1 in 5 comments focus on placements — what 9,013 adult nursing students say
Scope. UK NSS open‑text comments for Adult Nursing (CAH02-04-02) students across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume. ~9,013 comments; 98% successfully categorised to a single primary topic.
Overall mood. 51.7% Positive, 44.8% Negative, 3.4% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 1.15:1).
What students are saying
The dominant theme is placements/fieldwork: just over one in five comments (20.6%) are about this area. Tone is slightly negative overall (index −3.0) and notably below the sector on the same topic (−14.8 vs sector), pointing to recurring pain points around rota stability, travel/time costs, and on‑site support and feedback.
Beyond placements, students focus on the operational mechanics of delivery. When you group Scheduling/timetabling, Organisation & management of course, Communication about course & teaching, and Remote learning with Placements, this delivery & operations cluster accounts for 35.8% of all comments. These topics consistently lean negative relative to sector, reflecting a desire for predictability, clear ownership and a single source of truth for changes.
Set against that, people‑centred support is a strength. Personal Tutor stands out with a strongly positive index (+40.9) and is well above sector (+22.2). Student support is also positive (+14.1), as are Teaching Staff (+31.3) and Delivery of teaching (+13.5, above sector). Students also point to personal development gains (+62.3, above sector), and Library receives a notably positive rating (+40.6, well above sector).
Assessment and feedback remains a friction point. Feedback (4.5% share, −21.8), Marking criteria (2.8%, −44.2) and, to a lesser extent, Assessment methods (1.7%, −20.0) trend negative. The pattern mirrors a familiar story: unclear expectations, limited exemplars/rubrics, and unpredictable turnaround times depress perceived fairness and usefulness.
Several topics are less prominent here than in the wider sector: Module choice/variety (0.7% vs 4.2% sector) and Learning resources (1.4% vs 3.8%) by volume, for example. The distribution underlines that day‑to‑day delivery and placements dominate the student experience more than optionality or general facilities.
Top categories by share (Adult Nursing vs sector)
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Placements/ fieldwork/ trips |
Learning opportunities |
20.6 |
3.4 |
17.1 |
-3.0 |
-14.8 |
| Student support |
Academic support |
8.7 |
6.2 |
2.5 |
14.1 |
0.9 |
| Personal Tutor |
Academic support |
5.0 |
3.2 |
1.8 |
40.9 |
22.2 |
| Teaching Staff |
The teaching on my course |
4.8 |
6.7 |
-1.9 |
31.3 |
-4.2 |
| Remote learning |
The teaching on my course |
4.7 |
3.5 |
1.2 |
-14.5 |
-5.5 |
| Feedback |
Assessment and feedback |
4.5 |
7.3 |
-2.8 |
-21.8 |
-6.8 |
| COVID-19 |
Others |
4.5 |
3.3 |
1.1 |
-31.3 |
1.6 |
| Type and breadth of course content |
Learning opportunities |
4.2 |
6.9 |
-2.7 |
18.1 |
-4.5 |
| Scheduling/ timetabling |
Organisation and management |
4.0 |
2.9 |
1.1 |
-22.5 |
-6.0 |
| Delivery of teaching |
The teaching on my course |
3.7 |
5.4 |
-1.7 |
13.5 |
4.7 |
Most negative categories (share ≥ 2%)
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Communication about course and teaching |
Organisation and management |
2.9 |
1.7 |
1.2 |
-50.1 |
-14.3 |
| Marking criteria |
Assessment and feedback |
2.8 |
3.5 |
-0.8 |
-44.2 |
1.5 |
| COVID-19 |
Others |
4.5 |
3.3 |
1.1 |
-31.3 |
1.6 |
| Organisation, management of course |
Organisation and management |
3.6 |
3.3 |
0.2 |
-28.4 |
-14.4 |
| Scheduling/ timetabling |
Organisation and management |
4.0 |
2.9 |
1.1 |
-22.5 |
-6.0 |
| Feedback |
Assessment and feedback |
4.5 |
7.3 |
-2.8 |
-21.8 |
-6.8 |
