Getting the fish to see the water: an investigation into students’ perceptions of learning writing skills in academic modules and in a final year real client legal clinic module

In 2010 Tonya Kowalski described the problems faced by students entering clinic for the first time as a one step backward, two step forward phenomenon. Students appeared initially unable to transfer skills and knowledge learned in earlier academic and other settings to clinic but once they were immersed in clinic their skills development improved rapidly. Clinic is often presented as a “bridge to practice” and delivered as the capstone to more traditional elements of an undergraduate degree. However, even with an integrated approach like that at Northumbria Law School, a seamless transition to the skills required for clinic is challenging and gives rise to a constant review of how best to prepare students. Our research focused on legal writing and used focus groups to find out how students participating in the year four clinic at Northumbria University perceived and adapted their previous experiences of writing for use in the clinical context. It identifies strategies which should be considered for integration into non-clinical modules and in the clinical module itself to facilitate this transition from academic orientated writing to practice orientated writing.     

The impact of student-generated digital flashcards on student learning of constitutional law

This article describes, evaluates and reflects upon student creation of cloud-based digital flashcards as an authentic formative and summative assessment task designed for the deep learning of constitutional law. The usefulness of digital flashcards in online legal education is explored. The undergraduate law student participants in the study responded differently to the assessment task depending upon the constitutional law topic they were assigned, the perceived relevance of constructing digital flashcards to professional practice and how they reacted to this creative task. Building digital flashcards provides a potentially powerful authentic assessment task for the study of constitutional law provided it is designed to support semester long creation, validation and sharing of digital flashcards that students perceive as professionally relevant and educationally useful. Student recommendations for designing an assessment task involving the creation of digital flashcards are evaluated.     

Law’s not hard; it’s just hard to get into: a study of alternative entry students to law school

Widening access to higher education is a challenge currently under discussion in Australia and the United Kingdom. The increasing number of alternative entry programs offered by universities has made tertiary study, including law study, more accessible. One concern with widening access to legal education is the ability of students entering law school through means other than very high academic scores to undertake a law degree successfully. Students who enter law school are generally referred to as “high achievers”, having qualified through an admission policy based on competitive rankings. The implementation of equitable access programs in some Australian universities has resulted in a number of places being made available to final year high school students who meet the eligibility criteria. Lowering the entry requirements to some courses provides opportunities for students whose circumstances have affected their ability to attain competitive ranking scores. The Principals’ Recommendation Scheme (PRS) is one of these programs. The University of Technology Sydney in New South Wales, Australia commenced the PRS in 2012. UTS:Law was one of the first Faculties to develop a strategy to support these students. The Faculty is committed to resourcing all students in their study and, as a result, is engaged in the ongoing evaluation of the academic and co-curricular programs provided to students. This paper explains the implementation of the PRS and the relevant support infrastructure available to students. It also considers the research into student retention and academic success and makes a preliminary assessment that, to date, the PRS students are succeeding in the transition from secondary education to law school, and that the existing infrastructure is accommodating the needs of these students. The PRS is an alternative entry scheme that provides a model for consideration by other law schools, committed to widening access to legal education.     

A common law fly on the transsystemic wall: observing the integrated method at McGill Faculty of Law

Law schools attempting to prepare students for a more global practice are generally advised to tailor a law curriculum to their individual resources. When offering comparative perspectives, some law school programmes have pedagogical advantages arising out of a mixed legal heritage, such as McGill Faculty of Law’s transsystemic approach. What does the transsystemic approach entail, and can aspects of the transsystemic approach, which is grounded in Québec’s bijural and bilingual context, be practised at national-focus law schools? In order to consider this question, the author observed classroom dynamics in first year transsystemic courses. The McGill experience cannot be imported, but its pedagogy offers key lessons for common law national-focus law schools, including the need to make alternative visions of law necessary for understanding.     

