Justice education for social change

Joanne Coysh, University of Central England

Justice should be at the heart of legal education. Instead many law programmes have become caught up with teaching legal technicalities, and course formalities have restrained creative development at the expense of justice. In this paper Joanne discusses the pedagogical model of Paulo Freire and introduces two projects at the University of Central England (now called Birmingham City University) that are attempting to revive the concept of justice education in law schools and the community.

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The purpose of this paper is to reflect upon the role of justice education in law schools. Justice education opens up the possibility for discussion on whether law teachers as educators envisage justice as an integral part of legal training. The paper examines the educational model developed by Paulo Freire (Freire, 1970) and offers a work in progress methodology through which this model of problem-posing education could be integrated into law courses. It argues that the students should be more aware of what is right in terms of justice, rather than just being concerned with what is legally right.

Justice is an all embracing concept; it includes fairness, equality, participation and inclusion, and in this paper it also includes empowerment and the ability to transform the world in which we live. The notion of justice as it stands in this paper is founded upon the values of respect, dignity and wisdom.

The need to reassess our values as legal educators

In an academic world where students and teachers alike are being more result driven there is a creeping sense of complacency with concern to the process through which the students travel. Indeed if we perceive students as travellers through law school, by this very ethos the richness and true meaning of the experience should come through the adventure itself, rather than the ultimate destination. Straining under the constant pressure of university league tables, assessment overload and time constraints, well meaning law teachers find it difficult to plan the pathway and often resort to the least stressful and logical means available to help their students pass the course. At the heart of this growing frustration lies a call to a more value driven process of education.

Justice education is equally as concerned about the type of person that emerges at the end of the course, the process of the experience and the awareness they have developed as it is with legal knowledge. While recognising the qualities of traditional legal training, such as having intricate legal knowledge, artful advocacy skills and high academic standing, justice education is just as concerned with creating a morally discerning graduate. While knowledge remains important it is not the sole or exclusive basis upon which justice education builds a student. This begs the question as to how law teachers as educators can ensure that justice and social responsibility are integral to the legal learning experience.

The more entrenched and traditional legal and educational systems have much to learn from the newer systems. In the emerging legal systems which have reassessed the values relating to their laws, their justice system and the way in which they educate the future lawyers and judges there is a greater concern with justice, not just laws. The citizens of these countries have often experienced the violence of the law itself and recognise the capability of law as a legitimate weapon of oppression by state authorities. While it is not the purpose if this paper to discuss the dual nature of the law, the experience in some of these countries has resulted in a more value driven process of legal education, in the hope that history will not be repeated. Law becomes perceived as an instrument of social change and protection for the people, rather than hard and fast rules to be applied by the state and its actors.

We can learn from their historical experience with law and the emerging legal education programmes. These use innovative and creative methodology positing the student as part of the wider process of social change.

Pedagogical models and Paulo Freire

Paulo Freire wrote Pedagogy of the oppressed in 1970. He was concerned with the education of illiterate members of the Brazilian population, but his theories have been applied to various learning contexts. Freire was not only concerned with developing an educational theory but one that could revolutionise and change society.

Education is a system of social control in Freire’s view. He aimed to combat this by changing the nature in which education was delivered and transform it into an act of liberation. In his view there was no such thing as a neutral education process.

Freire distinguished between two types of education; banking and problem-posing. While banking dominates and oppresses, problem-posing education liberates. He argued that with careful analysis of the teacher-student relationship it had a fundamentally “narrative character. This relationship involves a narrating subject (the teacher) and patient, listening objects (the students). Narrative education turns students into “containers’, into receptacles to be filled by the teacher. The more completely he fills the receptacles the better teacher he is.” (Freire, 1970: p45)

Problem-posing education on the other hand involved interrogating the information given, bringing into question known structures and examining undisputed explanations of reality. This style was process centred and not product centred.

He called for a move away from banking style education and an implementation of a problem centred approach constructed around the two key notions of dialogue and conscientization.

Conscientization is the development of a consciousness that has the capacity to transform reality. The process hinged upon two elements:

1. The dialogue between learners and educators as equally knowing subjects.
2. The awareness of the real, concrete context of facts, which are the social reality in which we are living.

He discussed the idea of praxis and transformation of the world centred around action and reflection.

