Learning Programme Evaluator

Overview

People’s History Museum (PHM) is seeking a freelance evaluation consultant to devise and implement a robust evaluation strategy to measure the redevelopment and the impact of the museum’s new Learning Programme.

PHM is the national museum of democracy, telling the story of its development in Britain: past, present, and future.  The museum provides opportunities for all people to learn about, be inspired by and get involved in ideas worth fighting for; ideas such as equality, social justice, co-operation, and a fair world for all.  PHM will be embarking on an exciting project to review its learning offer for children and young people from formal (schools) and informal (youth and community groups) backgrounds across 2023 and 2024.

The Learning Team will work with PHM staff, our dedicated freelance team, community and formal learning steering groups and partners to research, consult and collaborate on redeveloping our programmes.  We will launch a revised, streamlined Learning Programme that will be impactful, relevant, challenging and inclusive.  This offer will be expanded over the following years, timescales aligned with funding and capacity.

Our vision for our Learning Programme is to empower people with an understanding of how change can be achieved through individual, social and political activity. 

Our ambition

Develop a refreshed programme that is impactful, relevant, challenging and inclusive, with a clear USP that sets us apart from other cultural offers.

• Ensure the programme has strong links to the museum’s collections, supported by effective digital
• Create a revised cost effective, sustainable Learning Business Model.
• Invest in our staff (PHM and freelance) to enable us to offer high quality, authentic learning experiences and understand how they can be inclusive and accessible.
• Have a diverse team who are confident in their facilitation and can share their own unique set of skills, knowledge and experience with participants and each other.
• Have an in-depth knowledge of our audiences that will result in increased participation and support the Business Plan aims in reaching communities underserved by the heritage sector.
• Build a network of partners that are invested in the museum, can be consulted on future projects and feel part of the museum’s journey. This will be a mutually beneficial relationship to allow an exchange of skills and knowledge.
• Support people from underrepresented communities within the creative industry.

Objectives, outputs and expected milestones

We require an external evaluator to create a robust evaluation framework that we can use during this project and in the long term.  The framework will enable us to develop new sessions during the testing period and capture their impact.  The evaluation will include formative and summative evaluation, allowing us to make changes during the project to ensure maximum impact, and will generate a final report to circulate to stakeholders and funders.

Participatory research will be embedded, and evaluation methods will be inclusive and accessible ensuring everyone can participate.  Evaluation methods and templates will be designed to be used beyond the project, for PHM staff to continue to monitor the impact of new programmes developed.  We expect an evaluator to apply varied evaluation methods, mapping high quality data from different sources.  New, creative methods of capturing evaluation from all stakeholders will be of great interest.

The evaluation will:

• Assess the extent to which the project is meeting its objectives set out above, offering recommendations for change during project delivery;
• Provide evaluation training to PHM staff where appropriate to facilitate iterative evaluation;
• Ensure that data and learnings are shared in a timely way to enable prompt action where necessary;
• Ensure that evaluation data and learnings are presented in a way that is accessible to the widest audiences;
• Work closely with PHM’s Programme & Engagement Manager to agree evaluation procedures; and
• Reflect the learning ethos and values of PHM.

Timeline

• Evaluation framework to be delivered by June 2023.
• Session testing and development June 2023 to February 2024.
• Appropriate evaluation training for staff to be delivered July 2023 to August 2023.
• Formative evaluation at regular intervals during the project.
• Evaluation methods to be used long term confirmed by February 2024.
• Final evaluation report produced and submitted by March 2024.

Fee

The total budget available for this work is £4,000, including all fees, travel expenses, materials and other out-of-pocket expenses.

Who we want to work with

• You are an experienced evaluator with experience working within the cultural sector or within formal andinformal learning environments.
• You have experience of devising and delivering learning session and programme.
• You have experience of or are ready to engage enthusiastically with a co-produced approach.
• You are familiar with or willing to learn about PHM, its collection, its mission and values which underpin its Learning Programme.
• You will have a willingness to engage with trauma-informed approaches.

Expressions of interest

Please submit an expression of interest as a PDF, with the following information to Jackie Royle, Finance & Operations Officer at jackie.royle@phm.org.uk by 5.00pm on Tuesday 2 May 2023.  If you’d prefer to submit an audio or video recording, you can do.

• Brief CV that includes relevant examples of evaluations you have delivered (maximum two sides of A4).
• A statement of your suitability for this work and why you would like to undertake it (maximum 500 words).
• A costed proposal for delivery of the evaluation, including timescales.
• Two testimonials/references.

Interviews will be held in person at PHM in the week beginning Tuesday 9 May 2023.

Each application will be assessed against the criteria for the role detailed above.  If you have any questions regarding your application, or would like to arrange a chat to discuss the role, please contact Antonia Canal, Programme & Engagement Manager at antonia.canal@phm.org.uk.

Equity

PHM prides itself on being a welcoming and inclusive organisation, profoundly committed to advancing equality and diversity in the broadest sense.  We highly value the benefits that diverse perspectives bring to PHM’s mission.

We recognise the museum currently underrepresents people of colour, disabled people, LGBTQI+ people and those with intersecting identities in our workforce; PHM is actively working to address this and encourages applications from these backgrounds.  While the successful candidate will be selected purely on merit, in the event of a tie between two candidates with equal experience, we may select a candidate who helps us better represent the communities the museum serves.