Each year, the School surveys its students about their teaching experiences. The survey asks students about their lectures, their classes/seminars, and about their courses overall. The results of these surveys help the School to reward and promote excellent teachers, and to improve the quality of its teaching.
This page explains how the process works. The links on the left-hand side of the page will help you find further information about the School's surveys. If you have any questions about the survey process, please contact TQARO surveys.
How the survey process works:
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The School runs a survey in each of its main teaching terms, Michaelmas and Lent. There are two types of surveys: one about lectures and one about classes/seminars.
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Many students will not be surveyed in all of their courses each term. In the Michaelmas Term, the School surveys classes/seminars taught by Graduate Teaching Assistants. It also surveys classes/seminars taught by permanent staff who teach on a course for the Michaelmas Term only (e.g. because it is a half unit, or because it is a full unit but a new teacher will take over the teaching in the Lent Term). These same arrangements apply to Michaelmas Term lecture surveys.
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In the Lent Term, the School surveys its full unit courses, i.e. lectures and class/seminar teaching by permanent staff who lecture and teach on the same course across the year. It also surveys Lent Term half unit courses, including any Graduate Teaching Assistants who teach on them. It also re-surveys any Graduate Teaching Assistants who performed poorly in the Michaelmas Term survey.
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Each teacher/lecturer will bring a survey pack to the relevant lecture, class or seminar. Your teacher/lecturer will distribute the paper questionnaires, normally during weeks 8-9 of the term.
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Your teacher will read out a set of instructions on how to complete the survey. Please write the course code (and, if a class/seminar survey, the group number) at the top of the questionnaire.
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You will be given about ten minutes to complete the questionnaires; put them in the provided envelope; a designated student should then take them to the drop box in the Student Services Centre where they will be collected by a member of the Teaching Quality Assurance and Review Office for processing.
Examples of changes made to teaching as a result of survey feedback:
Philosophy, Logic and Scientific Method: An essay feedback form was introduced in response to general feedback on surveys. Specialist philosophy classes were introduced in PH101 and PH103 in response to feedback from students taking these courses – not just on surveys but through the Staff-Student forum and other more informal channels.'
Management: 'The department of Management has used feedback from student surveys on our three existing undergraduate degrees in consulting with student representatives on our Staff–Student Liaison Committees in the design of our new BSc in Management. This new degree has thus been designed to remedy students' concerns including a new course on management in the first year.'
Media and Communications: 'The introduction of the non-academic readings in the reading list of the core course MC408 as a response to students' requests for non-academic 'entry points' to the theoretical discussions that drive the course; The introduction of 90 minute seminars in the core course MC408; move to 3 hrs per week feedback and consultation hours (office hours); our teaching exchange sessions to ensure that we meet the teaching needs of students who are both struggling and those who find the learning too easy (in response to the survey q, 'is the level of teaching and learning about right, too hard or too easy?').'
A note on defamation:
The questionnaire gives you the opportunity to write comments about the course and your teacher. Constructive feedback is extremely useful, but please note that it is an offence under the School's Code of Practice on Free Speech and Disciplinary Regulations for Students to make defamatory and/or offensive comments about members of the faculty at LSE.