Student Voice Analytics for Counselling Psychotherapy and Occupational Therapy — UK student feedback 2018–2025

Scope. UK NSS open‑text comments for Counselling Psychotherapy and Occupational Therapy (CAH02-06-07) students across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume. ~998 comments; 98.3% successfully categorised to a single primary topic.
Overall mood. Roughly 52.9% Positive, 43.9% Negative, 3.2% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 1.20:1).

What students are saying

Students’ written feedback centres on applied learning. Placements and fieldwork dominate at 16.8% of all comments—well above the sector share—and carry a mildly negative tone (index −8.0) that sits below sector on sentiment. Around this, the operational mechanics of the course loom large: scheduling (4.5%, index −34.4), overall organisation and management (4.0%, −25.4), and remote learning (4.6%, −7.5) together indicate that predictability and clear processes are pivotal. Although smaller by volume, course communications (1.8%, −54.3) is notably negative.

Set against those frictions, people‑centred support is a clear strength. Comments about Personal Tutors are strongly positive (index +58.7, well above sector), with broader Student support also positive (+21.3). Teaching Staff are viewed warmly (+34.4) and Delivery of teaching trends positive (+12.6). Students report gains in Personal development (+60.7) and a positive Student life (+64.1). Library mentions, while modest in share (2.3%), are very positive (+51.4).

Assessment and feedback show a familiar pattern. Feedback itself draws a small share (2.8%) and is mildly negative (−7.0), while Marking criteria is more sharply negative (2.5%, −44.9), indicating that clarity of expectations still matters. Assessment methods (1.9%, −12.7) attract fewer comments but show room to improve transparency and alignment.

Some topics are less present than in the wider sector—Module choice/variety (1.6% vs sector 4.2%) and overall Learning resources (0.6% vs sector 3.8%)—suggesting the day‑to‑day learning experience is shaped more by placements and course operations than by optionality or facilities. A cross‑cutting friction is Costs/Value for money (2.0%, −67.3), which is both strongly negative and below the sector tone.

Top categories by share (discipline vs sector)

Most negative categories (share ≥ 2%)

Shares are the proportion of all Counselling Psychotherapy and Occupational Therapy comments whose primary topic is the category. Sentiment index ranges from −100 (more negative than positive) to +100 (more positive than negative).

Most positive categories (share ≥ 2%)

What this means in practice

• Treat placements and fieldwork as a designed service. Publish clear allocation and rota windows, confirm expectations early, and make roles for supervision and feedback explicit. Where placements are predictable and well‑briefed, adjacent categories (scheduling, organisation, communications) tend to improve too.

• Tighten the operational rhythm. A single source of truth for course communications, weekly “what changed and why” updates, and visible ownership of timetables and changes reduce friction. This matters given the current tone in scheduling (−34.4) and organisation (−25.4).

• Make assessment expectations transparent. Use annotated exemplars, checklist‑style rubrics aligned to marking criteria, and set realistic SLAs for feedback turnaround. This directly targets weaker areas such as Marking criteria (−44.9) and supports more constructive feedback conversations.

• Acknowledge value concerns. Where Costs/Value for money is in play (−67.3), offer a clear breakdown of what students can expect—teaching contact, support access, facilities—and show how resources are being focused on the areas students value most.

Data at a glance (2018–2025)

• Top topics by share: Placements/fieldwork (≈16.8%), Student support (≈6.9%), Teaching Staff (≈6.4%), COVID‑19 (≈5.1%), Remote learning (≈4.6%), Scheduling/timetabling (≈4.5%).
• Cluster view:
  • Delivery & ops (placements, scheduling, organisation, comms, remote): ≈31.7% of all comments, with a generally negative tone vs sector (e.g., scheduling −34.4; organisation −25.4; comms −54.3, small share; remote −7.5).
  • People & growth (personal tutor, student support, teaching staff, delivery of teaching, personal development, student life, availability): ≈28.4% of comments, strongly positive overall (e.g., Personal Tutor +58.7; Student life +64.1; Personal development +60.7).
• 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) and averaged at category level.

How Student Voice Analytics helps you

Student Voice Analytics turns open‑text survey comments into clear priorities you can act on. It tracks topics and sentiment over time (by year) so programme, school and faculty teams can see exactly where to focus—placements and operations, assessment clarity, or student support—and whether changes are working.

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), so you can evidence improvement against the right peer group, not just the whole sector. You can analyse at whole‑institution level or drill down to departments and schools, segment by site/provider, cohort and year, and generate concise, anonymised theme summaries for partners and programme teams. Export‑ready outputs (web, deck, dashboard) make it straightforward to share priorities and progress across the institution.