John Rawnsley, D. Woodroffe, Eloise Culic, J. Richards, Lauran Clifton
The cultural characteristics of Aboriginal groups are significantly diverse and the interface between Aboriginal people and the dominant Australian culture and justice system is highly complex. The justice system, and its many parts, interacts with Aboriginal people and culture in many different ways, and is imposing. The consideration of cultural competency is necessary in understanding how justice is applied in Australia. The organisation considered by this paper delivers legal services and justice agency programs to Aboriginal people. As a non-government community organization, it is one part of a broader justice system. Governed by an Aboriginal board, the service is in a unique position to use its cultural authority to influence how cultural competency is understood from a public policy and law reform context. The service recently implemented a Cultural Competency Framework 2017-2020 (Framework) as an iterative process to outline how it is a culturally appropriate organization. The framework includes a series of strategies and actions with mechanisms for accountability. This paper will explore the legal service’s organizational approach to developing cultural competency and its application to the provision of legal aid services and justice programs. In turn, it serves as a valuable example of how a legal organisation can make a meaningful commitment to developing cultural competency. So long as Aboriginal issues or people are referred to in any context, consideration of the suitability of how an organisation approaches cultural competency, and develops its people, is relevant.
{"title":"Cultural Competency in a Legal Service and Justice Agency for Aboriginal Peoples","authors":"John Rawnsley, D. Woodroffe, Eloise Culic, J. Richards, Lauran Clifton","doi":"10.53300/001c.7613","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.7613","url":null,"abstract":"The cultural characteristics of Aboriginal groups are significantly diverse and the interface between Aboriginal people and the dominant Australian culture and justice system is highly complex. The justice system, and its many parts, interacts with Aboriginal people and culture in many different ways, and is imposing. The consideration of cultural competency is necessary in understanding how justice is applied in Australia. The organisation considered by this paper delivers legal services and justice agency programs to Aboriginal people. As a non-government community organization, it is one part of a broader justice system. Governed by an Aboriginal board, the service is in a unique position to use its cultural authority to influence how cultural competency is understood from a public policy and law reform context. The service recently implemented a Cultural Competency Framework 2017-2020 (Framework) as an iterative process to outline how it is a culturally appropriate organization. The framework includes a series of strategies and actions with mechanisms for accountability. This paper will explore the legal service’s organizational approach to developing cultural competency and its application to the provision of legal aid services and justice programs. In turn, it serves as a valuable example of how a legal organisation can make a meaningful commitment to developing cultural competency. So long as Aboriginal issues or people are referred to in any context, consideration of the suitability of how an organisation approaches cultural competency, and develops its people, is relevant.","PeriodicalId":43058,"journal":{"name":"Legal Education Review","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-03-07","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"49419577","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In this short article we report on a novel consultation event held in 2017. Fifty-two Indigenous and non-Indigenous legal academics convened in Melbourne to draft and promulgate standards to be followed by law schools across Australia for promoting Indigenous cultural competency. The consultation took the general form of a mini-public. A mini-public is a decision-making body whose members are randomly selected from – but demographically representative of – a broader public. Public decision-making by mini-publics is now routine. Yet ours was a distinctive variation, in that the mini-public purported to represent not the whole public of a jurisdiction, but only a particular professional class within it – in this case legal academics in Australia. We convened this mini-public of legal academics in order to give greater legitimacy to the promulgated guidelines for cultural competency in law school curricula. The article explores the content of the consultation, centring on its suggestions for improved breadth, content and quality of legal teaching, as it touches the lives of Indigenous people. Most of all, however, the article assesses the unique use of a mini-public to represent an unusually small and highly formally educated public. We generally rely here on our own qualitative observations about the novel consultative process and its methods.
