Students’ unions struggle to get students to engage with democracy. At its best, democracy is a sustained conversation with members, where change is a tangible thing that students can see, participate within and influence.
However, the burdens on students’ time and their lack of interest in current SU democratic systems sees student changemaking eroding at a rapid rate and unravelling standard models of leadership and governance.
Students’ ability to make and influence change is often one of the key indicators for a thriving democracy. Having strong democratic systems is important, but so is the culture, conditions and environment that they operate within.
For students’ unions, there are three questions that can help to assess the health of their democratic systems.
Can students see, feel and believe change can happen?
It is exceptionally hard to make change in a vacuum. If students do not see examples of changemaking by their peers, or the countless hours spent by students’ union officers and staff behind the scenes, then students are less likely to have a desire or believe they can make change themselves.
There will always be a small group of dedicated students who go the extra mile and refuse to give up on making the change they want to see, whether this is through SU democracy, campus protests or university campaigns. These students form our talent pipelines for officer roles and students’ union career staff. They are the backbone of student unionism, and we shouldn’t take them for granted.
But more support is needed if students’ unions are to reach wider student populations at their institutions.
Students have different interests and needs, but what brings them together is wanting to feel seen within a democratic system. They want to see examples of representation where their point of view or daily challenges are acknowledged, and where they can put a face on the system which represents their interests.
In practice, this means seeing that officer campaigns are making a genuine difference to their members; unions successfully recruiting students to participate in elections and other changemaking opportunities; and the SU listening to students on the ground and translating that into policy, campaigns and activities.
Crucially, this work needs to be supported by officers and SU staff leaving their desks to engage with students face-to-face.
These engagements can happen with students in cafes, outside the SU, or in general interactions on campus and through hybrid settings. After all, spending five minutes casually speaking to a student on campus might be the only engagement they have with the SU that year. Students feeling they belong as part of the representation system can make a huge difference in how seen they feel by their SU.
Can students be supported to maintain their dedication to making change?
It’s great to see a student’s initial idea survive the ideation stage.
This could be for a new project, campaign or student issue which needs voicing. What a successful student changemaking approach needs from this point onwards is the internal conditions to maintain and grow the idea.
For SUs, this means having a plan of action for how to support and steward a student’s dedication, which could involve self-guided resources, booking in a meeting, or asking them to present their research on the idea.
For the student, they can put together evidence about the problem and how to take it forward, such as gathering other students who would be interested in supporting a campaign.
It cannot be the SU alone who puts in the work if change is going to happen. And SUs want students to be leading the change, not for it to be a staff project.
This means unions having good feedback and support systems for student policy ideas, encouraging students’ skills, initiative and independence in advocating for change and officers who listen and bring student policy ideas to democratic forums.
Are students equipped with the necessary skills and knowledge to sustain change?
Changemaking when done well requires a learning mindset with a dedication to listening and dialogue. Often it is not quick, and the largest room for development can come from students’ capacity to fail and try again.
SUs should consider how they are facilitating an environment where students can learn, reflect and move on from setbacks and barriers. The first setback in a campaign isn’t the end point, as SUs know but students may not.
SUs can support through training on key skills such as communication, leadership, planning and organising. It also means being realistic with students on what is possible for them to achieve to create the change they are looking to make in the short and long-term. Legacy mapping is a great way to engage reps, officers and student leaders with setting the foundations for success, and supports students to think about how their change can carry on beyond them.
Providing check-ins, mapping key actions and creating targets for the change which students are looking to make can help with this, but students need to take some ownership and accountability as part of this process too.
Change is hard
We know change is hard, particularly when dealing with systems, people or issues of identity.
The outcomes are always going to be better for students if they know it’s going to be hard and choose to do it anyway, versus expecting a quick win and getting demotivated midway through a project or campaign.
Students should understand the cost of change to the union as well. What resources and staff time will the campaign require? Where can unions facilitate and enable students to lead campaigns, and what support will be provided for this?
Changemaking requires cooperation, mutual trust and strong partnerships.
If we want to prepare students to be active citizens beyond graduation, let’s be honest with student leaders about what change means, what it will take to get there and how the union can support.
SUs can cheer, champion and advocate, but if we want students to be leaders, space has to be made for that too, especially when it’s hard. It’s in these challenges where a student’s development and leadership skills can thrive, and where students can most notably feel the power they have to make genuine change.
