and training including:• Additional training or building on previous lectures;• A repeat of the workshop with further content after two years, when the projects would be running in the museums;• Occasional meetings as a means of evaluation;• Meeting of individual mentors from different museums and exchange of experiences;• New findings and trends in the field of volunteerism in museums;• Additional support to resolve the most common situations and challenges connected with volunteer work.As organisers, we were especially pleased because the participants seem now to have adopted the idea of introducingvolunteers into Slovene museums. We must admit that at the beginning of the process many doubtedthat this could be possible in their situation.