ABSTRACT
Gallery education2 has developed and expanded rapidly in the last ten years. This intensification is due, in part, to the perception by policy makers that galleries, through their education and outreach activities, can have beneficial impacts on social and educational scenarios. Certain galleries within the UK have facilitated learning activities for over twenty-five years and have developed various models of good practice. These are underpinned by particular theoretical understandings of:
the nature of the art object; the role of the educator; the function of the gallery; the relationship of the visitor/spectator/learner to all of these.
