What are students actually saying about Placements fieldwork trips (NSS 2018–2025)?

Students’ comments on placements, fieldwork and trips are broadly positive, but the experience isn’t even. Younger and full‑time students are notably more positive than mature, part‑time and apprenticeship cohorts; tone also varies by ethnicity and CAH subject band.

Scope: UK NSS open‑text comments for this category across academic years 2018–2025.
Volume: 13,023 comments (≈3.4% of all comments); 100.0% with sentiment classification.
Overall mood: 60.6% Positive, 34.8% Negative, 4.6% Neutral (sentiment index +23.1; positive:negative ≈ 1.74:1).

What students are saying in this category

The aggregate tone is moderately positive (+23.1), with three in five comments positive.
Experience differs by life stage: young students are more positive (+28.0) than mature (+12.7).
Mode matters: full‑time is positive (+24.9), while part‑time (+11.2) and apprenticeships (+3.0) are much closer to neutral.
By ethnicity, White students are most positive (+25.9) and Black students least (+8.1), with Asian students in between (+19.3).
Subject mix is broad; the largest volume sits in CAH02 (subjects allied to medicine, 40.2% of placement comments) with a relatively restrained tone (+12.0), whereas several STEM and field disciplines report strongly positive sentiment (e.g., computing +48.6; geography +47.8).

Segment snapshot (selected)

Dimension	Group	Comments	Share %	Positive %	Negative %	Sentiment idx
Overall	All students	13023	100.0	60.6	34.8	23.1
Age	Young	9234	70.9	64.7	30.8	28.0
Age	Mature	3320	25.5	50.8	44.3	12.7
Mode	Full‑time	11767	90.4	61.9	33.6	24.9
Mode	Part‑time	617	4.7	48.5	46.0	11.2
Mode	Apprenticeship	155	1.2	45.2	51.0	3.0
Sex	Female	9229	70.9	58.9	36.6	21.5
Sex	Male	3312	25.4	67.0	28.3	30.9
Disability	Not disabled	10403	79.9	61.6	33.7	24.7
Disability	Disabled	2153	16.5	58.3	37.4	20.5
Ethnicity	White	9576	73.5	62.4	33.1	25.9
Ethnicity	Asian	1021	7.8	56.6	37.5	19.3
Ethnicity	Black	680	5.2	50.7	45.0	8.1

Notes: Sentiment index ranges −100 to +100; higher = more positive. “Share %” is each group’s share of comments within this category.

Subject mix within placements (CAH1, top volume bands)

CAH1 band (selected)	Comments	Share %	Positive %	Negative %	Sentiment idx
(CAH02) subjects allied to medicine	5239	40.2	50.9	43.9	12.0
(CAH01) medicine and dentistry	1742	13.4	60.6	35.2	26.2
(CAH03) biological and sport sciences	758	5.8	78.1	18.9	44.6
(CAH26) geography, earth and environmental studies	729	5.6	79.8	16.0	47.8
(CAH15) social sciences	527	4.0	54.1	41.0	15.5
(CAH17) business and management	376	2.9	70.7	22.6	31.9

What this means in practice

Lock in logistics early: confirm site capacity before timetables, publish a simple “what changed and why” weekly update, and declare a rota freeze window ahead of each block.
Design for non‑standard modes: ring‑fence flexible options and clearer escalation for part‑time and apprenticeship students, whose tone is closest to neutral.
Equity lens on support: schedule proactive check‑ins for mature and Black students; track and resolve placement environment issues quickly.
Mentor readiness, every time: provide a one‑page mentor brief, expected contact rhythm, and a 2‑minute onboarding checklist for each placement start.
Rapid issue loop: capture on‑placement concerns via a QR micro‑form, triage within 48 hours, and publish weekly closure rates by theme.
Reasonable adjustments by default: pre‑agree adjustments with providers and record them against placement allocations so support is in place on day one.

How Student Voice Analytics helps you

Always‑on tracking of placement comments and sentiment, with drill‑downs by mode, age, ethnicity, disability and CAH band.
Like‑for‑like comparisons across CAH codes and demographics, plus custom slices by site/provider, cohort and year.
Concise, anonymised summaries for placement partners and programme teams, with export‑ready tables for quick briefing and action planning.