Slides for the presentation by Helen Carr and Kirsty Horsey (University of Kent) at LILAC10.

1. Things aren’t what they used to be:Collective responses, spiralling skills and re-energising the law curriculum Helen Carr and Kirsty Horsey, Kent Law School

2. Challenges The changing student body Less grasp of ‘traditional’ academic skills Instrumental in learning law Diversity Anxiety Less engaged / lacking cultural capital Size of the cohort Coverage demanded by professional bodies Increasing academic specialisation and internationalisation of research

4. Recognised as a ‘critical’ law school – 40 years

5. Commitment to curriculum review as a collective endeavour

7. Embedding Skills – challenges Increased Student Diversity University statistics (2001-8) show: - 1480 students over two campuses at KLS - From 58.8 – 65.1% white at UKC (lower at UKM) - ‘Asian’ – 8.3-10.7% UKC and 12.6-17.4% UKM - ‘Black’ – 8.6-11.2% UKC – currently 17.9% UKM Overall uni stats in 2007-8 = 69.3% white, 7.5% ‘Asian’, 6.3% ‘Black’, 7.3% other ethnic backgrounds

8. Embedding Skills – challenges Increased Student Diversity University statistics (2001-8) show that for KLS: - UK domiciled students 65-70% - EU 11.5-18.8% - Africa 6.3-7.7% - Asia 2.8-4.3% - Middle East 0.9-1.6% - North America 2.5-5.4% - South America 0.2-0.6% UK domiciled students for UKC as a whole = >80.8%

9. Embedding Skills – challenges Increased Student Diversity University statistics (2007-8) show that for KLS: - females outnumbered males 919-561 (54.3-45.7%) - From 2001-8 there were 3.6-6.2% of students aged 41 or over in KLS - between 58.9-77.4% (increasing) aged below 21 - Between 2001/2 and 2007/8 there has been an increase from around 5% to around 8% of students in KLS with a registered disability

11. [Separate programme of ‘extra’ skills workshops which are tied to assessments]

12. Skills are spiralled within modules and between stages

13. Skills ‘matrix’ developed

14. Requires team approach

15. Across stages

17. Example One: Case reading in Obligations A new type of class: Lectures, seminars and case classes Case packs available in advance ‘Contrasting’ cases in some way 4 over course of term (2 tort, 2 contract) Groups of 40-50 Interactive Reinforced with seminar questions / case notes

18. Example One: Case reading in Obligations What of ‘spiralling’? More (different) case classes in Foundations of Property (this term) Next year: The Law of Obligations Case law as primary vehicle for teaching Small seminar groups alternated with fortnightly case class of c.30 students Use made of dissenting judgments, submissions of counsel (and tracking argument and outcome), cases blocked by precedent, HL (SCt) overturning its own decisions etc

19. Example Two: A re-designed Public Law Focus on political theory so that students can understand the role of law within a liberal democracy Plato to NATO with a post-colonial twist! Different constitutions considered French revolutionary constitutions Haitian revolutionary constitutions South Africa’s constitution

21. Assessment Gradual development of writing skills Writing task with short answers Short essay Exam included Definitions of key public law concepts Comprehension of a previously studied academic article One traditional essay Aim was to provide the foundations for further study

23. Core introduces theoretical explanations through medium of contemporary problems

24. HFEA – how does law regulate scientific advance?

25. Welfare support for asylum seekers – how does the state use the law to manage its international and domestic obligations and how does the law resist?

26. Black letter law skills are assessed through analysis of legal developments

28. After the core they teach to their specialisms

29. Students produce guided independent research based essays

30. Aim to provide an opportunity to use theory within the study of law

31. The future appears ungovernable. Legislation and regulatory schemes can hardly keep up with the speed of scientific and technological developments. The real problem, however, is the loss of any grounds for social consensusDiscuss

33. Reading in different ways

34. Writing and research

35. Legal problem plus research journal

36. Submission of plan

37. Every student given individual feedback

38. They must reflect upon that feedback in their submitted essay