{"title":"A Mini-public of Academics: Experimenting with Deliberative Democracy and Indigenous Cultural Competency in Legal Education","authors":"A. Wood, R. Levy","doi":"10.53300/001c.7595","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.7595","url":null,"abstract":"In this short article we report on a novel consultation event held in 2017. Fifty-two Indigenous and non-Indigenous legal academics convened in Melbourne to draft and promulgate standards to be followed by law schools across Australia for promoting Indigenous cultural competency. The consultation took the general form of a mini-public. A mini-public is a decision-making body whose members are randomly selected from – but demographically representative of – a broader public. Public decision-making by mini-publics is now routine. Yet ours was a distinctive variation, in that the mini-public purported to represent not the whole public of a jurisdiction, but only a particular professional class within it – in this case legal academics in Australia. We convened this mini-public of legal academics in order to give greater legitimacy to the promulgated guidelines for cultural competency in law school curricula.\u0000\u0000The article explores the content of the consultation, centring on its suggestions for improved breadth, content and quality of legal teaching, as it touches the lives of Indigenous people. Most of all, however, the article assesses the unique use of a mini-public to represent an unusually small and highly formally educated public. We generally rely here on our own qualitative observations about the novel consultative process and its methods.","PeriodicalId":43058,"journal":{"name":"Legal Education Review","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-03-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"42347257","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
UNSW Law Faculty has one of the most advanced offerings nationally for Indigenous law students, aimed both at providing pathways for entrance into legal studies, and academic and pastoral support throughout degree programs. In 2017, research was conducted into the experience of Indigenous students in the Faculty of Law, to evaluate what has been done well, what could be done better, and where the Faculty should look to next in growing its support for Indigenous law students. The research includes original primary research, in the form of a digital survey of present and past Indigenous law students, and two focus groups, one with current students and one with graduates. This paper will outline two of the issues that Indigenous students say are most challenging about attending law school. These are: the experience of imposter syndrome and the lack of institutional flexibility around the complex lives of many Indigenous law students. The research also discusses factors that are protective against discontinuation of studies, including fostering of cultural safety in the classroom and on campus, and attention to the needs of the whole students, including mental health and the needs of student parents. With the voices of the students firmly at the forefront, the paper includes recommendations for some priority areas in Indigenous student support in tertiary legal education.
{"title":"Retaining Our Best: Imposter Syndrome, Cultural Safety, Complex Lives and Indigenous Student Experiences of Law School","authors":"Melanie Schwartz","doi":"10.53300/001c.7455","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.7455","url":null,"abstract":"UNSW Law Faculty has one of the most advanced offerings nationally for Indigenous law students, aimed both at providing pathways for entrance into legal studies, and academic and pastoral support throughout degree programs. In 2017, research was conducted into the experience of Indigenous students in the Faculty of Law, to evaluate what has been done well, what could be done better, and where the Faculty should look to next in growing its support for Indigenous law students. The research includes original primary research, in the form of a digital survey of present and past Indigenous law students, and two focus groups, one with current students and one with graduates.\u0000\u0000This paper will outline two of the issues that Indigenous students say are most challenging about attending law school. These are: the experience of imposter syndrome and the lack of institutional flexibility around the complex lives of many Indigenous law students. The research also discusses factors that are protective against discontinuation of studies, including fostering of cultural safety in the classroom and on campus, and attention to the needs of the whole students, including mental health and the needs of student parents. With the voices of the students firmly at the forefront, the paper includes recommendations for some priority areas in Indigenous student support in tertiary legal education.","PeriodicalId":43058,"journal":{"name":"Legal Education Review","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-02-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"48668188","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In 2014, we co-facilitated the specialist elective ‘Race and the Law’ as an LLB summer school intensive. Our pedagogical design was informed by Indigenous philosophy and knowledge (Watson, 2014; Morgan, 2012; Moreton-Robinson, 2007) and by Critical Race and Whiteness Theory (Delgado & Stefanic, 2012; Goldberg, 2001; Moreton-Robinson, 2009). Our aim was to prompt students to think critically about the ongoing significance of race to law (and law to race), how systems of race structure social relations, the capacity of mainstream law to operate as a racialised system of power, and whiteness as a position of privilege. We also sought to empower students by engaging them in a reflexive praxis through which they could develop self-awareness of the significance of race and respond to its influence in their personal and professional lives. As Liptsitz argues, there is a ‘possessive investment in whiteness’ because of the close relationship between white supremacy and the accumulation of assets, or what he calls the ‘wages of whiteness’ (Lipsitz, 2006). This ‘possessive investment’ became evident in our class discussion once we turned attention to an examination of special measures, affirmative action and other mechanisms that aim to equalise opportunities and alleviate the material inequities mediated by race – that is, the wicked problem, racism. In this paper, we share our reflections on our success in using theory as a practice to challenge the wicked problem of racism in the law classroom, and within the law curriculum. In addition, we reflect on the value of team teaching in this complex and dynamic teaching space and the significance to legal institutions and the profession of engaging law students in critical learning on race and whiteness.
