SCHOOLS & TEACHERS
Teachers' Resources
Our teachers' resources have been developed in consultation with schools and include ideas about using the collections for a visit as well as pre- and post-visit classroom work. You can also find many more online resources including videos, online activities and historical information in the Collections pages. Our online database of images, Search the Collections, is a fantastic resource for the classroom. In addition, special websites are created for many of our temporary exhibitions, helping you to prepare for a visit to the exhibition.
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British Galleries
The British Galleries display the best of British Art and Design from 1500-1900 in a rich historical context and in a powerfully visual way. This resource aims to help primary and secondary teachers prepare for a class visit to the British Galleries and contains numerous activities linked to the National Curriculum as well as worksheets that you can prepare online.
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Buddhism: Art & Design and Religious Education
This resource suggests different approaches to using the V&A's collection of Buddhist objects for supporting teaching and learning in Religious Education and Art & Design at Key Stage 3. Included are classroom based activities and activities that can be carried out at the museum to engage students in learning about Buddhist art. These could also be adapted for different key stages and subjects, especially History, Citizenship and Literacy.
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Constable
This resource introduces teachers to the Victoria and Albert Museum's collection of works by John Constable, providing a unique opportunity to look at the artistic process from sketch through to finished work.
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Drawing in Museums
This resource offers teachers advice, ideas and information for the effective use of drawing in a museum. The suggested drawing activities are all based on the V&A collections, but the approaches can easily be adapted for use elsewhere.
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Fifty Ways to Use Museum Postcards
Postcards are a cheap and widely available resource. A postcard collection can become an invaluable tool for a teacher, because the same cards can be used in endless different ways. The teaching ideas here are aimed at catching students' interest before, during or after a museum visit, but most can also be adapted to form part of normal classroom teaching, for any age group or ability.
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Glass
The Victoria and Albert Museum's sparkling and colourful Glass galleries (Rooms 129 and 131) offer students of all ages an exciting learning environment. This resource for primary and secondary school teachers aims to show how the gallery can be used to support the Art & Design, Design & Technology and History areas of the curriculum.
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Image & Identity
This project is about working with young people to explore their identity, understand how others see them and discover how their image can be modified. It contains information and images from the Photography collection and from an exhibition about Bollywood film posters that relate to issues of image and identity.
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Jainism: Art & Design and Religious Education
The Victoria and Albert Museum's rich Asian collections include important pieces of Jain art. This resource highlights Jain art objects from the collections, suggesting how these can be used for teaching and learning in RE and Art & Design at Key Stage 3.
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Jewellery & Adornment
The suggested activities in this resource are designed to encourage pupils to consider body adornment in broader terms than jewellery and fashion, and to think about related social and cultural issues. The activities can be adapted for students at Key Stage 1 onwards.
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Using the V&A at Key Stages 1 & 2
This resource is designed to support teachers at Key Stages 1 and 2 to use the Victoria and Albert Museum. The ideas take a cross-cultural approach and can be applied to the English, Maths, Science, Art and History areas of the curriculum.
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Maths and Islamic Art & Design
Islamic art explores the geometric systems that depend upon the regular division of the circle and the study of Islamic art increases appreciation and understanding of geometry. This resource provides a variety of information and activities that teachers may like to use with their students to explore the Islamic Middle East collections at the V&A. It can be used to support learning in Maths and Art.
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Museum Conservation
This resource looks at conservation in the museum environment. It contains suggestions for activities that are adaptable for the Science and Design & Technology areas of the curriculum at Key Stages 2 and 3. They can be done either at the Victoria and Albert Museum or at school.
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Plant Motifs
This resource, intended for secondary Art & Design and Design & Technology teachers, contains information about plant motifs in textiles from Tudor England, Mughal India and Qing China. There are ideas about different ways of looking at objects in the V&A as well as suggestions on preparing for your visit and follow-up activities.
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Raphael: In the Picture
Raphael's magnificent cartoons (painted designs for tapestries) can be used in many ways to support learning in Art & Design and Design & technology. This resource shows you how to access information about the cartoons on our website and suggests creative projects you can carry out with students in the museum and school which can be adapted for a range of subjects and key stages.
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Study Room Resources
Prints and drawings, including fashion illustrations, architectural drawings, design drawings, watercolours, posters and much more, not on display in the galleries, can be seen in the Prints, Drawings and RIBA Architecture Study Rooms.
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Using the South Asia Gallery with Schools
An introduction to South Asia, Room 41 for schools planning a visit to the V&A to learn about the Mughal Empire. Supports 'Britain 1750-1900' and 'A world study before 1900' topics and QCA Unit 13 'Mughal India and the coming of the British, 1526-1857: How did the Mughal Empire rise and fall?'.
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Victorian Social Life from Paintings
The Victoria and Albert Museum is one of the best museums in the world for learning about the Victorians. This resource contains an introduction to some of the Victorian paintings in the V&A and suggests ways of using them as sources of historical evidence. It aims to help teachers of History at Key Stages 1 and 2 to use these paintings with students as part of their work on Victorian Britain.