Dr Sally-Ann Ashton, Fitzwilliam Museum, HMP Edmunds Hill and HMP Manchester, Knowledge Transfer Fellowship
A pioneering new project, underpinned by research funded by the AHRC, has enabled a leading Egyptologist, Dr Sally-Ann Ashton of the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, to develop museum resources for prison education departments and individual learners. Working in partnership with HMP Edmunds Hill (Suffolk) and HMP Manchester, the project has been expanded to include four other prisons on a regular basis.
The project, resulting from research funded by the AHRC’s Knowledge Transfer Fellowship scheme, came about following a lecture at a prison by Dr Ashton. She says, “Many of the students, all of whom are serving long sentences, initially asked whether there was a way I could bring the museum to them more directly. This group came up with the idea of a ‘Virtual Museum Gallery’ – something they could access on computers in the prison, but also something they could carry on using and accessing after their release, and could share with their families.
“We worked closely with prison education departments to enable the Virtual Gallery and accompanying resources. It was the first time that students in prison had been consulted on, and had the chance to advise on, external educational resources in this way”.
Dr Ashton’s Fellowship enabled her to spend 18-months working with prisons in order to teach Egyptology - both as a specialist subject and also as a means of inspiring wider learning through literacy skills, numeracy and art. Particular attention has been given to presenting Egypt as part of Africa. In this way, many of the students, particularly those of African – Caribbean descent, have been encouraged to explore their own cultural heritage and to share their experiences and knowledge with others.
Although initially aimed at inmates, Dr Ashton’s Egyptology classes have also been extended to include prison staff and have been expanded to explore issues such as race, religion and cultural practices in modern society.
The Knowledge Transfer Fellowship has not only allowed the dissemination and exchange of knowledge from the Fitzwilliam Museum to Prison, but also between inmates and prison staff. Dr Ashton believes that this two-way process has been crucial to the project’s success.
Sustainable resources will include a ‘tool kit’ for museums wishing to work in a prison setting, and on-line resources for prison education departments and prisoners’ families, which it is hoped will be of interest to schools. She is also writing a monograph that will include a full evaluation of the project.