{"title":"Dealing with the ‘Wicked’ Problem of Race and the Law: A Critical Journey for Students (and Academics)","authors":"Marcelle J. Burns, Jennifer Nielsen","doi":"10.53300/001c.9043","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.9043","url":null,"abstract":"In 2014, we co-facilitated the specialist elective ‘Race and the Law’ as an LLB summer school intensive. Our pedagogical design was informed by Indigenous philosophy and knowledge (Watson, 2014; Morgan, 2012; Moreton-Robinson, 2007) and by Critical Race and Whiteness Theory (Delgado & Stefanic, 2012; Goldberg, 2001; Moreton-Robinson, 2009). Our aim was to prompt students to think critically about the ongoing significance of race to law (and law to race), how systems of race structure social relations, the capacity of mainstream law to operate as a racialised system of power, and whiteness as a position of privilege. We also sought to empower students by engaging them in a reflexive praxis through which they could develop self-awareness of the significance of race and respond to its influence in their personal and professional lives. As Liptsitz argues, there is a ‘possessive investment in whiteness’ because of the close relationship between white supremacy and the accumulation of assets, or what he calls the ‘wages of whiteness’ (Lipsitz, 2006). This ‘possessive investment’ became evident in our class discussion once we turned attention to an examination of special measures, affirmative action and other mechanisms that aim to equalise opportunities and alleviate the material inequities mediated by race – that is, the wicked problem, racism. In this paper, we share our reflections on our success in using theory as a practice to challenge the wicked problem of racism in the law classroom, and within the law curriculum. In addition, we reflect on the value of team teaching in this complex and dynamic teaching space and the significance to legal institutions and the profession of engaging law students in critical learning on race and whiteness.","PeriodicalId":43058,"journal":{"name":"Legal Education Review","volume":"52 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71024903","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Marcelle J. Burns, Simon N. M. Young, Jennifer Nielsen
The Law Admissions Consultative Committee’s Model Admission Rules 2015 require new practising lawyers to have an ‘awareness’ of the difficulties of communication attributable to cultural differences, including ‘the difficulties of communication encountered by Indigenous peoples’ (LACC: 31). While there is no doubt that effective cross-communication is essential to providing ethical legal representation for clients from diverse cultural backgrounds, this paper will argue that in the context of the First Peoples of Australia greater regulatory attention to these issues is urgently needed and that the ‘difficulties of communication’ need to be framed differently. Numerous reports and inquiries have shown that First Peoples’ encounters with the Australian legal system are fraught with a lack of cultural understanding on the part of non-Indigenous legal actors. Given the ongoing and systemic over-representation of First Peoples in the criminal justice system and child protection regimes, there is a critical need for lawyers to develop Indigenous cultural competency as one step towards addressing this gross injustice, and making the Australian legal system more responsive to the needs and aspirations of First Peoples. Canadian developments, particularly in the wake of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, underline the scale and significance of this need, and provide some broader context for a reconsideration of legal education and professional admission requirements in Australia. This paper will argue that Indigenous cultural competency should be a mandatory requirement for admission to legal practice in Australia, and that the ‘deficit discourse’ on First Peoples’ engagement with the legal system must be discarded, to ensure that legal ethical and professional responsibilities are inclusive of the needs of First Peoples.
