Sarah Boyle, English teacher at Falinge Park High School, has been using student surveys and feedback from the Great Teaching Toolkit to help understand her students’ perspectives of the classroom environment as part of her professional development cycles. We spoke to Sarah to understand the impact the surveys have had in her classroom. Connect with Sarah on LinkedIn and X.
Why did you decide to use the student surveys?
“We know our students really well and as teachers we can recognise things to address, but it can be really helpful to see their perceptions of what is, and isn’t, working. Not only that, it allows the students to take ownership of the classroom and their learning.”
“Using my students’ feedback, I changed my PD focus to improve my use of exit questions – originally my focus was on homework, but my students identified that I needed to do more to help them understand every topic. Therefore, I began to work really hard on relating my exit questions to the learning question of every topic.”
Have you noticed any changes in the classroom following the introduction of student surveys?
“There has been some real value in getting my students to take ownership of their learning and to recognise what is happening in the classroom. The surveys and their feedback have allowed me to have conversations with my students that I previously haven’t been able to have. Speaking to my students to discuss their perspectives has been really powerful – but the students have also recognised that I do want them to succeed and want to motivate them.”
“As a teacher you can think you are the expert, but we have to listen to our students. They are the ones experiencing the teaching. The student surveys put the focus on the teaching, not the teacher.”
“I’ve already seen from my survey results that my students’ motivation to learn has improved.”
Figure 1: Student survey data showing increases in their perceptions of the classroom environment. For each element, data on the left is from the first survey, followed by data from the most recent survey.
What advice would you give to other teachers considering using student surveys?
“My advice is to be brave and do it. Although you can feel vulnerable opening up to student feedback, the trust and insights gained are invaluable. The feedback not only benefits the current class, but all students you will teach in the future.”
“The key is to focus on small, specific changes rather than overhauling your entire practice. Any teacher, at any point in their career, will benefit.”
Find out more on student surveys here.