While problem-posing remained the central element of this teaching methodology it was not a focalised view of problems. Rather, he saw them as dimensions of a totality in which individuals or groups should never be isolated from the larger picture (the area, the region, the country or the world).

In practice the problem-posing methodology (diagram 1) consists of a number of stages, beginning with a thematic investigation – the investigation of people’s thinking. This is an essential element to the progress of the process. This initial stage is possibly the most essential, and for Freire it could last for a number of days. It involves sitting with the students and establishing the voluntary nature of the process and the need for mutual understanding and trust. Images or texts aimed at provoking discussion are introduced, and ultimately the group starts to develop dialogue that would develop certain themes. Meanwhile the educator observes and records the process while avoiding imposing his/her own values into the discussion.

In the second stage, records of the investigation are subsequently de-coded – themes explicit during the discussion are listed as individual strands. Each theme is broken down into a project that is discussed in a group of teachers and built upon.

The third stage of codification involves choosing the best channel of communication for each theme and representation, and may be visual (films, photos and images), oral (radio programmes, talks, interviews), written (academic writing, poetry, stories, cases), group work, etc.

Finally, the material is then prepared together with introductory manuals and presented to the students. The ultimate aim is to return the original thematics back to the students in the form of problems to be solved.

Diagram 1: Problem-posing education
students	masters of their thinking
teachers	observers and facilitators of the process
Process
THEMATIC INVESTIGATION	equal status
	understanding and mutual respect
	through provoking input
	observation
	recording
DE-CODIFICATION	breakdown of themes
	individual projects
	group discussion
CODIFICATION	channel of communication
	simple or compound
PREPARATION OF MATERIAL	films, interviews, photos, texts
	addition of small introductory manuals
RETURN TO STUDENTS	original themes
	systematised and amplified
	problems to be solved

More modern educational research suggests that most students have a mixture of intrinsic and extrinsic learning motivators, but in both cases it is suggested that the most important factor is motivation that occurs within the learning as a natural consequence of the learning process. (Intrinsic motivation occurs as a natural consequence of the learning process, such as interest in solving a problem. Students that have high intrinsic motivation often have a love of the subject. Often identified with deep learning. Extrinsic motivation does not occur within the learning but from some external factor such as assessment or parental pressure. Often identified with surface learning.)

In opposition to this, banking type education is strengthened under the following curriculum conditions:

• it is the teacher who chooses and enforces his/her choice upon the students who have no choice but to comply in order to complete the course
• it is the teacher who acts and the students who have the illusion of acting through the action of the teacher
• it is the teacher who chooses the programme content and students who adapt to it

The burden of nurturing deep and intrinsic learning, where the student can recognise the meaning in the process, must be shifted away from the student and on to the law teacher in terms of curriculum design and assessment strategy.

Modern pedagogy suggests a move away from traditional academic assessment criteria and a greater focus upon practical or interpersonal skills. It suggests giving students a real audience, such as a conference paper or a newspaper article, rather than a submitted essay. It also seeks to provide the student with a sense of ownership over the work that they produce, discussing and defending their work with their peers rather than feeling judged. (Brown & Gibbs, 1994)

It reverts back to the original idea that personal characteristics such as a respect, responsibility, comprehension and recognition of social values are as essential in legal education as knowledge of the law itself.

The intrinsic motivation of students may be increased through a number of simple changes in teaching practice, such as altering the atmosphere and class conditions where the teacher-student relationship is based upon equal understanding, or by allowing the students to steer the direction of a course, facilitating it with the assistance of materials and allowing them some flexibility in terms of topic choice. Finally, to ensure that assessment focuses upon process rather than product and criteria focus more upon group work, reflection and application. As a transitional step, these changes can first be incorporated into elective courses where there is greater flexibility in subject content.

As Richard Shaull suggests, “education either functions as an instrument that is used to facilitate the integration of the younger generation into the logic of the present system and bring about conformity to it, or it becomes the practice of freedom, the means by which men and women deal critically and creatively with reality and discover how to participate in the transformation of their world. The development of a methodology that facilitates this process will inevitably lead to tension and conflict within our society. But it could also contribute to the formation of a new man and mark the beginning of a new era in Western history.” (Shaull in Friere, 1970: p34)

Justice education

There have been many innovative changes in legal education over the last ten years. In global legal education the concept of justice is increasingly important, especially in the field of human rights. Programmes have progressed from the basic discussion and outline of legal documents and dilemma to working directly with the community, such as street law programmes where students become active facilitators of a social process rather than passive learners. This part of the paper will consider two examples of projects in the UK, the International Justice Clinic and the Justice Education Initiative, the ethical basis for these programmes and their objectives.