{"title":"‘The Difficulties of Communication Encountered by Indigenous Peoples’: Moving Beyond Indigenous Deficit in the Model Admission Rules for Legal Practitioners","authors":"Marcelle J. Burns, Simon N. M. Young, Jennifer Nielsen","doi":"10.53300/001c.7956","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.7956","url":null,"abstract":"The Law Admissions Consultative Committee’s Model Admission Rules 2015 require new practising lawyers to have an ‘awareness’ of the difficulties of communication attributable to cultural differences, including ‘the difficulties of communication encountered by Indigenous peoples’ (LACC: 31). While there is no doubt that effective cross-communication is essential to providing ethical legal representation for clients from diverse cultural backgrounds, this paper will argue that in the context of the First Peoples of Australia greater regulatory attention to these issues is urgently needed and that the ‘difficulties of communication’ need to be framed differently. Numerous reports and inquiries have shown that First Peoples’ encounters with the Australian legal system are fraught with a lack of cultural understanding on the part of non-Indigenous legal actors. Given the ongoing and systemic over-representation of First Peoples in the criminal justice system and child protection regimes, there is a critical need for lawyers to develop Indigenous cultural competency as one step towards addressing this gross injustice, and making the Australian legal system more responsive to the needs and aspirations of First Peoples. Canadian developments, particularly in the wake of the final report of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission, underline the scale and significance of this need, and provide some broader context for a reconsideration of legal education and professional admission requirements in Australia. This paper will argue that Indigenous cultural competency should be a mandatory requirement for admission to legal practice in Australia, and that the ‘deficit discourse’ on First Peoples’ engagement with the legal system must be discarded, to ensure that legal ethical and professional responsibilities are inclusive of the needs of First Peoples.","PeriodicalId":43058,"journal":{"name":"Legal Education Review","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71024833","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The Indigenous Cultural Competency for Legal Academics Program (ICCLAP) was designed to promote the incorporation of Indigenous cultural competency (ICC) in legal education with a view to creating inclusive learning environments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander law students, and to build ICC in all students. This paper will discuss the project’s activities and key findings from the literature review, consultation process and survey of law schools on the current state of play with respect to embedding ICC in legal curricula. These findings set out barriers and constraints, critical success factors, and guiding principles for embedding ICC in law programs. It concludes by emphasising the need for ICC to be developed in collaboration with local Indigenous communities, recognising the place-based nature of Indigenous knowledges, and within a framework of legal pluralism.
{"title":"Are We There Yet? Indigenous Cultural Competency in Legal Education","authors":"Marcelle J. Burns","doi":"10.53300/001c.7594","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.7594","url":null,"abstract":"The Indigenous Cultural Competency for Legal Academics Program (ICCLAP) was designed to promote the incorporation of Indigenous cultural competency (ICC) in legal education with a view to creating inclusive learning environments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander law students, and to build ICC in all students. This paper will discuss the project’s activities and key findings from the literature review, consultation process and survey of law schools on the current state of play with respect to embedding ICC in legal curricula. These findings set out barriers and constraints, critical success factors, and guiding principles for embedding ICC in law programs. It concludes by emphasising the need for ICC to be developed in collaboration with local Indigenous communities, recognising the place-based nature of Indigenous knowledges, and within a framework of legal pluralism.","PeriodicalId":43058,"journal":{"name":"Legal Education Review","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2019-01-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"71024758","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Building the knowledge of university graduates as to Indigenous cultures, histories and contemporary social realities requires innovation in legal education. At the same time, universities are under increasing pressure to demonstrate to the legal profession how they are guiding students to develop requisite skills and knowledge in statutory interpretation. This article showcases how these dual aims may be advanced through an examination of the legislative framework that led to the Stolen Generations in NSW. These historical legislative artefacts provide the 'hook' to aid critical reflection on the role of the legal profession in the context of the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. Using legislation enables students to build a foundation in the principles of statutory interpretation that can be further developed throughout the Bachelor of Laws curriculum. This article reflects on a teaching strategy adopted in a first-year introductory law subject to advance both the embedding of Indigenous cultural competence and knowledge of the general principles of statutory interpretation. The approach is outlined, alongside an analysis of the benefits and limitations. The article emphasises the importance of recognising the strength and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures in conjunction with an analysis of structural and historically legal forms of racial discrimination. The paper also highlights the value of meaningful consultation and collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to facilitate teaching innovation in law curriculum.
