Comparing staff and student perceptions of the student experience at a new medical school

Aim: The aim was to compare staff and student perceptions of student experience with the UEA MB/BS educational environment. Methods: All MB/BS students were asked to complete a standard course evaluation at the end of the 2005/06 academic year, which included the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure (DREEM). MB/BS teaching staff were asked to complete a revised version of the DREEM. Results: Data from 403 students and 73 teaching staff were compared. The overall DREEM was 144/200 for staff and 141/200 for students. Initial analysis suggested that staff believed that students' were experiencing more positive learning and teaching environments than students actually were, and they viewed the students' social experience as more negative than it actually was. However, staff were unable to comment on number of aspects of the educational environment and scored these as 'unsure'. This distorted the mean values for the subscales. When this was adjudged for, the differences disappeared. Conclusions: Staff did not believe that students were experiencing a perfect educational environment; in most cases their views were closely aligned. But staff's unfamiliarity with aspects of the educational environment suggests a continuing need to provide feedback to staff about students' actual experiences, to enable provision of a better environment for students.