Contribution à l’étude des relations entre l’Ecole et le Musée : vers une formation de l’enfant visiteur
COHEN, Cora, Septembre 2000

Throughout the course of the last fifty years the relationship between the school and the museum has been in a continued state of development; a significant proportion of total museum entries is now made up of school-groups.  What is the nature of their relationship? It is more than likely that each and every pupil will make at least one museum visit during their time at school. Do school visits keep the museum doors open to pupils, who are themselves potential visitors outside school-time?  In order to
address these questions, we have studied the evolution of the relationship over time. It would appear that the museum has undergone an initial 'scholarisation' phase. De-scholarisation has now been made possible by the fact that the different actors have begun to realise the specificities of the two institutions. We have, therefore, detailed the various representations the actors have of the museum and of the school-visit. This study has been carried out within the framework of a comparative analysis of
France and Canada. We maintain that today's school museum visits can contribute to creating tomorrow's visitors, on condition that visitors' representations of the museum are assessed, that visitors are encouraged to learn how to 'read' the exhibition and are sensitised to the act of the visit. A research-action over the course of three years with primary-school classes has enabled the validation of these elements.  If the museum is to be a place of learning, school-visits should from the outset be focussed on effectively utilising the space.