Most collections work today happens under constraint — limited staffing, ageing buildings, increasing expectations, and competing priorities. This course starts from that reality.

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This is a practice-informed course about judgement: how decisions are made in collections care when information is incomplete, responsibility is high, and ideal options do not exist.

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The course explores:

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• decision-making under constraint

• how pressure and uncertainty shape judgement, including in emergency and crisis contexts

• why risk in collections care is human before it is technical

• ethical prioritisation and the reality of trade-offs in preparedness, response, and recovery

• the moral load of decision-dense work, and what supports sustainable practice over time

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Who This Course Is For

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This course is relevant for:

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• collections and conservation professionals

• registrars and collection managers

• staff involved in collections moves, building projects, and organisational change

• people contributing to emergency preparedness and response planning

• managers and team leaders supporting decision-making, prioritisation, and accountability

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Session Themes

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Session 1. Working Under Constraint in Collections Care

​A clear starting point: constraint is context, not failure. Participants gain language for recognising where pressure appears in everyday collections work, and why “best practice” often breaks down under real-world limitations.

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Session 2. Risk in Collections Care Is Human Before It Is Technical

​Why formal tools dominate in high-pressure environments — and what they can and cannot carry.

Participants develop a clearer understanding of responsibility, consequence, and the relationship between organisational risk, collection risk, and personal risk.

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Session 3. Decision-Making Under Pressure in Collections Contexts

​How pressure and uncertainty shape judgement. Participants become better able to recognise how thinking narrows under stress, and how team dynamics shift when decisions feel risky, urgent, or difficult to reverse.

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Session 4. Ethical Prioritisation and Preparedness

​Preparedness as capability, not simply documentation. Participants leave with a more grounded understanding of ethical trade-offs, emergency preparedness, and what sustainable collections practice looks like over time.

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What Participants Commonly Take Away

 

Participants commonly leave with:

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• language for pressures that previously felt difficult to articulate

• clearer understanding of how constraint shapes collections practice

• a more realistic relationship with “best practice” under limitation

• improved ability to recognise decision patterns under pressure

• stronger shared understanding of responsibility, escalation, and trade-offs

• reduced self-blame, and more sustainable ways of holding difficult work

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If you need to request internal funding or approval for attending this course, click here for a sample justification document that can be adapted for organisational professional development requests.