Education Officer Blog

I wont lie to you dear reader, I had the worst time trying to make up a pun that somehow covered:

1. Officers not getting summer off although people are convinced we do
2. The absolute rollercoaster that is no students but still work
3. The absolute catharsis that comes from writing a trustee report and going “wait, I DID actually do stuff this summer”

So I have come up empty handed instead ? Anyway, in a total quickfire round, here is a taste of what I’ve been up to:

Forming the Top 10

It has been super to see how we can meld together the enthusiasm and current student body experience of the new officers with the institutional knowledge of the continuing officers

DAP (Disability Access Plan) paper

Presented a paper to Education Board on the current state of DAPs at the university, including research from students about non-adherence. This has been a true labour of love due to the sensitive information and concerns of students, and is being used, alongside anonymised student case studies, to help inform University work on developing an inclusive learning and teaching policy following the Abrahart ruling.

Graduations!

I was in the procession for half of the summer graduations and spoke at half of those. Each speech was personalised to the cohort including puns like “Higgs Booze-On” and an impersonation of my mother to try and encourage parents to cheer – it worked wonderfully.

There have already been some wins for graduation ceremonies, including free gowns for bursary holders of any kind, and we are currently considering what we can do for our trans students in collaboration with the LGBT+ society - we know the possibility of being deadnamed is a concern for our students, and it is something both me and Community Officer Benji are super passionate about, so watch this space !

Curriculum Transformation (CT)

Currently working with the CT team to ensure that students have appropriate communications, and also taking up student cases e.g., for those coming from placement or suspension.

SSLC themes/ Academic Rep Handovers / Plain Language Guides

Using data lovingly collated by our Student Voice Co-ordinator George, I have been making handover documents for reps so they know what were relevant issues the last year at both a departmental and faculty level. These are also feeding into what I make into ‘Plain English’ guides, which will be way more approachable than current University guidance and will also have visual equivalents to ensure they can share them in group chats.

Meeting other officers!

We have met with UCL, Bath Spa, and been to a south-west meet-up. I have also been in contact with, and mapping out, Education Officers across the country to work out where our common interests lie.

Well, I will keep it at that so it is short and sweet – I hope y’all are having a wonderful summer, and I can’t wait to see you soon !