• The International Justice Clinic

The establishment of an International Justice Clinic at the University of Central England is still in the early stages of its development, but this is a clinic that is being built as a collaboration of interests, skills and mechanisms. The clinic aims to put human rights and justice into context by providing students with the opportunity to develop relationships and work with NGOs, agencies and human rights mechanisms while also gaining insight and creating practical solutions to resolve domestic questions of social justice.

The School of Law, in collaboration with Professor Speedy Rice of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers in the USA , has developed a programme as part of the postgraduate International Human Rights (IHR) course to enable students to attend the United Nations Commission on Human Rights (UNCHR) in Geneva.

In preparation for this trip the class takes a taught module IHR Research and Practice. During this they examine the mechanism and the items listed on the agenda. We discuss these in weekly group workshops while also considering and doing activities that the group agrees are necessary for them to conduct the work. This may include skills such as lobbying, writing written submissions, media and public information. In addition, the sessions aim to facilitate dialogue around wider issues of social justice and viability of human rights mechanisms.

The students are requested to prepare written statements on any item agenda that will be submitted to the UNCHR. As a group one or two outstanding statements are selected and students invited to give a three minute oral intervention on that item. Students are also encouraged to approach smaller NGOs who may not have representation at such a forum and submit a statement on behalf of that organisation.

While the trip itself is not assessed, the statement can be submitted as part of a larger independent project in which they are expected to develop the ideas and work they have done as part of the trip into a domestic project. In this respect students are encouraged to be creative in their approach and design projects such as education campaigns, short films or workshops. The aim is to have students consider practical solutions and preventative measures rather than examining the abuse itself.

Current educators in the field of human rights tend to agree that “in order to fulfil its function of helping future lawyers to both understand and acquire the relevant values, knowledge and skills, the teaching of human rights must not focus too much on formalistic repetition of rules, but rather emphasise acquisition of the necessary skills for their application in resolving the multi-faceted problems emerging from the application of those rules”. (Iya, 2004)

The aim is to expand the opportunities for students to become direct actors in human rights work, especially within regional and international mechanisms where there are possibilities for students to brief cases, research, write and present submissions to the mechanism and reflect upon the experience.

• The Justice Education Initiative

The following is the outline of the Justice Education Initiative (JEI), a project that aims to take Paulo Freire’s problem-posing model and develop a model of community justice education. It is currently a work in progress model, but aims to overcome exclusion and strengthen the role of citizens to participate and work for social change. It promotes education and awareness as tools for community empowerment and aims to develop a self sustaining and widely applicable model of justice education.

Current programmes of community legal education are very much centred upon the knowledge itself, and while they may use innovative teaching practices the teacher-student relationship often stands at differing levels where the teacher is there to provide the knowledge and the student there to learn. This initiative perceives the students as facilitators of a process where knowledge becomes something to be discovered rather than given.

The objectives are to:

• raise public awareness of local and global issues relating to human rights and social justice
• strengthen access to justice
• support the development of a human rights culture based upon the values of respect, dignity and wisdom
• strengthen the individual and collective capacity of the community to strategise and participate
• make justice and social change integral to the educational experience

JEI will aim to do this by providing thought provoking images and texts on legal and social issues that encourage people to talk about it, reflect upon it and open up avenues to take action. Information provided to people will be divided into various strands and provided in the form of a problem to be solved.

JEI will not provide advice and assistance on legal disputes; instead it will provide the initial key tools, resources and activities for individuals or groups who wish to transform the world around them. Facilitators will observe and offer support through this process but will never impose their own views on the problem.

It aims to do this through the development of a justice outreach programme and a community education project.

• Justice outreach programme

The urgent need to actively promote public awareness and knowledge of legal issues to help overcome the difficulties that most people face in their daily lives was highlighted as a central concern in a recent discussion paper, _Towards a national strategy for public legal education_September 2004. (Advice Services Alliance et al, 2004)

While there are numerous legal advice services, general and specialist, in most town centres there is little opportunity for people to get information or learn how to tackle problems outside the formal justice system. This programme will offer that opportunity through exhibitions that will move around in public spaces for people to see.