| Remote learning |
The teaching on my course |
4.7 |
3.5 |
1.2 |
-14.5 |
-5.5 |
Most positive categories (share ≥ 2%)
| Category |
Section |
Share % |
Sector % |
Δ pp |
Sentiment idx |
Δ vs sector |
| Personal development |
Learning community |
3.0 |
2.5 |
0.6 |
62.3 |
2.5 |
| Personal Tutor |
Academic support |
5.0 |
3.2 |
1.8 |
40.9 |
22.2 |
| Library |
Learning resources |
2.1 |
1.8 |
0.3 |
40.6 |
13.8 |
| Student life |
Learning community |
2.9 |
3.2 |
-0.3 |
36.2 |
4.1 |
| Teaching Staff |
The teaching on my course |
4.8 |
6.7 |
-1.9 |
31.3 |
-4.2 |
| Type and breadth of course content |
Learning opportunities |
4.2 |
6.9 |
-2.7 |
18.1 |
-4.5 |
| Student support |
Academic support |
8.7 |
6.2 |
2.5 |
14.1 |
0.9 |
What this means in practice
-
Treat placements/fieldwork as a designed service. Confirm site capacity before timetables go live, publish and protect rota windows (“no surprises”), and make a short, structured on‑site feedback moment part of every placement. Clear pre‑placement information on travel/time expectations reduces frustration.
-
Tighten the operational rhythm. Name an owner for scheduling/organisation, use a single source of truth for changes, and send a short weekly “what changed and why” update. These simple habits improve perceptions of organisation, communication and remote learning in one move.
-
Prioritise assessment clarity. Provide annotated exemplars, checklist‑style rubrics and realistic turnaround SLAs. Calibrate markers and use brief feed‑forward notes so students can see what “good” looks like and how to get there.
-
Keep investing in people‑centred touchpoints. Protect Personal Tutor time, celebrate effective teaching practice, and maintain Library visibility where students are already positive.
Data at a glance (2018–2025)
- Highest‑volume topics by share: Placements/fieldwork (20.6%), Student support (8.7%), Personal Tutor (5.0%), Teaching Staff (4.8%), Remote learning (4.7%), Feedback (4.5%), COVID‑19 (4.5%), Type & breadth of content (4.2%).
- Delivery & ops cluster (Placements, Scheduling, Organisation & management, Communication about course & teaching, Remote learning): 35.8% of all comments; generally below sector on tone.
- People & growth cluster (Personal Tutor, Student support, Teaching Staff, Delivery of teaching, Personal development, Student life, Availability of teaching staff): 29.9% of comments; strongly positive overall, with standout indices for Personal Tutor (+40.9) and Personal development (+62.3).
- How to read the numbers. Each comment is assigned one primary topic; share is that topic’s proportion of all comments. Sentiment is summarised as an index from −100 (more negative than positive) to +100 (more positive than negative), averaged per category. Sector columns show like‑for‑like benchmarks for the same topics.
How Student Voice Analytics helps you
Student Voice Analytics turns open‑text feedback into clear, prioritised actions. It tracks topics and sentiment over time (by year), from whole‑institution level down to schools, departments and individual programmes, so teams can focus on high‑impact areas like Placements, Scheduling, Organisation, Communications and Feedback. It also produces concise, anonymised theme summaries and representative comments to brief programme teams and external partners without combing through thousands of responses.
Crucially, it enables like‑for‑like sector comparisons across CAH codes and by demographics (e.g., year of study, domicile, mode of study, campus/site, commuter status). You can segment by site/provider, placement location, cohort and year to target interventions where they will move sentiment most. Export‑ready outputs (dashboards, slide decks, web summaries) make it easy to share priorities and progress across the institution.