Respondent profile - Museums Association

Respondent profile

Respondents were asked to reflect on their primary purpose of work and the types of work clustered around different activities.

32%
Curatorial and collections
13%
Education and learning
9%
Front-of-house
9%
Working across all areas of museum practice
6%
Exhibitions and displays
5%
Access and outreach
4%
Marketing and PR
4%
Governance
3%
Operations and facilities
2%
Consultants
with feedback that for many consultants it is harder to identify a single field of work
2%
Conservation
2%
Commercial activities
2%
Fundraising
2%
Finance
2%
Technology and digital
2%
HR
1%
Volunteers
Location of work
75%
England
15%
Scotland
9%
Wales
1%
Northern Ireland
Career stage
<1%
Students
20%
Early career
47%
Mid-career
32%
Senior or established
1%
Retired
Current status
94%
Employed
4%
Freelancers
2%
Volunteers
<1%
Not working

Line management  

We were interested in looking at whether the experience of being a manager influenced workforce wellbeing. 65% of respondents had line management responsibilities.

Demographic profile

Age 
2%
19-24
29%
25-34
34%
35-44
24%
45-54
9%
55-64
2%
65+
Gender
85%
Female
14%
Male
1%
Preferred to self-describe
Disability

18% of respondents disclosed a disability, with 3% indicating they were awaiting a diagnosis.

Neurodiversity

15% of respondents shared their neurodiversity, with 2% indicating they were awaiting a diagnosis.

Race and ethnic origin
82%
British, English, Northern Irish, Scottish or Welsh
11%
Other white
2%
Other mixed or multiple backgrounds
2%
Asian, Asian British, or other Asian
1%
Black, African, Caribbean, or Black British
2%
Other backgrounds
Sexual orientation 
79%
Heterosexual
13%
Bisexual
2%
Lesbian
2%
Gay man
1%
Asexual
1%
Pansexual
15
individuals identified as queer
1%
Uncertain
Class and socio-economic status 

The measures that contribute to this are varied and we included a range in line with the government’s social mobility indicators.

Over 80% of respondents attended a state-run school, selective and non-selective. 11% attended fee paying schools, classed as independent or public schools. The remaining respondents attended school outside the UK. 

Additional measures of class and socio-economic status were also included, and among respondents: 

43%
stated their parents went to university
28%
stated they lived in a household that received benefits
15%
stated they received free school meals

We also explored educational attainment. We acknowledge that we did not use the single most effective measure of class, which is: ‘At the age of 14, describe the sort of work the highest earner in your household did in their main job’. We will adopt this measure in future research.

Religion and belief 
72%
No religion
23%
Christianity
1%
Paganism
1%
Islam

Other religions selected included Judaism, Hinduism, Buddhism, Jain, Sikhism and Spiritualism.

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