Preferences and agreement in legislative parties: testing the causal chain

This research note focuses on two specific dimensions of legislative cohesion: the homogeneity of preferences within a party and party agreement. Although these two dimensions have often been considered as synonyms, it is argued that these two concepts refer to different realities. The authors therefore develop distinct measurements for these two concepts. The authors then examine their statistical relationship, putting to the test the widespread assumption that heterogeneous preferences increase the probability of disagreement. The authors do so by testing the effect of different measures of a member of parliament’s ideological distance to her/his party on her/his self-reported frequency of disagreement with her/his party. It is demonstrated that the causal chain linking both concepts is only verified in the case of a conscious ideological distance. The results have crucial theoretical and methodological implications for future research on party cohesion and party unity.     

Colorblind ideology,mass incarceration,and controlling racial images: An intersectional analysis of presidential rhetoric from 1969–1996

Ample research exists on the relationship between mainstream constructions of racialized images and perceptions of criminals. Fewer studies, however, have assessed the influence of political rhetoric in the construction and the mobilization of images of criminals as the “racial other.” This study employs a qualitative content analysis guided by an intersectionality framework to answer the questions: to what extent Presidential rhetoric influenced images of criminals; and how was colorblind language used to facilitate this process? The examination of Presidential speeches related to crime policies, given from 1969 to 1996, revealed that criminal activity was primarily articulated as being committed by “young Black impoverished males.” Through the use of colorblind strategies, race, while not explicitly referenced, was the most salient dimension of the imagery of criminals depicted in Presidential rhetoric.     

论受教育权的可诉性及其程度

受教育权的可诉性及其程度受到两个层次的理论和实践的深刻影响,一是国际法关于自由权和社会权的划分,二是国内法关于宪法权利和法律权利的区分。受教育权作为宪法权利,在自由权层面及形式平等方面具有直接的法律效力,具有可诉性;但在社会权层面,只有义务教育阶段的入学升学权和免费就学权具有可诉性。受教育权作为法律权利,其可诉性程度大大提高。平等主体之间的受教育权纠纷可由双方提起民事诉讼予以解决;但行政相对人向行政主体提起的行政诉讼则同样受到被侵害的受教育权性质的影响。     

公安院校信息安全专业特色化建设研究

保障网络世界的信息安全,构建良好的信息安全保障体系,需要大量的信息安全专业人才,高校开设信息安全专业培养专业人才是非常重要的。本文论述了培养信息安全人才的迫切性,信息安全专业的现状,重点阐述了公安院校信息安全专业特色化建设的若干问题。     

公安院校素质教育再思考

培养和训练高素质的人民警察,是公安院校一切工作的出发点和落脚点,而要实现这一目标,必须全面推行素质教育。公安院校素质教育有其独特的内涵,即强调培养具有专业知识的实用性人才,强调培养崇高的职业道德和职业精神,强调培养良好的身心素质和职业素养。公安院校实施素质教育必须注意的问题:把德育放在首位,注重学生个性发展,培养学生良好的心理素质,培养学生的创新能力,建设高素质的教师队伍和学生管理干部队伍。素质教育的根本目的:要使学生学会做人,学会做事。     

陈云干部教育培训思想及其现实意义

陈云同志干部教育培训思想内容十分丰富,涉及干部教育培训的各个方面。主要包括要从事关革命与建设事业兴衰成败的高度来看待干部教育培训,把为革命和建设事业提供高素质的人才保证作为干部教育培训的出发点;要以培训革命化、年轻化、知识化、专业化的党政领导干部作为干部教育培训的目标;要坚持理论联系实际原则,“不唯上,不唯书,只唯实”。干部教育培训要把提高干部的马克思主义基本理论水平作为首要任务;要根据党的工作中心,从基层单位到中央,一齐动手抓干部教育培训;不仅要注重干部教育培训的层次性和针对性,还要注重干部教育培训方式方法的灵活多样性。陈云干部教育培训思想,对搞好新时期大规模培训干部工作具有重要的现实意义。要继承和发展陈云干部教育培训思想,从事关全局的战略高度做好大规模培训干部工作,以提高执政能力为重点,发扬理论联系实际的优良传统,不断改革干部教育培训的方式方法,建立健全干部教育培训运行机制。