Transition pedagogy in first and final year law programs

Susan Armstrong, Judith McNamara

    Research output: Chapter in Book / Conference PaperChapter

    Abstract

    North American educator John Gardner has drawn attention to the importance of, and link between, the transitions that students make coming into and leaving university. Whilst the significance of the first year university experience is now widely recognised as critical to students’ learning, success and satisfaction at university, and to universities’ capacity to retain students beyond their first year, the role of the final year experience has not received the same focus. This chapter seeks to shed further light on the importance of the first and final years as part of holistic curriculum planning and long term academic assimilation for all law students. We argue that transitioning out of the law program is as important as transitioning in. We build on work by Australian educators to further develop a ‘transition pedagogy’ which responds to the synergies between the first and final year experience in the context of undergraduate legal education. Legal educators have an ethical obligation to students, to their colleagues and to the legal profession and its clients, to reflect in their programming the importance of both first and final university years. Such initiatives also promise benefits to universities and to law schools and have been shown to enhance retention. An intentional final year curriculum may assist law schools in quality assuring the efficacy of holistic programming to prepare students to enter the legal profession and thus of the quality of their law graduate. It may enable access and response to the student voice about their whole of course experience. It also has the potential to create a stronger and more committed alumni. In this chapter we first consider the rationale for a transition pedagogy for first and final year law students. We then discuss the elements of a transition pedagogy for both years, noting the synergies and differences between programs designed to assist transition into and out of a law degree. In doing so, we attempt to explore the extent to which the first year curriculum principles identified by Sally Kift under an Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC) Senior Fellowship may also be applied to the final year university experience. During the course of the discussion, examples are drawn from universities and law schools in Australia and internationally which seek to address these imperatives.
    Original languageEnglish
    Title of host publicationExcellence and Innovation in Legal Education
    EditorsSally Kift, Michelle Sanson, Jill Cowley, Penelope Watson
    Place of PublicationChatswood, N.S.W.
    PublisherLexis Nexis
    Pages207-238
    Number of pages32
    ISBN (Print)9780409328165
    Publication statusPublished - 2011

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