Thank you, Meryl and John, for contributing to this conversation! John, thank you for your point that it is important to make educator's contributions visible and respected. I completely agree. I also agree with Meryl that too often museums try to achieve this through offerings like thank you lunches that feel disingenuous, while not trusting educators to make decisions about their work.
I hope both of you (and others following this conversation) will join us for the October 6 (12-1 Eastern) discussion on How do you keep educators when you can't pay enough (or anything!). We have both educators and administrators registered, and will be doing both collaborative brainstorming and talking about what it looks like to truly value / show value to front-line educators.
As a reminder, registration is required, and our Zoom platform will accommodate the first 100 people to show up. This session will be recorded, with the recording shared to all who register, even if you can't make it live.
Best,
Rebecca Shulman, Rachel Ropeik, and David Bowles (the SEED Trio)
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Rebecca Shulman
Museum Questions Consulting
museumquestions.com | 917-771-1374
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Original Message:
Sent: 09-30-2025 05:28 PM
From: Meryl Rubin
Subject: How do you keep educators when you can't pay enough (or anything!)?
Have you asked the educators?
I've been an unpaid educator in a "museum" setting, then a slightly paid educator, and finally a very poorly paid educator, although I had a science PhD. I taught children, docents, teachers [including HS level], parents, families. Most of the docents were experienced retired teachers.
One supervisor was a recent graduate with a BA or BS in education. She felt she could provide one single lesson plan that could be used for children from preK to 10th grades - any deviations from her plan led to tongue-lashings for the docents. She knew nothing about what we actually taught, like most people with a BA or BS in education, and very little about teaching people. Docents left the program and teachers stopped bringing their classes. Eventually the institution realized there was a problem and hired a better supervisor. But the complaints of docents, teachers, and their classes had gone unheeded for more than 2 years because...structural problems - don't actually ask the people involved.
Docents want recognition, yes, but annual "recognition luncheons" were a joke - administrators who regularly ignored them and spoke over them said how valuable and wonderful they were but still did not hear them. The money for those luncheons could have been given to the docents to use as they saw fit. Flexible scheduling was very important [we all had lives, oddly enough], but left to ourselves we filled in for each other as necessary; the administrators were the inflexible ones.
"Travel reimbursement, access to training, or inclusion in decision-making" would be excellent. How about extending yourselves, offering training trips to similar organizations in the neighborhood, and offering those institutions reciprocal training trips? Or even places with a different mission, to see how similar/different the role of docent educators is and how they are trained and valued elsewhere...? Join one of the organizations that will give your docents/ educators free entry to other museums/gardens/etc? And publicize it? And certainly offer annual full membership in your organization, so people can introduce their friends and family to the place [and perhaps get new members?].
Finally, after 5 years of being a docent, people should, upon retiring as educators, receive a lifetime full membership in your organization. [Oh, hooror, what a suggestion.] I'm told museum administrators applying for grants use a value of about $28/hour for docent work time. In fact, I learned that on this site. Perhaps you should think about really giving back to your volunteers, educators rather than the lip service commonly offered.
I remember a supervisor of docents and security personnel complaining on this site that people refused to stand in one place for an 8 hour day [very short bathroom and lunch breaks were permitted] because the supervisor wanted them to look available at the entrance of each section. They seemed to want to wander through the section, and sometimes even [what a scandal] to sit down. And to talk to visitors inside the section...
I suggested this supervisor spend the next 3 work days standing in one place waiting for questions/attention/whatever and then discuss with the employees how to do things better. I doubt that happened.
So I will end as I began - try talking to your docents, educators and looking for ways to improve their unpaid service in terms that matter to them.
Meryl Rubin, Ph.D.
Original Message:
Sent: 9/28/2025 5:03:00 PM
From: John Elia
Subject: RE: How do you keep educators when you can't pay enough (or anything!)?
I've found that when pay isn't possible, the most effective way to keep educators engaged is to focus on recognition, flexibility, and genuine investment in their growth. Simple but consistent things-like highlighting their work in newsletters or meetings, giving them flexible scheduling, and offering small but meaningful professional development opportunities-go a long way. Peer-to-peer recognition programs or even "educator of the month" spotlights can help them feel valued, and small non-monetary perks such as travel reimbursement, access to training, or inclusion in decision-making can build loyalty. In many ways, it's about creating an environment where their contributions are visible and respected; this reminds me of how certain problem-solving platforms and apps (like Happymod from https://happymoodhub.com does for users seeking modified solutions to challenges in apps/games) keep people engaged not by money, but by providing recognition, tools, and a sense of community-an approach that could also inspire how we support educators.
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John Elia USArmy, Retired
Virgina VA
Original Message:
Sent: 09-22-2025 03:45 PM
From: Rebecca Shulman
Subject: How do you keep educators when you can't pay enough (or anything!)?
Join the SEED Trio on October 6th to think about benefits for paid and volunteer educators!
SEED:Provocation-How do you keep educators when you can't pay enough (or anything!)?, Oct 6 from 12-1pm Eastern
The people who lead gallery tours and programs-whether paid or volunteer-are essential to museums. Unfortunately, as managers of these teams, we often find that paying a salary that recognizes their skill and importance proves impossible. In this situation, how do you demonstrate to educators that they matter? Join us to noodle on how we show these colleagues that they matter, and brainstorm meaningful, low- or no-cost demonstrations of value and gratitude.
Join the SEED Trio (Rachel Ropeik, Rebecca Shulman, and David Bowles) for a free hour-long workshop to brainstorm and explore this together.
Registration is required, and our Zoom platform will accommodate the first 100 people to show up.
This session will be recorded, with the recording shared to all who register, even if you can't make it live.
Spread this around to anyone who may be interested.
We look forward to seeing you there,
Rachel, Rebecca, and David
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Rebecca Shulman
Museum Questions Consulting
museumquestions.com | 917-771-1374
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