Feedback from students has long been used to inform and
measure teaching quality, evaluate courses and provide more
general insight into the learning experience. Whilst student
evaluations of teaching have a long history, it is primarily since
the mid 1990s that inclusion of students’ and pupils’ perspectives
in discussions around educational improvement have really
become championed (e.g. Levin, 1994; Rudduck, Chaplain, &
Wallace, 1996). In higher education in the past decade, the student
evaluative process has escalated dramatically to drive educational
enhancement through use of national-level survey instruments,
such as the UK’s National Student Survey (NSS), the American
National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), and the Dutch
National Student Survey (NSE). As Cook-Sather (2006) concludes,
the ‘student voice’ is now firmly incorporated into the thinking and
vocabulary of educational reform.