Yes, student records are a requirement, and are required to be kept for IIRC, six years. We keep ours at least ten years. They are also considered 'confidential' and are never left lying around or allowed to be seen by all & sundry.
Student records are an integral part of the relationship between the instructors and the student, in addition to ensuring that the syllabus is taught in a time & cost effective way. The minimum that the records should contain IMHO is (quote from SOP's)
"Just one or two words are not acceptable. The comments should include details of whether the exercise is completed, any areas of weakness, any areas that need revision, and also what the student has been advised to read up on for the next sortie. Also anything else relevant to the students progress, such as significant ground school, taxi practice, refuelling and Check A instruction is also required to be recorded. Once the bottom of the page is reached, the student must sign and date the form, as having been made aware of the comments made."
By signing the records, a student can never claim that you didn't tell him/her about areas of weakness or strengths. Also it is an opportune time to ratify the hours in the records against the hours in the students logbook, thereby catching errors early in the training, and not just before test.
Hopefully, this 2-way flow will give a student a greater insight into his progress and allow them to raise any concerns they may have.
Just my 1d worth.
XO