Student Voice Analytics for Learning Disabilities Nursing — UK student feedback 2018–2025
Scope. UK NSS open-text comments for Learning Disabilities Nursing (CAH02-04-08) students across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume. ~409 comments; 97% successfully categorised to a single primary topic.
Overall mood. ≈57.4% Positive, 37.3% Negative, 5.3% Neutral (positive:negative ≈ 1.54:1).
What students are saying
The Learning Disabilities Nursing experience is shaped most by placements. Almost one in four comments focus on Placements/fieldwork/trips (≈23.9% share), a markedly higher emphasis than the sector average. The tone here is net negative (sentiment index around −12.7), well below a generally positive sector baseline for the same topic. Students’ placement reflections often connect to operational themes such as timetabling and communications, and this cluster tends to carry more critical sentiment than the rest of the course experience.
Set against that, people-centred support is a consistent strength. Student support (share ≈11.8%) is strongly positive (index +44.4), and comments about Teaching Staff are very warm (index +69.6). Personal Tutor (+65.1) and Availability of teaching staff (+70.2) are also high points, while Delivery of teaching trends positive where structure and expectations are visible. Students frequently note gains in Personal development (+82.5) and describe Student life positively (+69.9).
In Assessment & feedback, the balance is mixed. Feedback appears in about 4–5% of comments (index +2.7, above sector), while Assessment methods sits near neutral (−0.7, well above sector). A smaller but notably negative signal appears in Marking criteria (index −59.5; lower volume), pointing to the value of clearer criteria and exemplars.
Operational delivery is a secondary narrative thread. Remote learning (5.3% share) is slightly positive here (index +8.5) versus a negative sector picture, suggesting approaches have matured. Scheduling/timetabling carries a negative tone (−17.8), and Organisation & management of course, though lower volume (1.8% share), is strongly negative (−39.4). COVID‑19 is still referenced (5.3% share) with negative tone (−22.8), albeit less negative than the sector.
Top categories by share (Learning Disabilities Nursing vs sector):
| Category | Section | Share % | Sector % | Δ pp | Sentiment idx | Δ vs sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Placements/ fieldwork/ trips | Learning opportunities | 23.9 | 3.4 | +20.5 | −12.7 | −24.5 |
| Student support | Academic support | 11.8 | 6.2 | +5.6 | +44.4 | +31.2 |
| Teaching Staff | The teaching on my course | 8.3 | 6.7 | +1.6 | +69.6 | +34.1 |
| Type and breadth of course content | Learning opportunities | 5.8 | 6.9 | −1.1 | +13.7 | −8.9 |
| Remote learning | The teaching on my course | 5.3 | 3.5 | +1.8 | +8.5 | +17.5 |
| COVID-19 | Others | 5.3 | 3.3 | +1.9 | −22.8 | +10.2 |
| Feedback | Assessment and feedback | 4.3 | 7.3 | −3.0 | +2.7 | +17.8 |
| Delivery of teaching | The teaching on my course | 3.0 | 5.4 | −2.4 | +26.2 | +17.4 |
| Availability of teaching staff | Academic support | 2.8 | 2.1 | +0.7 | +70.2 | +30.9 |
| Student life | Learning community | 2.8 | 3.2 | −0.4 | +69.9 | +37.9 |
Most negative categories (share ≥ 2%)
| Category | Section | Share % | Sector % | Δ pp | Sentiment idx | Δ vs sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| COVID-19 | Others | 5.3 | 3.3 | +1.9 | −22.8 | +10.2 |
| Scheduling/ timetabling | Organisation and management | 2.5 | 2.9 | −0.4 | −17.8 | −1.3 |
| Placements/ fieldwork/ trips | Learning opportunities | 23.9 | 3.4 | +20.5 | −12.7 | −24.5 |
| Communication with supervisor, lecturer, tutor | Academic support | 2.0 | 1.7 | +0.3 | −6.7 | +1.3 |
| Assessment methods | Assessment and feedback | 2.0 | 3.0 | −1.0 | −0.7 | +23.0 |
| Feedback | Assessment and feedback | 4.3 | 7.3 | −3.0 | +2.7 | +17.8 |
| Remote learning | The teaching on my course | 5.3 | 3.5 | +1.8 | +8.5 | +17.5 |
Most positive categories (share ≥ 2%)
| Category | Section | Share % | Sector % | Δ pp | Sentiment idx | Δ vs sector |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Personal development | Learning community | 2.8 | 2.5 | +0.3 | +82.5 | +22.7 |
| Availability of teaching staff | Academic support | 2.8 | 2.1 | +0.7 | +70.2 | +30.9 |
| Student life | Learning community | 2.8 | 3.2 | −0.4 | +69.9 | +37.9 |
| Teaching Staff | The teaching on my course | 8.3 | 6.7 | +1.6 | +69.6 | +34.1 |
| Personal Tutor | Academic support | 2.8 | 3.2 | −0.4 | +65.1 | +46.4 |
| Student support | Academic support | 11.8 | 6.2 | +5.6 | +44.4 | +31.2 |
| Delivery of teaching | The teaching on my course | 3.0 | 5.4 | −2.4 | +26.2 | +17.4 |
What this means in practice
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Treat placements as a designed part of the student journey. Confirm capacity early, publish clear timelines, and keep a single, up‑to‑date source of truth for any changes. Make sure students know who owns placement queries and how to get timely support while on placement.
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Strengthen the operational rhythm. Where scheduling and organisation are pain points, name owners, standardise update cycles, and explain changes plainly. Maintaining the improvements seen in remote delivery (and bringing the best of that approach into on‑campus teaching) will help keep tone positive.
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Make assessment expectations unmistakable. Share marking criteria in plain language, add annotated exemplars, use checklist‑style rubrics, and set realistic, predictable turnaround times for feedback. These simple moves raise perceived fairness and usefulness.
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Keep nurturing the people‑centred strengths. The consistently positive signal around Student support, Teaching Staff and Personal Tutors suggests that visibility, availability and proactive check‑ins are valued and worth protecting.
Data at a glance (2018–2025)
- Highest‑volume topics by share: Placements (≈23.9%), Student support (≈11.8%), Teaching Staff (≈8.3%), Type & breadth of course content (≈5.8%), Remote learning (≈5.3%).
- Delivery & ops cluster (placements, scheduling, organisation, communications, remote learning): ≈34.0% of all comments. Tone is mixed to negative, driven by placements and timetabling.
- People & growth cluster (personal tutor, student support, teaching staff, availability, delivery of teaching, personal development, student life): ≈34.3% of comments with strongly positive tone.
- Topics less present than sector: Module choice/variety (0.5% vs 4.2%), Learning resources overall (1.3% vs 3.8%).
How to read the numbers. Each comment is assigned one primary topic; share is that topic’s proportion of all comments. Sentiment is calculated per sentence and summarised as an index from −100 (more negative than positive) to +100 (more positive than negative), then 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, sentiment and movement by year for Learning Disabilities Nursing and every other discipline across your institution, so teams can focus on the high‑impact categories that matter most.
It also 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 change relative to the right peer group. Segment results by site/provider, cohort or year to target interventions where they will shift sentiment most. Concise, anonymised theme summaries and representative comments make it easy to brief partners and programme teams without trawling thousands of responses. Export‑ready outputs (web, deck, dashboard) support sharing priorities and progress across departments, schools and the wider institution.
