Images of law, law schools and legal education

contributors | abstract | presentation | biographies

Contributors

Graeme Broadbent and Pamela Sellman (Kingston University)

Format

Paper presentation

Abstract

A recent article in the Times Higher Education (19 August 2010) highlighted the way in which university websites provide information for students about courses and institutions. It also highlighted considerable differences in accessibility, navigation and the nature and quality of the information available on them. One sixth former, quoted in the article, observed: “Most universities websites don’t show you information you want to know, they just show you the information that they want you to know. That’s quite stupid really.”. One influential factor on positive student engagement is a good match between student, course and institution from the outset. The literature on retention and non-completion (especially the work of Mantz Yorke) cites wrong choice of course, institution and location as three significant factors that can, individually or in combination, cause students to leave or affect their progression. In an age when online sources predominate, law school websites have a role to play in trying to achieve this match between student, institution and subject. Law is a particularly appropriate exemplar of the importance of this process given its enduring popularity as a subject of study.

However, it is not just these formal matters that can affect student engagement. Studies on access to higher education, and especially those relating to widening participation (e.g. Archer et al; Bowl; Burke), indicate the importance to prospective students that they will “fit in” at the institution in question. In this context, information about “the student experience” becomes significant. The Times Higher Education article suggested a further potential barrier in that the students contributing to that article found a lack of engagement with university websites, as they do not, on the whole, afford the possibility of any dialogue between the student and the institution’s virtual presence.

With the conceptualisation of students as customers (Morley) and stakeholders (Cownie) the influence of marketing assumes greater importance, not least in the competitive environment that exists between universities and, especially, law courses, particularly in the light of the expansion in the number of degree courses in law. This may include encouragement to study law and/or to choose a particular law school in which to study the subject. Morley also points out that parts of the quality agenda, such as Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) scores or league table positions, are increasingly utilised by university marketing departments as part of this endeavour. Yet there may be, as the quotation above suggests, a tension between provision of information and the demands of marketing which may skew what is made available to prospective students. Ultimately, the law school, in its institutional context, chooses what material it puts out into the public domain and, consequently, what images of itself and the study of law it wishes to project (assuming, of course, that it is the law school that has devised the contents of its web pages).

This paper builds on our earlier paper presented to the Association of Law Teachers (ALT) conference in 2004 where we sought to identify some of the characteristics of a selection of law school websites and the messages they conveyed. In the intervening years, as far as we are aware, nothing has been written with specific reference to law schools. We seek to explore the matters identified above and to reflect on the changes that have occurred since our earlier study.

Presentation

Short biographies of panel members

Graeme Broadbent is a Senior Lecturer at Kingston Law School, which he joined in 2002 having previously worked at a number of institutions, both in this country and abroad. He has teaching and research interests in Criminal Law and Social Work Law. He also has research interests in aspects of legal education and was a member of the editorial board of The Law Teacher 1994-2009.

Pamela Sellman is a Principal Lecturer at Kingston Law School and Course Director for the postgraduate law programmes. She has been teaching since 1985 and has taught at London Guildhall University (now London Metropolitan University) and Holborn College. Pamela joined Kingston University in 2003. Her teaching and research interests are in the law of International Trade, Mediation and Employment Law. She is currently researching the area of employment relationships and the moving image.

Last Modified: 1 March 2011