Mapping legal education in Wales (MaLEW)
UKCLE PDF project
Project leader: Pat Leighton, University of Glamorgan (e-mail: pleighton@glam.ac.uk)
Project summary: a preliminary study into aspects of post 16 provision in law in Wales
Completion date: February 2003
UKCLE funding: £5,000
This research, funded by UKCLE and the University of Glamorgan, aimed to overcome the lack of information on some of the key features of legal education in Wales and to raise awareness of current issues peculiar to the principality.
The final report and key findings from the project can be downloaded from the MaLEW website [no longer available], and an article on the project, ‘Is the legal education system in Wales measuring up to contemporary challenges? Some research evidence from the MaLEW project 2003’ was published in the Wales Law Journal 2(4):2003.
Whilst there has been previous research into the provision of legal education in the UK as a whole, there have been few studies of Wales and none looking at the entire spectrum of post 16 legal education. (For previous Welsh studies see Salter & Williams (1991) ‘Post admission legal education and solicitors in rural Wales’ in The Law Teacher 132 and Rees & Thomas ‘Welsh law schools and tomorrow’s lawyers’ in The Cambrian Law Review 73).
Wales is unique amongst the constituent members of the UK in terms of its geography and its cultural, linguistic, educational and administrative features. The University of Wales has many distinctive features, and there are also particular characteristics regarding the legal system, access to justice and the legal profession.
Research questions
- What precisely is the level of provision and distribution of law courses from AS/A2 level to legal professional courses and CPD?
- How do the law teachers themselves feel about their professional role?
- Is there an unmet demand for the delivery of law courses in Welsh? If so, is the lack of such provision turning students away from law?
- What impact has the geographical isolation of many education providers in, for example mid Wales, had on the level of provision of legal education?
- Has this isolation had a particular impact on the numbers studying through distance learning?
- There is no LLB provision in north or mid Wales other than at Aberystwyth. Does this mean that Wales is exporting students who are seeking legal skills? If so, do they ever return?
Project methodology
The MaLEW team identified all legal education providers in Wales. For the purposes of the project a ‘law course’ was defined as a course of which 50% or more of the content was law or law related. Law teachers and law students were defined as those teaching and studying on such courses.
Data on courses was obtained from statistical and other official data, from prospectuses and similar materials and from reports from educational bodies and organisations. The courses covered ranged from AS/A2 level through to PhDs and distance learning. Vocational courses included ILEX, qualification for the Council for Licensed Conveyancers, the Legal Practice and Bar Vocational courses and continuing professional development courses for legal practitioners.
Telephone and face to face interviews were conducted with law teachers in schools, further education colleges and higher education institutions and with key personnel in various professional and educational bodies.
Project findings
The project findings are grouped under four headings:
- the delivery and features of AS/A2 Law
- the contribution of the further education sector to legal education
- law in the higher education sector, including continuing professional development (CPD)
- survey of law teachers in all education sectors
The project team identified a number of issues with potential policy implications:
- The impact of devolution, the rise of ‘legal Wales’ and emergence of the new Wales agenda for law, the legal professions and legal education, has implications for the law curriculum, its delivery and key matters such as CPD for lawyers. There is an urgent need to identify and assess the nature of new skill needs, in particular the skill of developing legal education in Welsh, and to provide support to related initiatives. It is also essential that the legal academic community contribute in a positive way to these new challenges.
- There is an urgent need to enhance the links between various sectors of legal education in Wales and to develop a more coherent and relevant provision of legal education. It is essential that initiatives to enhance the relationships between the various sectors of legal education in Wales are supported.
- The research revealed emerging skills shortages for those with legal knowledge and skills throughout all sectors of legal education in Wales. This is especially so for the delivery of legal education in Welsh. Currently this shortfall appears to be being met by commercial providers. This may raise issues for the traditional delivery of legal education in Wales.
- Although the research revealed that law teachers in all sectors of legal education in Wales are strongly committed to learning and teaching, to their students and the enhancement of legal education in Wales, most reported major concerns regarding their professional role. They reported major concerns about financial rewards, administrative support and a lack of recognition of their achievements by senior managers. Significant concerns were expressed about the number of teaching hours and class sizes.
- There is a need for investment in and a coherent policy for ensuring appropriate CPD for practitioners with legal skills in Wales.
Last Modified: 4 June 2010
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