A note from the backroom

Most will realise that blogging has not been my highest priority over the last few months. The job of a sabbatical officer is a whirlwind of endless activity, made more difficult by the reality that at best my own activities are opaque and clothed in a seeming veil of secrecy.

As I have mentioned previously the QAA audit has kept me busy. A great deal of my time was taken up with preparing the student written submission, a lengthy and sometimes difficult document. It is to some frustration yet no great surprise that this rather un-sexy activity has not generated any real interest. Any student who wishes to view the document is more then welcome so email me at t.marley@guild.bham.ac.uk Student Reps also remain my key priority, though still to limited success. Five Student Rep college forums were held over the last two weeks. These were not as successful as could have been hoped though there are some successes that can be built upon. The Student Rep system is currently undergoing a major evaluation as the three-year improvement strategy has come to its end.

The job of a sabbatical is an incrementalist, not a revolutionary. We may want change now but there are very few easy wins, in fact someone once said if it wasn't hard it wasn't worth doing.. or something like that. Despite this very few people seem over the moon.

Around two years ago a motion was passed by Guild Council calling on Guild Officers to blog regularly. It also proposed a huge reform of the reports that were presented to Guild Council. That motion was proposed by me and I seem to, two years on, be unable to live up to my own expectation of an officer. Surely I should have been put up for a censure already.

Well here's to getting back to basics and our number one priority (communicating with students) and I'm going to try and start blogging at least once a week.