National Law Students Forum 2010

Pilot residential held on 3-4 November 2010

UKCLE launched its National Law Student Forum initiative with a pilot 36 hour residential event for 20 nominated law student representatives from both “old” and “new” university law schools. The event was held at the Manchester Conference Centre on 3-4 November 2010 and aimed to:

• demonstrate how students can actively develop their contribution to the learning process
• increase the students’ skills base, e.g. from note taking in meetings and preparing reports to committees to communication and negotiation skills
• set up a network for law students
• increase the students awareness of approaches to learning & teaching

The event was very successful, with students contributing to lively discussion and engaging with the participatory sessions with great enthusiasm. At the end of the first day the participants, none of whom had met before, had evolved into a group of colleagues and friends brimming with ideas, working out how they could maintain the impetus after the event through discussion boards and suggesting that the event should become an annual fixture. The presentations were all very well received and the presenters were infected with the students’ enthusiasm. Feedback from the participants was very positive with numerous suggestions as to future developments. The general conclusion of both participants and presenters was that this is an event that should have happened years ago and the challenge is now to identify effective ways of supporting students in taking this initiative forward.

Day 1

The event began with the event organisers Patricia McKellar (then at UKCLE) and Michael Bromby (Glasgow Caledonian University), providing some background, followed by a presentation from Adam Mannis (UKCME & University of Liverpool) on empowering and training students for representational work through formal institutional structures (such as staff student consultative committees).
This was followed by a participatory session facilitated by Ant Bragshaw (NUS, Student Engagement Officer ) on more informal mechanisms for student engagement such as student law societies, social events with staff and student mentoring schemes. Students produced a variety of posters outlining good practice from their own institutions, or good ideas that they thought would be worth implementing.

The evening dinner provided the perfect opportunity for participants to engage in relaxed social networking.

Day 2

The next morning began with an open discussion session led by Adam Mannis and Patricia McKellar at which participants were invited to discuss key issues in learning and teaching practices for law students and how students saw the forum developing. This then led on to a session where participants were invited to share examples of good practice at their own institutions. These ideas were discussed and sorted into a variety of categories which generated further debate. This was regarded by most participants as one of the most valuable aspects of the forum.
After coffee, the third session of the morning was a workshop on communications and negotiating skills, led by Rebecca Huxley-Binns (Nottingham Trent University) which the participants found extremely useful both for career development and in the context of student representation activities. This was very-much a hands on activity with all participants undertaking a role play activity.

The final session, facilitated by Michael Bromby (Glasgow Caledonian University) was a simulation of staff student consultative committee requiring participants to engage in role play, acting as staff and student representatives. Participants found this very helpful in that it emphasised the importance of communication skills and the ability to see both perspectives.

In summary, the Forum event undoubtedly provided an excellent experience for the participants, as evidenced by the highly positive feedback received. The key points to emerge were as follows:

• the importance and value of sharing examples of good practice
• the value of informal, as well as formal, communications with staff
• importance of developing good communications skills
• concerns about feedback on coursework
• the value of skills based, and career orientated, teaching and learning
• the value of peer mentoring
• desirability of setting up a network for law students

Post event activity

Following the event participants were invited to submit reports on the Forum and on how the experience could be related to their own institutions. Two students also attended the Learning in Law Annual Conference 2011, to make a presentation about the Forum accompanied by a short collection of video clips of the pilot event (which can be viewed below).

A discussion list has also been set up to facilitate continuing communication amongst the students who attended the pilot event.

Patricia McKellar’s successor, Sefton Bloxham, will be continuing the work of supporting and facilitating the development of the student forum over forthcoming months.

Thank you

UKCLE would like to thank the presenters, whose contributions were so well received, and especially the student participants, without whose input and enthusiasm the event would not have been such a success. A special thank you is also extended to the event organiser Patricia McKellar, who was such a key feature of UKCLE’s work over the last 5 years. Patricia has now moved on to her new role at the University of London.

Last Modified: 21 March 2011