Meet Amy, 24, who works as an assistant learning officer at the Great North Museum: Hancock, a museum of natural history and ancient civilisations in Newcastle-upon-Tyne.
Amy:Hi, I'm Amy. I'm twenty four and I'm an assistant learning officer here at the Great North Museum: Hancock.
I'm an assistant learning officer and I work specifically on the Early Years Programme here at the museum. My job is basically to offer events and activities and family programmes for our youngest visitors. Each day is very, very different. I have the admin side of things, answering a lot of telephone calls, a lot of emails. There's a lot of preparation as well for activities and then the flipside of that is actually, you know, getting to deliver the activities with our youngest visitors from days old babies right up until five years old. So I use a lot of equipment in my job, whether that's paper, card, tissue paint, we use a lot of paint, storybooks, puppets, bubbles. We have a lot of objects on display, a lot of them we can't touch, but I do have some that I get out for my sessions. Whether that be a shark jaw, we've got a big turtle shell. We've kind of got a lot that goes into our sessions. So for my job, I've got to be quite flexible. You've got to be able to work on your own initiative. You've got to be able to communicate quite strongly as well, especially, you know if you're working with small children who might not even be able to talk yet themselves. While I never had in mind that I wanted to work in a museum, after my A-levels, I decided that I really wanted to go to university. I did Ancient History at Newcastle. I really, really enjoyed it, so I decided that I really wanted to get some experience working in a museum and I did the work experience here with the learning team and I really, really enjoyed it. I decided to do my Masters in Museum Studies. I had the option of doing it full-time, so that was one year or doing it part-time over two. For me I'm so happy that I did the two year, because that meant that I was doing the course and I had twice the amount of time to do the actual course work, but most importantly, I wanted to get hands-on experience. So every week I came in volunteering in the museum. The skills that I'd gained and the things that I was able to talk about in my interview meant that I was in a really strong position to get the job. And I did. And now here I am. Having always enjoyed visiting museums since I was younger, I'm so happy that I decided to stick to a career in something that I really enjoy and now I work in this amazing place and I honestly couldn't be happier.
I'm so happy that I decided to stick to a career in something that I really enjoy. Now I work in this amazing place and I honestly couldn't be happier.
Amy runs events and activities for Early Years (0 to 5 year olds) at the Great North Museum: Hancock in Newcastle. She is responsible for organising, preparing and delivering activities
She studied Ancient History at Newcastle University and did some work experience with the museum, which inspired her to study for a master's in Museum Studies. She combined her part-time studies with volunteering at the museum and when an assistant learning officer job came up, she had plenty of experience to talk about at interview
She always enjoyed visiting museums as a young girl and now she has fun in the museum every day, working with children and plenty of paper, paints, books and bubbles.
Amy is an assistant learning officer. Her role comes under the umbrella of a community arts worker. A community arts worker helps local communities plan and take part in activities like drama, dance, painting and photography.
What to expect if you want to be a community arts worker
- Community arts worker average salary: £19,000 to £29,000 per year
- Community arts worker typical working hours: 37 to 39 hours per week. You could work evenings, weekends, bank holidays and also attend events and appointments.
What qualifications do you need to be a community arts worker?
You could get into this role via a university course, a college course, an apprenticeship and volunteering.
Sources: LMI for All, National Careers Service
This information is a guide and is constantly changing. Please check the National Careers Service website for the latest information and all the qualifications needed.
For careers advice in all parts of the UK visit: National Careers Service (England), nidirect (Northern Ireland), My World of Work (Scotland) and Careers Wales (Wales).
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