Charging Schools: Why and How? A 2024 snapshot of…

This research is a snapshot of the charging models at Museums and Galleries across the UK in 2024. As schools and the cultural sector face a challenging economic climate, the National Portrait Gallery asked Flow Associates to undertake research into current charging models for school visits across the museum and gallery sector to inform their own work.  They have kindly agreed for us to share a summary of the research to support the sector as a whole in understanding the approaches taken by organisations to ensure both equitable access to cultural education, and the drivers for financial sustainability.

This will be a helpful document to enable my powers that be to understand why we need to be careful with price rises for educational bookings.” Museum educator in response to our Facebook post in ‘Learning in Museums and Galleries’

We wanted to understand the following:

• What charging models exist in Museums and Galleries for Primary school, Secondary school, College and Special school visits?
• How much do they charge? Are concessions made/bursaries given to e.g. for schools with high pupil premium?
• How much do other, comparable Museums and Galleries charge and what are they charging for?
• By charging schools can you cover ‘real’ costs?
• Is charging likely to be a barrier for schools in general and/or for particular types of school?
• How might charging for schools impact negatively on Museums and Galleries?

Download PDF “Charging Schools: Why and How?”

As this paper emerged from research for its commissioner, the National Portrait Gallery, our comparitive review looked at the learning programs offered by 22 Museums and Galleries and selected organisations that were either National Museums as designated by parliament, or based in London and therefore catering to a similar demographic. Our focus here was on museums and galleries which are free to the public, and the majority have charges for special events and exhibitions. We included two relevant london galleries who charge general public for entry, the Photographers gallery and the Dulwich Picture Gallery. Both offer free entry for schools. In addition we ran a quick review of a further 19 organisations to establish whether or not they charge schools for their programmes.

An open online survey to members of the Group for Education in Museums network, saw contributions from a further 61 organisations and we have included their anonymised responses in this paper.