Perspectives on professional formation: apprenticeship, pupillage and the assessed year in employment

In her paper at the Learning in Law Annual Conference 2010, Gillian McGaughey (Institute of Professional Legal Studies, Queen’s University Belfast) analysed the form and content of the compulsory assessed year in employment for social work graduates in Northern Ireland and considered its lessons for the professional formation of legal practitioners.

Gillian’s slides are embedded below, and you can also download her full paper at the foot of this page.

The Institute of Professional Legal Studies, established in 1977 at Queen’s University Belfast, is responsible for the provision of vocational training for all aspiring lawyers in Northern Ireland. Its one year postgraduate course is a central component in the overall training programme for both trainee barristers and trainee solicitors, who study together. The course is followed by a period of in practice training, working in a professional setting under supervision. Bar graduates undertake a period of pupillage in the Bar Library while newly qualified solicitors complete their apprenticeships.

Turning to social work education, an assessed year in employment (AYE) was introduced as part of a package of training reforms announced in 2001. From April 2006 all new social work graduates have been required to complete the AYE in compliance with the registration rules of the Northern Ireland Social Care Council (NISCC), aimed at promoting public trust and confidence in the social work profession. Students are also required to register as ‘student social workers’ from day 1 of their degree.The scheme has been periodically reviewed since its inception, with employers and registrants encouraged to share their experiences.

Gillian’s paper compared and contrasted these two approaches, offering alternative perspectives on the design and delivery of vocational training and the process of professional formation and proposing ways in which the legal profession could learn from the social work experience to ensure that vocational training for lawyers is tailored to the evolving needs of the profession, the new practitioner and the public.

Melissa Hardee (Hardee Consulting) reports:
The AYE for social work students was introduced simply because it was recognised that there is no substitute for real experience.This approach to the transition from study to practice treats students as employees rather than students (they are subject to the employment practices of their employer, the NISCC).
The same impetus which gave rise to these reforms in social care education and training, namely, promoting trust and confidence in the profession, similarly exist for legal education and training. The positive feedback from the AYE means that there is much which the Law Society and Bar Council of Northern Ireland could learn from the social work experience in terms of in-service training.

About Gillian

Gillian McGaughey is a barrister specialising in family and child law at the Northern Ireland Bar. As a lecturer at the Institute of Professional Legal Studies, Queen’s University Belfast, she teaches evidence and advocacy and co-ordinates the experiential Bar library learning programmes for Bar trainees. She is also a legal assessor for the Nursing and Midwifery Council, London, a panel chair of the Police Appeals Tribunal and a member of the Northern Ireland Legal Services Commission.

Gillian has been a stakeholder member of the Northern Ireland Social Care Council, the regulatory body for the social care workforce in Northern Ireland, since its inception and chairs its Registration and Regulation Committee.

Last Modified: 9 July 2010