The title of this article may seem odd: Why add another word to the
Nordplus project ‘Implementing Heritage Learning Outcomes’? In evaluating
the project, I have been inspired by the work carried out by Jackson
and Kidd (20) for their 2005–2008 project ‘Performance, Learning and
Heritage’ (PLH). The aim of their project was to explore and detail “the
many ways in which performance permeates and informs discussions of
heritage and its possibilities” while paying attention to “the use and impact
of performance as a medium of learning and interpretations at museums
and heritage sites”.(21) An interesting aspect of their work is that despite
having ‘Learning’ as their “principal point of inquiry […] ‘Performance’
and ‘Heritage’ become [our] points of entry. […] learning is rarely recognised
here solely in terms of the acquisition of factual knowledge. Rather,
[…], it is often in more subtle, complex and challenging ways that learning
is supported and ‘delivered’ through performance; engagement, empathy,
participation, challenge, understanding and taking ownership are
also means through which learning may be generated. Whether we define
learning along lines of personal transformation, experience, dialog, critical
engagement or the promotion of ‘good citizenship’, performance indeed
has something to offer”.(22) Additionally, in their earlier work, they point
out that “theories of learning have recently advanced our understanding
of how, and in what forms, learning in museums takes place – but although
evaluation of individual learning programs is now standard practice
in most museum/heritage sites, relatively little has been published on how
performance contributes to that learning”.(23) I will elaborate on this further
in the following sections.