Education Officer

Alex Stanley

Hi, I’m Alex. I’m a third year PPE student and I’m running for Education Officer. In my spare time I’m the General Secretary of the Labour Society, I am also a member of the Futsal team. A lot of what I do is very much based on student activism; I’m involved in the £2 meal deal campaign, I was also on the picket line earlier today so yeah very much orientated around student activism and how I can help students at the University.

WHAT MADE YOU WANT TO BE education officer?

So primarily I think the first thing that comes to mind was the University’s decision to bring self-certification mitigation from seven days back to three so that’s something that really sparked my interest. I actually spoke to Jack (current VP education) about that earlier in the year and he recommended I think about running and from there I’ve realised that I just don’t think the University is doing enough for students’ education. In fact we’ve taken steps back, so it’s all about just coming up with clear policies on how I can help improve the lives of students.

what do you think the responsibilities of education officer are?

Obviously sitting in meetings with the Vice-Chancellor and other key figures, but I also think it’s important that I haven’t clear strategy. I know the Guild are very much focused on the idea of the individual, but I want to talk about what I would do if I got elected and what I want to make sure is that I’m putting forward policies that are actually affordable and that I can argue for when I go into these big meetings. I’m focusing on six key main pledges: Bring self-certification mitigation back up to seven days, scrap Saturday exams, introduce a fairer late submissions policy, include an opt-out option for exams or modules where that’s possible, include part time jobs as evidence for mitigation, and bring in new trained academic wellbeing officers.

how will you bridge the gap in attainment between students from different backgrounds?

how would you have supported students during the ucu strikes?

What is your BIGGEST WEAKNESS?

What is your MOST MEMORABLE NIGHT OUT IN EXETER?

I went to state school my entire life, I’m from East London and never went to private school. If we look at the pledges for instance, I had a part time job throughout second year and I really, really struggled with that meaning I didn’t do as well as I did in first year or as well as I’m doing this year. So, for me it is really important that people are not disadvantaged because of their economic background. I think the Guild have done a good job in lobbying the University for a hardship fund, but I do think that the part time jobs as evidence for mitigation could really help with this because I just felt so much pressure in terms of managing my time with work and university deadlines.

Okay so my personal position this time round has been that I support the strikes since I think university staff have not been treated well by the University. At the same time, I recognise that not everyone will agree with me, so I would recommend that the University has a referendum, for students, on whether they should be supporting the strikes or not. At the end of the day the job of the Students Guild is to listen to students.

Biggest weakness? That’s a good one! I would say, that sometimes, I probably take on a bit too much and I need to get better in terms of prioritising. I very much like to involve myself in all the activism, sports, and societies, but at the same time that can get a bit overwhelming especially going into a role like this. It would be useful to have a better understanding of time management and what I should be prioritising to help students.

So, I played in five aside league last year and my team managed to get promoted on the last day of the season and that also happened to be the same day Exeter City got promoted. I remember going to TP and bumping into loads of the players and that was just completely surreal you know. Venom in one hand, taking a selfie with the other! That was fun!