Conservation's relevance to the school curriculum. Discuss!

Demos Report has recommended integrating the conservation into the national curriculum aimed at teaching young people the importance of caring for the material world and educating them about objects. The awareness of heritage conservation at an early age will increase public awareness and support for a profession which is at risk from closure of training courses and the decrease in funding available to the heritage sector. Three GCSE students spent a week at the Victoria and Albert Museum on work experience. They are studying the sciences including biology, chemistry and physics and English and mathematics and all have already completed the Citizenship CCSE. The three of them undertook a research project for the Conservation Department, managed by Sandra Smith, Head of Conservation, to examine if and how conservation and the work undertaken in the V&A is relevant to their studies. Conservation can be applied to subjects such as art, design & Technology and textiles in a number of ways.