The challenge and opportunities of contextualising legal education

Alexandra Dobson (University of Wales, Newport) considered the opportunities and challenges of teaching law in mixed programmes in higher education.

Alex’s slides are embedded below, and her full paper is available to download at the bottom of t he page.

Increasingly legal education is found outside the confines of the traditional ‘law school’. Law is now taught across a wide and diverse range of settings within higher education – this presents both a pedagogic challenge but also an opportunity to contextualise the teaching of law.

Alex’s paper sought to address both the challenges and the opportunities inherent in the positioning of law as a part of a wider curriculum. It is common for law lecturers to tell students that knowledge of the law is vital because it is influential in almost every aspect of life. Thus for student accountants, engineers, social workers and the vast range of other students who will be taught law on professional, undergraduate and postgraduate programmes the study of law should inform and potentially enrich their learning.

Placed against this view of law as pivotal element within the curriculum is a more negative account which views ‘service’ teaching as of less importance than the principle focus of study, what ever that might be. This may be because the teaching of law within mixed programmes is sometimes viewed as superficial and lacking the depth required within the law school. There are concerns too that where ‘law teaching’ is seen as an adjunct to the main discipline, both the staff who deliver legal education and the students who receive it may feel disengaged.

In considering these issues the paper draws on research at Newport Business School into teaching law to non-law students but also widens the argument to ask whether the movement toward law outside the law school is reflective of a progression away from a doctrinal and isolating position to a new and exciting facet of learning law. Research indicates that where law is taught taking into account a broader social and political perspective the response from students is positive.

There are clearly a number of issues to consider. Research already undertaken at Newport is illustrative of the difficulties that many learning law outside the law school encounter. Placed against that is the opportunity to provide access to students from diverse disciplinary backgrounds and to use the teaching of law as an active component within a wider curriculum.

For further information on Alex’s research see:

• Dobson A & Marsh T (2008) Learning the law: a pilot study examining challenges facing non-law students studying law (PDF file) Newport CELT Journal 1:23-28

Judith Willis (independent consultant) reports:

Alex’s paper dealt with the efficacy of using a particular teaching tool with two different cohorts of students – second year undergraduate lawyers and part time accountancy students. Research into the students’ views was undertaken via questionnaires and focus groups.
 
The challenges of teaching the accountancy students were described in more detail. These students move very fast through a crowded law curriculum and have a highly strategic approach to learning – engaging them is hard. They want what they see as relevancy, not “cases from the 19th century”. An approach seeking to set law in a broad socio-legal context, demonstrating where law fits, was adopted.
 
The teaching tool chosen was the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act 2007. It is employed early in the accountancy module to grab attention, though the undergraduates encounter it later in their studies. Its advantages for teaching accountancy students are that it is contentious, can be discussed at a higher level, has accessible materials even in a limited law library and can be considered from several angles/perspectives. The implications for businesses are also clear.
 
Appraising the success of the approach, it was thought that the accountancy students extended themselves beyond their traditional strategic approach more than they had done in the past. It was not possible in the time available to discuss all associated legal issues with students – some, like the European or equitable aspects, remained unexplored.
 
Building on these initial steps the method will be extended to other non-law students, first project managers, and then possibly social work and media students.
 
Alex is particularly interested in hearing suggestions on other ways to take this initiative forward.

About Alex
Alexandra Dobson is a lecturer in law at the University of Wales, Newport Business School. Together with her colleague Teresa Marsh, a senior lecturer in accounting, she has been conducting research into the challenges of teaching law outside the law school. The first stage of this work was presented at the Newport Nexus Conference in June 2009 and the Society of Legal Scholars Conference in September 2009.

Both authors are interested in a range of pedagogic issues surrounding the teaching of law to non-law students and are currently exploring the wider perspective of the increasing trend toward forms of legal education that take place outside the confines of the traditional law school.

Last Modified: 9 July 2010