This morning I read a report about creative disciplines and the NSS. It posited the notion that the questions in the NSS are perhaps not best suited to the pedagogy of creative practices. Creative practices did not fair too well in areas such as ‘organisation and management’ and, reflecting most disciplines, ‘feedback and assessment’. It raised questions as to whether the nature of practice-led degrees, such as Fine Art, where students pursue a largely self-initiated and directed (albeit supported) path of learning, within a structure less rigid than traditional academic counterparts means that they seem less organised and managed. Often tutors arrange their own teaching with individual or groups of students, and cross-year activity, which can take some negotiation, can happen at flexible times. A general undertone throughout was the need to better communicate to students about both the what the NSS is, but also what we do and why we do it. The more surprising one is perhaps feedback and assessment given that the basic pedagogy of studio-based teaching is, in one way or another, driven by iterative feedback whether that be through crits, one-on-one tutorials with staff or visitors, peer discussion, ‘studio cruising’, or the more traditional lecture and seminar formats. This chimes with some of our own research which is indicating a varied perspective of what constitutes feedback amongst staff and students, and also the need to better discuss with students what both staff and students expect from feedback. A recurring refrain is the need for better communication. In order to explore this further, we’re in the process of arranging a feedback workshop for our new Stage 1 cohort on a self-selecting basis to look at issues such as feedback, assessment criteria, and assessment processes. We’re interested in gauging opinions on feedback/assessment at the outset, then running them through a mock assessment exercise (including the compilation of feedback) and then seeing if the exercise changes expectations.