Vocational Teachers Forum

UKCLE set up the Vocational Teachers Forum (VTF) in 2001 with the aim of bringing together all those involved in professional programmes in an open forum to discuss issues and share concerns about learning and teaching. From 2007 vocational issues have been discussed at the Learning in Law Annual Conference, a two day celebration of legal education combining the academic and the professional.

Five VTF conferences were held from 2001-06:

• Vocational Teachers Forum V: Becoming a competent practitioner
• Vocational Teachers Forum IV: Collaboration and partnership in professional legal education
• Vocational Teachers Forum III: Beyond boundaries
• Vocational Teachers Forum II: Assessment for learning and practice
• Vocational Teachers Forum 2001: Challenges to vocational legal education
  A selection of VTF papers can be accessed below. Chris Maguire, now of BPP Professional Education but previously of the Bar Council, offers a not entirely sober reflection on five years of VTF in Retrospectoring: the development and success of the Vocational Teachers Forum.

Vocational Teachers Forum V

The 2006 conference, held on 6 January at the University of Warwick, focused on what it means to be a competent practitioner. Papers from the conference:

• The competence of striving to be more than competent – Jane Ching (Nottingham Trent University)
• E-learning and traditional methods: special blends – Liz Polding (Oxford Institute of Legal Practice)
• The essential synergy between assessment and learning in skills-based legal practice courses – Christopher Sherrin (University of Hong Kong)
• Legal professional training in Wonderland – Susan Blake (Inns of Court School of Law)
• New lawyers – new horizons? What kind of lawyers do we need? – Roger Smith (Justice; keynote address)
• Putting ethics into practice – Sara Chandler and Pamela Robotham (College of Law)
• Stopping to think: reflections on the use of portfolios – Karen Barton and Fiona Westwood (Glasgow Graduate School of Law)
• The Tao of Professionalism – Bridgit Burke (Albany Law School, USA)

Vocational Teachers Forum IV

VTF IV, held on 8 January 2005 at the University of Warwick, had the theme of collaboration and partnership. The following papers are available:

• Building links with practitioners, government agencies and universities through clinical aspects of legal education in Nigeria – Uche Jack-Osimiri (Rivers State University of Science and Technology, Nigeria)
• Practice makes perfect: use of practitioner led mooting to develop an enhanced student learning experience – Dan Hill (College of Law)
• Presence, emergence and knowledge objects: user interaction in a virtual learning environment – Paul Maharg and Patricia McKellar (Glasgow Graduate School of Law)
• Vocational legal education in Scotland: a model of partnership in action – Liz Campbell (Law Society of Scotland; opening address)

Vocational Teachers Forum III

‘Beyond boundaries’, held on 10 January 2004 at the University of Warwick, invited participants to think beyond conventional professional teaching and consider the cross-fertilisation of ideas from other disciplines. Papers from the conference:

• The College of Law’s e-learning initiatives – Andrew Harvey (College of Law)
• Research and reaction: bodies and PCs – Nigel Duncan and Andrew Chapman (Inns of Court School of Law)
• Talk about talk: are discussion forums worth the effort? – Paul Maharg and Patricia McKellar (Glasgow Graduate School of Law)
• ‘Traffic lights’ and responsibility to the profession: to whom should we give the red light? – Jacqueline Cheltenham and Alison Mutch (College of Law)

Vocational Teachers Forum II

The second Vocational Teachers Forum, held in London on 1 July 2002, examined assessment issues. The following papers are available:

• Evaluation as a method of assessment – Ruth Craig (Queens University Belfast)
• Professional course assessments: developmental or regulatory? – Phil Knott (Nottingham Law School; opening address)
• Weights and methods of assessment on vocational courses – Amanda Fancourt (UKCLE)

Vocational Teachers Forum 2001

The first conference, held on 21 September in Birmingham, was opened with the following paper:

• Making good lawyers: challenges to vocational legal education – Andy Boon (University of Westminster)

Last Modified: 4 June 2010