The objective of these exhibitions will be to:

1. Introduce problem-posing scenarios through a range visual and written media.
2. Take the emphasis away from formal legal advice and posit problem-solving upon a process of citizen recognition, reflection and action.
3. Provide the opportunity and support for people to pursue debate about the issues raised through a range of workshops in the community.

• Community education workshops

The overall aim of these workshops is to make justice education understandable and more meaningful to secondary school students and other non-specialists through the involvement of law students, legal professionals and schoolteachers.

While principally concerned with human rights education, this programme is more focused upon the application of human rights and providing the initial resources for the group to develop their own ideas. Participants will be provided with images relating to human rights issues, such as homelessness or racial violence, and be offered the opportunity to discuss what they mean. A programme of workshops will then be developed along the various themes that arise during these discussions, and materials collated and presented to the students in terms of a number of individual problems to be solved.

No one party acts as the information source, and this process moves away from a teacher-centric approach to learning. Facilitators and participants work together as a team to develop these themes and problem solving. Everyone enters this process on the mutual understanding of equal knowledge and respect.

Both the justice outreach programme and community education workshops are self sustaining in their nature, and the participants involved in the process are not dependent upon the expertise or the skills of the facilitators for any future activities. Primarily, the facilitators guide the process of empowerment – facilitating the discussion of an issue, the development of an approach and the construction of a strategy. Offering guidance through legal knowledge is secondary only to the initial process.

The facilitators must undertake the same process before organising a community education workshop within the community.

Conclusion

The aim of this paper is to provide a basis for future discussion among law teachers. While not being concerned with legal education as such, it has attempted to argue the need for a more value driven process of education and used the model of Paulo Freire to provide an idea of how law teachers as educators can do this. Justice education is not only important in the areas of human rights or community legal education, it is a vital component for any law based course, such as commercial law or land and property. Each area of law has far reaching effects for individuals and groups, whether on a local, national or international scale. It is hoped that ethical dilemmas, not just in terms of professional ethics, but social values and moral principles, become a greater component in legal education rather than it being solely concerned with the knowledge transfer and law itself.

References

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• Advice Services Alliance, Citizenship Foundation & Legal Action Group (2004) Towards a national strategy for public legal education: a discussion paper London: Legal Action Group
• Brown S, Rust C and Gibbs G (1994) Strategies for diversifying assessment Oxford: Centre for Staff Development
• Bucko K, Rekosh E and Terzieva V (2001) Pursuing the public interest: a handbook for legal professionals and activists New York: Public Interest Law Initiative
• Freire P (1970) Pedagogy of the oppressed (30th anniversary ed 2003) London: Continuum International Publishing
• Gibbs G (1993) Improving the quality of student learning Oxford: Centre for Staff Development
• Golub S (2004) Engaging law students and young lawyers in public service, human rights and poverty alleviation (Open Society Justice Initiative Issues Paper) New York: Open Society Justice Initiative
• Iya P (2004) Enhancing the teaching of human rights: the need for greater emphasis on the application of human rights in law school clinics in Africa (paper presented at the 2nd International Conference on Clinical Legal Education, 14 July 2004, University of Edinburgh, UK)
• Lasky B and Visal S (2004) Social justice awareness through the Pannasastra University of Cambodia Clinical Legal Education Program (unpublished)
• Sarat S and Scheingold S (1998) Cause lawyering: political commitments and professional responsibilities Oxford: OUP
• Taylor P (1993) The texts of Paulo Freire Oxford: OUP

About the Author

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Joanne has been a Lecturer in Law and International Human Rights Practice at the University of Central England since 2003. She was previously employed with the United Nations in East Timor as Land Disputes Officer (2000-02), and has also worked in South Africa (1997-98).
 
Joanne is a member of the International Bar Association, the International Criminal Defence Attorneys Association and is European Steering Committee Representative for the Global Alliance for Justice Education. Her current research interest is socially relevant justice education in the community and its potential impact on post-conflict societies. Other areas of interest include transitional justice and the role of the international courts. Joanne is presently developing an international justice clinic.

Last Modified: 12 July 2010