General transferable skills: University of Newcastle

(Transcript of a section of the General transferable skills report, 1998)

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Strategy and target group

The degree programme handbook specifically includes as one of the aims and objectives of the LLB programme, the inculcation of a range of intellectual and other transferable skills. it also states as anticipated outcomes of the LLB programme that graduates will be able to show an ability to research into, analyse, synthesise and evaluate complex matters in solving problems, communicate effectively both orally and in writing, demonstrate computer literacy, employ techniques of planned management in achieving academic goals and work as a team member.”

The methods of teaching of substantive law subjects which have traditionally been, and continue to be, employed make the acquisition of some or all of these skills an integral part of every module. More recently, however, additional emphasis has been placed on making the existence and the nature of these skills more explicit to students so that they are better able to recognise, to articulate and to illustrate their own strengths as well as to identify, and find opportunities to improve, any areas of weakness.

A result of this approach is that, as well as being prepared for legal careers, students are also being prepared equally for non-legal careers by being made aware of the transferability of those skills they have developed.

Specific skills module or integration of skills?

Skills are taught/learned in several ways throughout the department. As mentioned above, their development is an integral part of the teaching methods employed in substantive law subjects taken throughout the three year degree programme (for example written examinations, written essays, seminars in which small groups discuss solutions to real and hypothetical legal problems, all of which to varying degrees require planned management, research, analysis, synthesis, evaluation and communication).

First year subjects include a compulsory module called legal skills. described below. The department has also recently introduced a skills passport (described below).

Learning support

General feedback is given to students during seminars as to the collective ability of the group as a whole, and students may gauge their own progress by reference to the conclusions drawn at the end of seminar. Individual assessment can only, however, be given in relation to ideas volunteered by a student during that session.

Any written work returned to a student is accompanied by a cover sheet on which the marker is required to comment individually on presentation, structure and style, content and comprehension, analysis and criticism, use of authority and other references and to add any general comment.

The work carried out by a student in the legal skills module is marked not by the teacher responsible for the module but by the student’s own personal tutor. This is done deliberately to enable one person, the tutor, to monitor the ability, weaknesses and progress of a relatively few students so that each student receives feedback which is not only intensive but also comparative and consistent.

The first week of each academic year is committed to induction. Each of the three years receives sessions appropriate to their stage in the LLB programme on skills and techniques such as library skills, problem-solving, writing skills, study techniques, computer skills, research, preparing and writing dissertations and exam technique.

Legal skills module

Divided into three parts, the module incorporates a general range of skills including written and oral communication, organisation and management, teamwork, research and so on.

The three parts to the module are:

1. court visits and reports: in teams, students are required to arrange visits to courts, to carry out literature searches on selected aspects of the judicial process they observe in court and to pool their findings. Each then prepares an individual critical account of their observations drawing on material identified in the literature search.
2. client interviewing: in teams of two, students interview a client who presents a legal problem. The interview lasts 20 minutes and is followed by 10 minutes consultation between the team members. This is judged by a local solicitor who gives oral feedback at the end. Thereafter the team must check the legal issues raised by the client’s problem and each student must prepare a letter of advice to the client and a file note to amplify the letter.
3. legal research and writing: this exercise is in two parts. Students must work in groups to research a particular area of law and must prepare a group report on their findings. Thereafter each individual must prepare a case note on a recently decided case relevant to that area.

In each case, students are given written guidance notes clearly setting what is required of them and explaining the skills objectives of each exercise.

Passport scheme (introduced in 1996)

To ensure that all students demonstrate and receive feedback on their ability in relation to all skills, they are provided, at the beginning of each academic year, with a skills passport setting out a number of skills related tasks which they will be required to complete satisfactorily during that year.

Each student arranges for the passport to be stamped on satisfactory completion of each task, and the student’s skills development is appraised toward the end of each year with the personal tutor.

While the tasks required in the first year are for the most part unavoidably completed by satisfactory participation in the legal skills module, students in stage 2 or stage 3 will have to develop their own strategy for completing these tasks within the modules they select. (Opportunities will be made available within every module.) Opportunities to complete some of these tasks may arise through extra curricular activities (for example moots) as well as in taught modules.

The scheme has been introduced into the first year. it will be introduced into stage 2 next year and into stage 3 the year after.

Last Modified: 30 June 2010