MusLi (Museums Literacy) - Fondazione Fitzcarraldo

MusLi - No qualifications needed: museums and new audiences
United Kingdom
Renaissance is the MLA’s ground-breaking programme to transform England’s regional museums.
Central government funding is enabling regional museums across the country to raise their standards
and deliver real results in support of education, learning, community development and economic regeneration.
The programme has received £300million since 2002, helping to make our museums great
centres of longlife learning, which people want to visit.
In 2006 the Final results of a Visitors Exit Survey of the museums involved in the Renaissance programme
were published. As to the educational qualifications of visitors, the report shows what follows.
The balance of visitors educated to different levels remains consistent with previous years. Just under
half of all visitors hold a degree (46%), with those holding an undergraduate degree up by one percentage
point from 27% in 2004 to 28%. One in five visitors are educated up to A-Level and almost a
quarter up to GCSEs - General Certificate of Secondary Education 1 (23%).
Older people aged 55+ (33%), C2DEs (53%), visitors of white origin (24%) those with children in their
visiting party (28%) and visitors classified under the PSA 2 target group (58%) are the most likely to be
educated up to GCSE level. At the other end of the scale, visitors who hold a degree tend to be middle
aged (35-54 years 53%), ABC1s (57%), of BME origin (51% of BME visitors), to visit without children
(48%) and be on a repeat visit to the museum or gallery in the last 12 months (48%).
While over 55s are just as likely as visitors aged 16-34 to have completed a degree, they are also significantly
more likely than any other age group to have left school without any formal qualification i.e.
before completing GCSEs (21%).
Those visitors who are still in education tend to be young (21% of those aged 16-34), but also include
a larger than average proportion of people of BME origin (15%).
Continuing the trend of the past two years, London and the South East have the highest regional proportion
of university/degree-educated visitors (56% and 55% respectively). In contrast, the North East
has the highest proportion of visitors educated up to GCSE (37%) and A-Levels (25%). In fact, almost
one in five visitors to museums and galleries in this region left school before completing their GCSEs
(18%), which, in most cases, is twice as high as in other regions. A survey conducted amongst the
British general public in 2004, also found that the North East had the lowest proportion of people who
held degree qualifications (9% vs. GB average of 19%). While in 2004 museums and galleries in the
East Midlands (10%), Yorkshire and South East (both 9%) all attracted significantly higher than average
proportions of current students, this year, just the East Midlands does so (11%).
1 GCSEs (General Certificate of Secondary Education) are usually taken by 14 to 16 year olds.
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