{"title":"Using Legislation to Teach Indigenous Cultural Competence in an Introductory Law Subject","authors":"Alison Gerard, Annette Gainsford","doi":"10.53300/001c.7723","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.7723","url":null,"abstract":"Building the knowledge of university graduates as to Indigenous cultures, histories and contemporary social realities requires innovation in legal education. At the same time, universities are under increasing pressure to demonstrate to the legal profession how they are guiding students to develop requisite skills and knowledge in statutory interpretation. This article showcases how these dual aims may be advanced through an examination of the legislative framework that led to the Stolen Generations in NSW. These historical legislative artefacts provide the 'hook' to aid critical reflection on the role of the legal profession in the context of the removal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children from their families. Using legislation enables students to build a foundation in the principles of statutory interpretation that can be further developed throughout the Bachelor of Laws curriculum. This article reflects on a teaching strategy adopted in a first-year introductory law subject to advance both the embedding of Indigenous cultural competence and knowledge of the general principles of statutory interpretation. The approach is outlined, alongside an analysis of the benefits and limitations. The article emphasises the importance of recognising the strength and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures in conjunction with an analysis of structural and historically legal forms of racial discrimination. The paper also highlights the value of meaningful consultation and collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to facilitate teaching innovation in law curriculum.","PeriodicalId":43058,"journal":{"name":"Legal Education Review","volume":"1 1","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2018-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"41341054","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
Place-based learning is receiving widespread global approval for the way in which it effectively engages with local Indigenous communities. Charles Sturt University has made significant community partnerships to inform their law education curriculum. These partnerships include an “Elders in Residence” program to incorporate Indigenous place-based learning pedagogy into the teaching of core law curriculum. Such programs recognise that Indigenous Elders hold a unique place in community as the keepers of cultural knowledge. Law students engage with Indigenous knowledges to consider multiple perspectives of the law, this learning enabling students to critically reflect on their own positioning and cultural bias. The epistemological value of Indigenous knowledges is explored through the lens of justice and self-determination to equip law graduates with knowledge, skills and the competence to apply this learning to their own personal and professional practice.
{"title":"Connection to Country – Place-based Learning Initiatives Embedded in the Charles Sturt University Bachelor of Law","authors":"Annette Gainsford","doi":"10.53300/001c.7682","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.7682","url":null,"abstract":"Place-based learning is receiving widespread global approval for the way in which it effectively engages with local Indigenous communities. Charles Sturt University has made significant community partnerships to inform their law education curriculum. These partnerships include an “Elders in Residence” program to incorporate Indigenous place-based learning pedagogy into the teaching of core law curriculum. Such programs recognise that Indigenous Elders hold a unique place in community as the keepers of cultural knowledge. Law students engage with Indigenous knowledges to consider multiple perspectives of the law, this learning enabling students to critically reflect on their own positioning and cultural bias. The epistemological value of Indigenous knowledges is explored through the lens of justice and self-determination to equip law graduates with knowledge, skills and the competence to apply this learning to their own personal and professional practice.","PeriodicalId":43058,"journal":{"name":"Legal Education Review","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2018-12-24","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"45571767","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
The rationale for reorienting the Australian law curriculum to incorporate and reflect Indigenous Australian knowledges, experiences, and perspectives, is well-rehearsed. Yet despite the need to enhance law graduate skills and knowledge in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cross-cultural encounters, many law teachers remain reluctant to integrate what I call here ‘Indigenous contexts’ into law teaching. Adopting the standpoint of teacher-as-researcher, this article reflects on more than a decade of educational practice seeking to understand, theorise, implement, and improve law teaching that appropriately integrates Indigenous contexts into the law curriculum. Informed by an action research methodology, this paper analyses curriculum design practice, through a ‘self-reflective spiral’ following a deliberate, long-term, learning process. The article first outlines the methodological basis for practitioner action research that informs this paper. Part III then reports on an approach to curriculum arising from the author’s own experience in subject and program-level design strategies, developed deliberately to ‘embed’ Indigenous contexts in the law curriculum. Part IV reflects on the capacity of this curriculum framework to deliver change—both in terms of personal practice, notably from the perspective of a non-Indigenous law teacher, and at the program level. It concludes by identifying a widespread need for adaptive change by law teachers to complement the technical aspects of curriculum design: namely instructor knowledge, and personal commitment to implement curriculum goals.
