Classroom, Bruntsfield
Primary School, Edinburgh,
c.1900, photographed by
Harry Bedford Lemere.
SC683634

RCAHMS hosted a week of teacher placements in the summer of 2004 in conjunction with the Excellence in Education through Business Links scheme of Careers Scotland. Four teachers spent a week at our headquarters in Edinburgh, where they discovered more about the resources available and were able to assess the value of those resources in terms of education in both primary and secondary schools. The teachers involved were: Jane Bonnar (History) and Eilidh Meldrum (Geography), both Musselburgh Grammar, East Lothian; Robert Forrest Howie (Principal Teacher), Sciennes Primary School, Edinburgh; and Gordon MacKenzie, Longniddry Primary School, East Lothian.

During the course of the week the teachers met members of staff in the many varied areas of RCAHMS, including survey and graphics, photography, archaeology field survey, and conservation. They were given tours of the archive and were shown some of the highlights of our collections in the Print Rooms. After these introductions the teachers were allocated a working area in the public search room and began to compile trial resources using information and archive material held by RCAHMS.

The week ended with a presentation by the teachers highlighting the value of RCAHMS resources in education, and suggesting practical, positive steps to make teachers more aware of the potential of the material we hold and that is available online. The experience has proved of great value to us in terms of planning new educational initiatives, and it is intended that similar placements and professional development opportunities will be organised in the future to explore the creation of teaching resources in more detail.

Although suggested curriculum areas are specified, many of the resource ideas below can be adapted to suit a variety of age groups.