Bridget’s Blog: Have your say!
7th May 2025
When I was an associate lecturer at the University of Surrey, one of the modules I directed was Professional Investigation. Students undertaking this module would investigate a topic and write a report, which would form a significant part of their final year mark. The topics were varied, and I have to admit I learnt a lot from what they investigated and reported.
One of the key elements of the process each student undertook was research, and most chose to use a survey to gain understanding from fellow students and the wider public relating to their topic. Of course, some surveys had limited responses to work with, but some received many, which resulted in very interesting data that they could use to draw insightful conclusions.
Getting opinions on a topic really helps to shape your thinking, as can feedback to make decisions. Who hasn’t read the reviews on a product or supplier to help decide whether to make a purchase?!
But why am I telling you this? Well, it’s not just students doing research or useful feedback on a toaster which can be useful, but also the ‘how are we doing’ kind of survey.
As a membership association, Music Mark is all about supporting, connecting and influencing on behalf of our membership. How we do that needs to be shaped by what the membership wants and needs, and whilst we are delighted by the instant feedback we get at the end of a training session or event, the evaluation forms completed after our Conference, or the ad hoc email we get from a member to say thank you, getting a measure of what we do more generally and from a wider pool of respondents really can help us develop our work. We hope that the 2025 Annual Survey will help us to do just that!
Music Mark is also an Investment Principles Support Organisation (IPSO), so we want to ensure we are supporting the music education sector as a whole. Whether you’re a Music Mark member or not, we would value your feedback.
Screenshot from the 2020/21 Annual Review
In our 2020/21 Annual Review, I felt that one of the most exciting pages within it was ‘You said, We did’. This page gave a flavour of what the membership had asked us to do within our Music Mark Annual Survey earlier in the academic year and how we were responding to that feedback. You can find something similar in the 2021/22 review, too.
Feedback is so helpful, and because our survey can be completed anonymously, we hope that you can share your thoughts honestly – we need to know not only what we are doing well, but also what we need to do better. We also value the ideas that come from the survey – those things that we haven’t thought about, but you think Music Mark should be doing!
So now is the time for you to have your say! The Music Mark Annual Survey for 2025 is live, and we’d love to hear from you! It should take less than 10 minutes to complete, and every response will be read and considered as we develop our plans for the future.
Oh, and there are some great prizes from our Industry Partners that you might win if you respond!
