Will Osborn: ‘Paying Course Reps just isn’t feasible’

Digging around the internet meant I was able to find this post from Will Osborn’s blog; he kindly agreed I could reproduce it as a guest post as part of the ‘Should we pay Course Reps?‘ debate:

Recently, the argument about whether or not course reps should be paid has come to the front of Student Union politics, and I found twitter a bit too limiting to put my thoughts on it together, so here I am.

Firstly, the most basic and boring point. How many Student Unions can really afford, and regulate this? Course reps don’t work set hours and keeping track of when they’re “being a course rep” or being a student would be almost impossible.  Add to that the sheer numbers of course reps that some unions have and it just isn’t feasible to do this on such thin budgets.

Now for the more interesting stuff.

If course reps get paid, not only could that have an impact on how they feedback to the union but, more importantly,  how they’re perceived by the university.

If we pay our course reps, the university may assume there is a sense of bias in what we’re being told by our course reps due to us paying them. This could have a huge impact when we’re trying to change things for the benefit of our students and the university doesn’t take us seriously. If an institution doubts where an SU is getting its facts, it becomes an up hill struggle for change.

Now, I’m not saying that course reps shouldn’t get any sort of recognition or incentives for what they do. Hoodies, socials and events can work well, and can give public recognition for what they do and add a more fun side to their role as course reps. Many Universities and Unions also have an employability scheme of one form or another that allows voluntary work to be counted towards a formal award that can be put on CVs. Course reps need something for the work they do, without them the role of an SU would be a whole lot harder.

I would argue that non-monetary incentives would be better than paying course reps. For a start, social psychology has shown us time and again that paying people to do a job doesn’t work. People feel more engaged and motivated to do things when they feel their work is achieving good and feeling intrinsically motivated. I’m sure course reps feel much better when they can see that their work has made a genuine change for students than when they receive some money in their bank account.

I know that students often need jobs and extra money whilst doing their studies, but there are other ways in which SUs can work to increase student employment and ensure increased participation. I don’t think that paying SU reps and Volunteers is the best way to do so, when we can focus on improving the student experience as a whole without it possibly having a negative impact on the representative role some of our students play.

Will is currently a student at Bangor University, studying for my MSc in Consumer Psychology with Business, as well as Trustee of Bangor Students’ Union. Will tweets as @WillOsborn.

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Are we connected on LinkedIn?

If not, why not? http://uk.linkedin.com/pub/dan-derricott/13/520/a7b

Dan Derricott; Company Formation Agent, Marketing Whizz and Business Advisor

I thought it may be interesting to add some content to this site that focuses on what I do away from the SU, mainly for personal reasons to showcase what I do – but also to give you a better understanding of who I am and what affects how I operate when working at ULSU.

In Lincoln, I work at ASDA Living on the George Department selling everything from the cutest babywear through to support pants for our more mature customers – there isn’t much I can say about this job that’s of interest, except Asda are pretty good to work for and the decent pay comes in handy.

The main focus of this post is on my job in Coventry at Small Firms Services Limited (SFS) as a member of the Client Services Team. SFS are, by trade, Company Formation Agents but also specialise in providing document legalisation services, registered office services, mail forwarding services, company products, company secretary services, template documents, resolutions and a number of business advice websites.

Because of our wide portfolio of products and services, there is a lot to be learnt before you become good at the job and being away for 9 months of the year at college / university really doesn’t help. I’ve managed to settle back in each time I return to the office – bit it is tough when things are forgotten and new laws have been introduced that you’re not familiar with.

But I battle on and as well as dealing with Company Formation though our leading website, Simple Formations, selling services and answering clients questions on the phone; I also get to write content for new websites that are developed to ensure that budding entrepeneurs are equipped with the relevant knowledge – and they also link through to our core collection of money-making websites!

Some of my recent contributions have been to www.directadvice.co.uk (4th on Google for ‘Business Advice’) and www.starting-business.org.uk (in development), as well as a number of microsite posts and article submissions to various external websites.

I’m hoping to be able to dedicate a little more time to writing website content and articles over the next twelve months – whether that be for SFS or independantly. I find that it’s a great reason to do some research on a topic and then write about it for the world to learn from, obviously anything I write isn’t going to get that much coverage at the minute, but as I publish more and develop my SEO skills, I’m sure I can get some attention from somewhere, and who knows… I might make some money at the same time.

For more information about Small Firms Services, please take a look at a couple of their websites:
www.simpleformations.com
www.sfsgo.com
www.simpleonlineshop.com
www.apostille.org.uk

Back to the Blogging…

After quite a long time without posting a new entry, I thought it was about time I updated the thousands of loyal followers my blog gets.

I haven’t posted for a while because it has been manic, the elections had taken over my life and detstroyed my bank balance and then I had to get back onto my degree with a long list of assignments and tests to get through…

The good news is; I was elected And am now: SU Student Officer-Elect (09/10) which is pretty fab, although the new requirment to talk in a more politically corrent manner is proving to be a challenge, but I’m getting better.

It’s all good fun at the minute - with slanderous comments from a student (a situation I’ve become involved with and I have the local Uni Press looking for comments), debates with the Administrative staff in my faculty over the election of Course Reps, the lobbying of MP’s in London over tuition fees, and the build up for NUS’ Annual Conference in Blackpool next week.

On top of the usual Course Reps stuff. We’re now starting to set out the plans and identity of next year’s reformed rep system – which is really good!

Plus, I got to go back to my job in Coventry for a day last week which was good fun and very beneficial to unhealthy overdraft! It was good to get back into business mode and gave me quite a few ideas I could use back in the land of Lincoln.

Nothing to major / interesting / controversial in this blog post, it’s more of an update on what I’ve been doing – Rest assured though; I am thinking of something juicy to add…

the journey to blogging.

Why blog? Why share my life with the world? Does anybody care?

Because I think I’m rather unique in my circle of friends, and I think this might provide some sort of insight into how I think, and what I do in the other half of my life; the Students’ Union half, and similarly to show what kind of person I am to those who I represent. Also… to share my thoughts, on local issues and on ‘more significant’ national / international issues. Does anybody care? Probably not, but you’re reading this now, so that’s a start.

I’m entering the world of student politics, which is new and quite daunting after coming from a background that very much non-political and where the general concensus is that ‘they’re all as bad as each other’. But this doesn’t really encompass what politics is? So I’m new to political aspect of representation, and I am certainly learning a lot, in all fairness; I’m making mistakes as well as achieving a number of successes in my work as a rep for students and I have no doubt that I still have a long long way to go before I confidently understand that whole world of representation and politics.

My loyalty is not with any political party, it is with the students at the University of Lincoln. Simple.

I believe in effective student representation and continue to champion it within my Students’ Union and within my University, hence me standing in the forthcoming elections for the position of Student Officer with a planned portfolio based around representation.

This blog will be a part of my journey, sharing my experiences and my thoughts with all. It won’t just be my experiences as a rep, but also just as a student, as a citizen and as an employee. It will be a chance to explore who I really am, for both the benefit of myself and the readers.

I hope that you will continue to check this page, particularly throughout the elections and please do feel free to get in touch and comment when you feel it necessary.

In unity,
Dan.