Working with College Sabbatical Officers:Developing Professional Relationships

This training event was aimed at all college staff whose roles involve working directly with sabbatical officers, whether as students’ association staff, line managers of those staff, or management or teaching staff who work with officers as part of their role. This training was designed to enable them to explore effective approaches to developing a professional and productive working relationship with their sabbatical officer.

From August 2013 almost all colleges in Scotland will have one or more sabbatical officers. The training gave participants the chance to explore key approaches to developing professional, productive working relationships with sabbatical officers. 

Empowering elected student officers to carry out their roles, without managing them in the traditional sense is both challenging and rewarding.  Student officers are the recognised leaders of the student body but they are also learning and developing their skills to provide leadership as well as engaging with students and channelling thoughts and concerns to the appropriate place.

The dynamics between college staff and elected officers can work very well if approached in a professional way.  The session explored a range of approaches along with the values that help to develop a positive working relationship.

The materials from the session are available below:

• Programme
• Transition Guidance
• Good Working Relationships handout
• Whose Role is it Anyway? handout
• 'Trouble at Larbert' Scenarios handout
• Star Executive handout
• Frustrations handout
• Autonomy handout - please note that this is a draft which will be updated following feedback from course delegates