Training in the Conservation of Paintings - Calouste Gulbenkian ...

CONCLUSIONS
engaged. This small addition, however, would represent some five
per cent of the whole force of trained restorers working in public
institutions. We do not believe that it would be realistic to attempt
training on a substantially larger scale at the outset.
Craftsmen
67. Some witnesses have pointed out that the shortage of craftsmen
(museum technician grades) is as serious as the shortage of qualified
restorers themselves. We do not consider, however, that this shortage
can be remedied by the very specialised type of course which we
envisage for the Conservation Institute, though we would expect
the Institute, like other conservation studios, to train and teach its
own craftsmen and technicians.
Basic Course
68. It can be seen from Chapter 4 that Gateshead Technical College
provides a basic two-year course, for which an additional
foundation year is proposed, for four or five students a year. These
students, whether school leavers or graduates (or the equivalent),
qualify for LEA grants. On completion of the course, students
receive a certificate and qualify for advanced training under supervision
in a conservation studio elsewhere.
69. At present, however, there is no advanced course in the country
to which holders of the Gateshead certificate can expect to proceed.
We would therefore advise great caution in setting up any more
basic courses before it is certain that the provision of advanced
training is sufficient to absorb not only the students who may be
trained in the proposed new courses, but also those who will come
to the advanced course with equally valid, though less specialised,
qualifications from art schools, universities or with other experience.
It is true that individual students leaving the course at Gateshead
have, in fact, been accepted for further training at some of the
national museums and galleries, the Ministry of the Environment
and Stuttgart, but the need for a more regular and more assured
advanced training course does not rest only on the prospects of
individual students. The policy governing the basic training course
must depend to a great extent upon the nature of the advanced course
to which it leads; consequently an authoritative central course of
advanced training seems to us essential to the development of the
basic course.
70. Only when such an advanced course is in being, therefore,
would we consider that the time had come to increase the provision