Alkhemy on SUs: Practically Navigating Student Representation

***Organisations Representing Students (ORS): A collective term we use for Students’ Unions, Associations and Guilds***

Today's newsletter is a “Throwback Thursday” edition... We want to provide a platform for all our newsletter articles that have debated and discussed organisational culture within ORS, particularly when that culture is the result of the unique mix of established staff members and officers working together and thriving. So this is our curated, “Alkhemy on SUs” collection of ramblings and thoughts.

But before we get to this, did you know that Alkhemy has just launched its own Officer Development Programme for ORS??A programme for all year 121 support for full time and part time officers?

Below is a link to a (hopefully) engaging video from me explaining our new programme and laying out our why and how.?

Elevate: Officers offers hands down the best possible value for money when it comes to supporting your elected officers and staff be successful:

• Two hours of monthly 121 support for all FTOs and PTOs
• Membership of Gromentum, our online student leader development platform
• Three days of Alkhemy capacity, spread across the year
• Priority access to our retainer telephone service for all officers and staff
• Free clinical referral service for officers that are struggling or neurodivergent
• Access to Alkhemy’s best rates for other programmes and services

Take a look at the video:

So, below is a list of 16 articles that have come “From the minds of Alkhemists” that talk about ORS (SU) culture and the unique role of democracy and representation. Happy reading:

How should Organisations Representing Students approach mental health and wellbeing? Whether small, large or in between; ORS are multifaceted organisations offering a host of different services and opportunities for their members. With this, there are many different parts to the ways in which a SU will experience, interact and encounter touchpoints with mental health and wellbeing. Take a look (317 views)

Navigating Burnout. This article takes a look at the phenomenon known as "burnout" and spends part of the article zooming in specifically on burnout in organisations representing students. Here we answer the questions “What is burnout?”, “How can we identify it?”, “What are the risk factors for SUs?”, “How can we create cultures that are less conducive to burnout?” (463 views)

What do they even do all day? The duties of sabbatical officers and SU staff. Here we are taking a look at the officer/staff dynamic - looking at the day-to-day duties of sabbatical officers and staff as well as how they may overlap. (408 views)

Calculating the cost of high staff turnover and why we’re reinventing the delivery of student voice and engagement. This is a rambling about the high turnover of student voice and engagement staff in our sector... can we start to look at resourcing the delivery of student voice and engagement differently? (Spoilers, we did and we have!) (498 views)

3 radical ideas from the minds of Alkhemists. This was a bit of fun; 3 radical ideas for people in organisations representing students to think about:

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(446 views)

Are we giving sabbs choice fatigue? As a staff member in an ORS have you ever wondered why it can take sabbatical officers an age to answer your emails? It’s easy and often tempting to blame officers for being “unorganised”, unable to prioritise, or even lazy. But maybe, just maybe we are giving them too many choices? (475 views)

The Developing Brain and Student Leaders. The prefrontal cortex doesn’t reach full maturity until the age of around 25 (or mid twenties), which means young people may sometimes lean more towards impulsive decisions. So how does this impact student leaders and ORS? (480 views)

Groupthink in Students’ Unions. We’ve all heard of “tribalism”, “us vs them mentality”, “in-group bias”, “echo chamber” and “confirmation bias”, right? These behaviours are often somewhat linked to “groupthink”, which ORS can be at risk of developing if we’re not careful. (526 views)

Campaigning Models for SUs. One for campaigners and activists, this article looks at and analyses three different campaigning approaches, and we take a look at them through the lens of Students’ Unions, Associations and Guilds

We are looking at:

??? Advocacy - The expert’s tool

?? Mobilising - Mass movement for immediate action

?? Organising - Grassroots power for sustainable change

(445 views)

Democracy in SU: Is it overrated? ?Our Student Voice Guru, Andrew Bowie, delves deep into the heart of democracy within our student representative systems.

Ever wondered if we might be overdoing it with elections? Or if there's a more streamlined, yet equally democratic, approach? (477 views)

Storms are brewing, but burnout shouldn’t be. Whilst late Autumn/early winter “storming”is seen as an inevitable rite of passage for elected officers, in recent years we’ve noticed a worrying trend with this being conflated with officer burnout. However, burnout should never be seen as “inevitable” in any role and to see burnout as “par for the course” is a very problematic mindset. (556 views)

Rethinking the 'Forming, Storming, Norming, Performing' Paradigm. It turns out that Tuckman’s Model for Team Development that we (the student movement as well as countless other sectors) have adopted as gospel and is a staple of team development theories could actually be a load of old tosh… (514 views)

Change within SU’s: drawing inspiration from unlikely sources. Guest writer, George Blake, takes the reins for this article and contends that SUs often have a narrow scope of reference for change, usually limited to similar organisations - George argues how that may hinder their potential for innovation.(476 views)

Top 10 Sticky Themes Emerging from Alkhemy’s Democracy Review Work. The insights in this article were gleaned from our hands-on experiences with a diverse group of SUs. From addressing challenges such as understanding the roles of Sabbatical Officers to innovating democratic structures under pressure. (563 views)

Are Sabbatical Officers Accountable to SU Staff? This is our most-viewed newsletter article. We delve into the nuance of the staff/officer dynamic. How should we manage sabbatical officer conduct, behaviour and their “professionalism”? (829 views)

Sexual misconduct disciplinary panels, and how to support sabbatical officers who sit on them. In this article, Farrah Alice Black, explores the intricacies of sexual misconduct disciplinary panels and the essential support needed for sabbatical officers involved in these sensitive processes. (530 views)

Our new jobs page! Why does Alkhemy Connect exist? It’s simple: to connect the passionate professionals with the impactful roles that shape the future of student engagement and wellbeing in UK and Irish Higher Education.

Through our various channels, we have a community of thousands: mainly folks working within wellbeing and student engagement.