Are adult nursing students positive about their teaching staff?
Yes, the tone is supportive overall, but it hides specific friction points that matter for nursing. Across the National Student Survey (NSS), students’ comments about Teaching Staff skew positive, with 78.3% positive, and this sets a strong benchmark for provider teams. Within Adult Nursing across the sector, placements dominate the narrative (20.6% of all comments) and trend slightly negative (index −3.0), while people‑centred touchpoints remain a strength, especially Personal Tutor support (+40.9). Assessment expectations still depress confidence where marking criteria are opaque (−44.2). The category summarises how students experience staff interactions across UK HE, and the subject grouping provides like‑for‑like comparisons for nursing programmes; together they point to practical improvements around clarity, predictability and consistent on‑site support.
Teaching staff play an indispensable role in shaping the academic and professional lives of nursing students. Understanding students’ views helps identify what works and what to fix, especially around support, clarity of the assessment brief and the usefulness of feedback. We analyse student survey evidence and open‑text to inform programme‑level actions that improve learning and placement experiences.
Where does assignment guidance fall short?
Unclear assessment briefs and marking standards undermine students’ ability to plan and perform. Adult nursing comments show that marking criteria trend negative (−44.2), reflecting uncertainty about what constitutes a high standard and how to achieve it. Programmes should provide annotated exemplars, checklist‑style rubrics aligned to learning outcomes, and brief feed‑forward notes that students can action in the next task. Calibrating markers and publishing realistic turnaround expectations reduce perceived arbitrariness.
What makes placements harder than they should be?
Students report that placements are pivotal yet fragile: rota instability, travel/time costs and variable on‑site supervision erode confidence. In adult nursing, placements account for 20.6% of all comments and carry a slightly negative tone (index −3.0). Treat placements as a designed service: confirm site capacity before timetables go live, protect rota windows, and build a short, structured on‑site feedback moment into every placement so students receive timely coaching.
How do students experience online learning in practice?
When modules move online, students value predictable structure, responsive staff presence and a single source of truth for updates. For practice‑heavy subjects, staff can use short video demonstrations, interactive webinars and scheduled virtual office hours to maintain momentum. A weekly “what changed and why” post across all modules prevents confusion from cascading into missed learning.
Why do assessment standards feel inconsistent?
Variable marking and conflicting advice from different staff create uncertainty about expectations. Programmes should align assessment briefs, publish marking criteria in student‑facing language and run internal calibration. Short cross‑marker review meetings before and after the first batch of scripts stabilise standards and improve the usefulness of feedback for the cohort.
How can we build a stronger learning community?
Students describe isolation when contact points feel transactional. Use seminars, peer‑mentoring and cohort‑wide check‑ins to anchor community. Protect the most valued touchpoints: adult nursing students rate Personal Tutor interactions highly (+40.9), so safeguarding time for proactive outreach and signposting can lift perceptions of care while catching issues early.
What mental health support do students need from staff?
High‑pressure placements and shift patterns heighten the need for confident mental health support. Staff development should cover recognising distress, triaging to specialist services and using compassionate communication in feedback and supervision. Embedding routine wellbeing prompts in tutorials and placement debriefs normalises help‑seeking and reduces the burden on individual students to initiate difficult conversations.
How Student Voice Analytics helps you
Student Voice Analytics shows where nursing students praise staff and where delivery frictions bite. It tracks sentiment and themes over time for Teaching Staff and adult nursing programmes, with drill‑downs by cohort and site. You can compare like‑for‑like against the wider subject group, spotlight issues such as placements, organisation and assessment clarity, and export concise summaries for programme meetings, quality boards and placement partners.
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See all-comment coverage, sector benchmarks, and governance packs designed for OfS quality and standards and NSS requirements.
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