What is the Learner Views Survey?
The Learner Views Survey was launched nationally in 2008/09 by the Learning and Skills Council (LSC) as part of the Framework for Excellence. The Framework underpins a simplified performance assessment system that will help drive up performance across the entire Further Education (FE) sector. Following the succession of the LSC by The Agency and the Young People’s Learning Agency (YPLA), responsibility for The Framework passed to The Agency.
FE Colleges and post-16 education & training providers across England participate in the survey annually to gather the views of their learners on various issues. These issues include the quality of information received by learners at the start of their course, the respect shown to learners by staff and students’ overall satisfaction of their course.
Results generated through this survey are forwarded to your college where they can be used to help shape the learning experience for the better. This year for the first time, results of the previous survey will be published online. This publication of the 2009/10 results will take place on 15th December 2010. This ensures that students and students' unions have access to the results for their college in order to appreciate the overall performance. Furthermore, prospective students will be able to make a more informed choice about what, and where to study. This therefore highlights the increased importance of the survey for colleges in terms of student recruitment.
Impact on the future
The Learner Views Survey offers students an opportunity to impact on the future of the learning experience at their college by ensuring that their experiences and the learner voice is considered a key performance criterion. This is not simply limited to FE colleges, but something that will be recognised across the whole FE sector.
The survey also gives students the opportunity to express their views directly to the body that fund their course. This feedback will be used to generate a performance rating for each college and training provider which will allow for comparisons to be made both locally and nationally. This will help colleges understand the opinions of students relating to college performance and give them the chance to respond to students views by addressing any issues in college development plans. Furthermore, the survey results are analysed by independent research companies which means that responses are anonymous, and that the findings are both reliable and trustworthy.
Students’ unions, colleges and other post-16 education providers should already have begun promoting the survey to students who fall into scope, educating them on the importance and usefulness of completing the survey. It is advised that students complete the survey towards the end of their course so that they are able to give feedback on their entire learning experience. This means that there might be some students who will need to complete the survey within the next month or so, while others might not need to complete it until near the end of the survey period at the end of May 2011.
Throughout the next 6 months, there will be a great amount of work that your college, students’ union, student governors and class reps will be doing to ensure that students complete the survey, that previous results are analysed and that positive changes are made wherever possible.
Get involved
NUS believe that the Learner Views Survey has the potential to provide colleges with valuable quantitative data based on the learner voice. With the data being made public, it not only enables comparisons between FE providers locally and nationally, but it will be valuable to students’ unions as the results will provide evidence which could support learners views expressed through student council, executive, learner voice committees and through representation on college boards.
NUS will be regularly updating its web pages with information regarding the survey and examples of promotion that have been used by other students’ unions and colleges. Information will also be posted regarding the findings of the previous survey on a national basis in the new year.
If you want to become involved with the Learner Views Survey in your college then you should speak to student representatives at your college on how you can help them promote the survey. Furthermore, if you want more information on the survey, the Learner Responsiveness Project that NUS is running around the survey, or if you have any examples of good practice regarding how the Learner Views Survey is being used in your college then we want to hear from you. Send you comments or queries to lvs@nus.org.uk