Who represents the representatives? A student representative’s reflection on the 2023 Symposium Student Fishbowl discussion and recommendations
Author:
Lisa Connolly, Student Senate Co-Chair & Disability and Inclusion Representative (UniSQ), 2023 SVA Student Assistant
Institution employees are able to take a leave of absence in times of great need… but student representatives are still expected to continue working? No pay. No flexibility. No empathy.
Student representatives volunteer to speak for their peers... but who speaks for them?
It was vital to the 2023 SVA Symposium Working Group to create a session that was student focused. This reason two-fold. Firstly, it acknowledged the student part of “Student Voice” or “Students as Partners” or other terms institutions use to describe student representatives, but it also helped create a safe space for students to feel comfortable enough to discuss topics without perceived (or actual) repercussions from practitioner’s. For this reason, the session was not recorded, practitioners were not allowed access to the physical or virtual rooms, and it was highly recommended that all discussions omitted identifiable details.
I found it very interesting that the natural direction of conversation gravitated towards two major concerns:
The lack of payment for student representatives, and
The workload required to be a student representative (when considering all other responsibilities students may have including studying, paid employment, family, etc.).
Student success in gaining remuneration for their role as a student representative also appeared to differ depending on factors such as the state, the size of the university, the approach of students (such as strikes, proposals, public discussions), and the prominence institutions placed on the “public image” they wished to have.
Some students also spoke about despite a passion and joy in being a student representative brings, in busy or stressful times, student rep jobs will fall to the bottom of the list of importance. When this happens, students are seen as “not caring”- which is not true at all.
Relatedly, I found that my dual roles as “Student Representative” and “SVA Employee” resulted in other student representatives contacting me for advice and support in a casual manner. The reasoning behind this was often due to students needing advice, but the power imbalance between student and practitioner at their own institution and SVA was a source of anxiety and fear of repercussions for student representatives. For this reason, I highly suggest that information about the SVA Student Network group is highly marketed towards student representatives. Explicitly stating that this group focuses on peer support, collaboration, and networking across various institutions would be advantageous.
In light of these observations, I recommend that Student Voice Australasia in collaboration with institutions work towards three actionable goals for 2024:
Create a policy on remunerating student representatives.
In the first stage, institutions should share their views of renumerating student representatives, if this is financially feasible for individual institutions, and collaborate with student representatives to create a policy that recommends the remuneration of student representatives for their work.
2. Create a guideline for supporting student representatives.
Both practitioners and student representatives should collaborate in creating and disseminating information on the workload of being a student representative, the other life responsibilities that student representatives have, positive ways that practitioners and institutions can support student representatives, as well as information on how to seek advice in a hierarchical manner i.e. other student representatives, institution practitioners, SVA.
3. Hire a student representative to moderate or lead the SVA Student Network group.
This action will address the dual needs of reducing power imbalances that exist between student/practitioner and student/SVA, as well as remunerating student representatives for their work.