{"title":"Indigenous Contexts in the Law Curriculum: Process and Structure","authors":"K. Galloway","doi":"10.53300/001c.6469","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.6469","url":null,"abstract":"The rationale for reorienting the Australian law curriculum to incorporate and reflect Indigenous Australian knowledges, experiences, and perspectives, is well-rehearsed. Yet despite the need to enhance law graduate skills and knowledge in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cross-cultural encounters, many law teachers remain reluctant to integrate what I call here ‘Indigenous contexts’ into law teaching. Adopting the standpoint of teacher-as-researcher, this article reflects on more than a decade of educational practice seeking to understand, theorise, implement, and improve law teaching that appropriately integrates Indigenous contexts into the law curriculum. Informed by an action research methodology, this paper analyses curriculum design practice, through a ‘self-reflective spiral’ following a deliberate, long-term, learning process. The article first outlines the methodological basis for practitioner action research that informs this paper. Part III then reports on an approach to curriculum arising from the author’s own experience in subject and program-level design strategies, developed deliberately to ‘embed’ Indigenous contexts in the law curriculum. Part IV reflects on the capacity of this curriculum framework to deliver change—both in terms of personal practice, notably from the perspective of a non-Indigenous law teacher, and at the program level. It concludes by identifying a widespread need for adaptive change by law teachers to complement the technical aspects of curriculum design: namely instructor knowledge, and personal commitment to implement curriculum goals.","PeriodicalId":43058,"journal":{"name":"Legal Education Review","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2018-12-13","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43364406","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
In the past half century there has been a move towards open book examinations in many tertiary institutions. However, the body of research on open book and more traditional closed book exams is diverse and even contradictory in its findings. Law-specific research is almost non-existent. This article discusses the findings of an empirical research project on the introduction of a closed book exam in the compulsory subject Land Law, in an institution that has only used open book exams. The closed book exam and subsequent research were motivated by concerns about the way in which contemporary students do open book exams, particularly after the invention of the internet. The study found that academic concerns about open book exams had some validity, particularly in relation to heavy reliance on notes, including other students’ notes during the exam. The authors conclude that there are advantages and disadvantages to both open and closed book exams, and that both have a role to play in a balanced assessment strategy.
{"title":"(Re)Introducing a Closed Book Exam in Law","authors":"Cathy Sherry, L. Terrill, J. Laurens","doi":"10.53300/001c.6366","DOIUrl":"https://doi.org/10.53300/001c.6366","url":null,"abstract":"In the past half century there has been a move towards open book examinations in many tertiary institutions. However, the body of research on open book and more traditional closed book exams is diverse and even contradictory in its findings. Law-specific research is almost non-existent. This article discusses the findings of an empirical research project on the introduction of a closed book exam in the compulsory subject Land Law, in an institution that has only used open book exams. The closed book exam and subsequent research were motivated by concerns about the way in which contemporary students do open book exams, particularly after the invention of the internet. The study found that academic concerns about open book exams had some validity, particularly in relation to heavy reliance on notes, including other students’ notes during the exam. The authors conclude that there are advantages and disadvantages to both open and closed book exams, and that both have a role to play in a balanced assessment strategy.","PeriodicalId":43058,"journal":{"name":"Legal Education Review","volume":" ","pages":""},"PeriodicalIF":0.3,"publicationDate":"2018-11-30","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":null,"resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":"43128629","PeriodicalName":null,"FirstCategoryId":null,"ListUrlMain":null,"RegionNum":0,"RegionCategory":"","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":"","EPubDate":null,"PubModel":null,"JCR":null,"JCRName":null,"Score":null,"Total":0}
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