Müzeler kurulduğu yıllardan itibaren eğitim amacını taşımışlardır. Ancak müzelerde eğitim toplum yaşamına, eğitim ve müzecilik teorilerine göre farklı dönemlerde farklı anlam ve roller üstlenmiştir. Bu çalışmanın amacı, müzelerde eğitimin gelişimini ana hatlarıyla tarihsel perspektif içinde değerlendirmektir. Müze bir kurum olarak Avrupa’da mevcut koleksiyonların ziyarete açılmasıyla ortaya çıkmıştır. Müzelerin halka yönelik eğitim misyonuyla kurulmaları, halka açılmalarıyla başlamıştır. 19. yüzyılda müze ve eğitim ilişkisi Endüstri Devrimi’nin etkileriyle gelişmiştir. Bu dönemde doğrudan eğitim amacıyla pek çok müze kurulmuştur. Müze eğitimi 19. ve 20. yüzyılın ilk yarısı boyunca izleyiciye bilgi aktarımı ve öğrenenin olabildiğince çok bilgiyi alması olarak görülmüştür. Fakat 20. yüzyılın ikinci yarısından başlayarak müzelerde eğitimin anlamı tamamen değişmiştir. Bu dönemde müze eğitiminde bilimsel yaklaşım önem kazanmıştır. Bunun en büyük etkenlerinden biri UNESCO ve ICOM gibi uluslararası organizasyonların kurulmasıdır. 20. yüzyılda müze eğitimine yaşanan diğer önemli bir gelişme, 1950’lere kadar daha çok okul gruplarına yönelik çalışmalara ağırlık verilirken, 1950 sonrasında yetişkin izleyiciye yönelik çalışmalara da önem verilmeye başlamasıdır. Günümüzde eğitim müzelerin temel işlevleri arasında kabul edilmekte; müze eğitimi insanların var olan bilgi, yetenek ve kişisel ilgilerine göre müze koleksiyonlarından deneyim kazanmalarını, kendi anlamlarını çıkarmalarını sağlama ve yaşam boyu eğitimlerine katkıda bulunma süreci anlamını taşımaktadır. Pek çok müzede eğitim bölümü diğer bölümlerden ayrı bir birim olarak yer almakta, farklı izleyici türlerinin ilgi ve ihtiyaçlarına göre formal ve informal eğitime katkıda bulun çeşitli eğitim etkinlikleri sunulmakta, değerlendirilmekte ve geliştirilmektedir. Anahtar Kelimeler: Müze eğitimi, müze eğitiminin tarihçesi, müzecilik.Museums are institutions which have educational aims since the first museums had been estab-lished. The meaning and role of the education in museums change according to life of the society which is formed by the artistic, scientific, technologic and social developments and theories of education and museology in different periods of time. The aim of this study is to explain the development of the museum education on the main lines with a historical perspective. Before modern museums developed, different societies preserved objects and collections they held important. Museums in the modern sense developed in Europe in the 17th century with the opening of private collections of courtiers and gentlemen to visit. Museums have been accepted among the most important institutions as the source of knowledge during the Age of Enlight-enment. These first museums were educational environments for the members of the bourgeois to learn their country and the world and to increase their level of knowledge. Education as a crucial museum function has been recognized as long as there have been public museums. The first public museum, the Louvre Museum, opened in 1793. It formed an integral part of the newly democratic state. After the opening of the Louvre museum a lot of public museums established in Europe. In these museums education carried a political meaning such as transferring the information and values determined by the government to educate the people as citizens. In the 19th Century the relation between museums and education was developed with the influences of the Industrial Revolution. In the latter half of the 19th century, as industrialization progressed, population moved to the cities, and science and industry reshaped life. Moreover, government increasingly took responsibility for social services and education. Museums were viewed as one type of institution among several ones that could provide education for masses. Many museums were established for direct and explicit educational purposes. Since the begin-ning of the 19th century the museums have been serving schools. Educational programs for children and school groups gained importance in the museum education, until the 1950's. The relation between the school and the museums especially developed after the 1950's. During the 19th century and much of the twentieth, education in museums was mainly understood as delivery of information to learners whose task was ab-sorbing as much as possible. But it has been completely changed since the twentieth century. At the second half of the 20th century scientific approach gained importance in the museum education. One of the most important reasons of this is the establishment of organizations like UNESCO and ICOM. The activities and publications of these institutions lead to establish international standards and to create the environment of discussion and sharing information in museum education. In the definition of museum declared at 11th General Conference of ICOM held on Copenhagen at 1974 education accepted one of the main functions of museums: A museum is a non-profit making, permanent institution in the service of society and of its development, and open to the public, which acquires, conserves, researches, communicates and exhibits, for purposes of study, education and enjoyment, material evi-dence of man and their environment. Another im-portant development in the museum education in the 20th century is the increasing importance of educational programs for adults. One of the main factors of this is the appearance of the concept of "lifelong learning". Since the mid-20th century the museum education discipline has been appeared in museum studies. Today, education in museums has been under-stood as the process which enables people to make their own meanings from museum collec-tions according to their existing knowledge, skills, background and personal motivation, and this provides them to develop their lifelong education. In many museums, education department takes place as an independent department, and many museums organize and present various educational activities according to the needs of different visitor groups such as children, adults, teenagers, etc. In Turkey the museum education has been developing for the last twenty years. Museum exhibitions are generally designed as object based without any educational purpose and there are very few numbers of educational programs in Turkish Museums. It is needed to develop the educational function, which will contribute to the education and culture of the public in Turkish museums.Keywords: Museum education, history of museum education, museum studies
