scholarly journals LEARNED STAATSRECHT FROM THE HEARTLAND OF THE RECHTSSTAAT Observations on the Significance of South African-German Interaction in Constitutional Scholarship ?

2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 76
Author(s):  
L Du Plessis
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Law Students ◽  
Law Faculty ◽  
Legal Thinking

During (especially the latter half of) the previous century it was impressed on several generations of law students (mainly but not exclusively) at Afrikaans speaking law faculties in South Africa, to pride themselves on their “principled” legal education.1 Akin to (and indeed associated with) the paranormal knack of “thinking/reasoning like a jurist”, principled legal thinking was not really taught (or learnt), but sustained (like injuries) as a result of exposure to principled law teachers, enhanced by the ambiance of a principle-prone law faculty. In the impressionable, young minds thus shaped Begriffsjurisprudenz was principled legal thinking incarnate, and Germany the Valhalla2 for those forever true to it.

scholarly journals Decolonising legal education in South Africa: Is it time to press the reset button?

2021 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele van Eck
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Legal Framework ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Educational Approach ◽  
Student Protests ◽  
Political Landscape ◽  
Legal Thinking ◽  
Democratic Constitution

South Africa has, like many other African countries, inherited a foreign legal system. The democratic Constitution of 1996 altered the country’s legal framework such that it became reflective of societal change, while recognising plurality in South African legal culture(s). Owing to the 2015‒2016 #FeesMustFall student protests, another ideological shift in legal education is being precipitated by the changing socio‒political landscape of the country. This shift is framed as decolonisation, which entails shedding the colonial yoke of exclusive western ideologies and thinking, thereby requiring an inclusive educational approach. Such a transformed education would incorporate local African traditions, customs and ideologies that existed prior to colonial imposition. Legal thinking and culture is dependent on legal education, and legal education is consequently reliant on the legal framework. Considering this chain of influences, I argue that decolonisation cannot be achieved merely as a change in legal education alone: it requires an ideological shift in the country’s legal framework.

Exploration on the mode of law undergraduate education in the background of judicial examination reform

2021 ◽  
pp. 002072092110052
Author(s):  
Jing-fang Zheng
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Undergraduate Education ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Law Students ◽  
Educational Activity ◽  
Legal Knowledge ◽  
Professional Qualification ◽  
Legal Professionals ◽  
Legal Thinking ◽  
Education Model

Judicial examination has existed in our country for many years. For law students, the judicial examination is an important examination of their career. By the end of 2015, the state has put forward the objectives and tasks of improving the national legal professional qualification system. In August 2017, the judicial examination was reformed in the draft of the 8 judicial amendments, such as the Judge Law. This puts forward new requirements for the cultivation of the practical ability of law students. Judicial examination is an important link between law education and legal profession, and has an important influence on the undergraduate education of law. Legal education is an important part of higher education. It is an educational activity with the content of imparting legal knowledge, training legal thinking and cultivating qualified legal professionals. However, the cultivation of legal professionals is not the only goal of law education. Under the background judicial examination reform, it is necessary to explore the legal undergraduate education model, change the concept of legal education and cultivate national application talents.

scholarly journals Legal clinic gender sensitive method for law students

Temida ◽  
2008 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 5-25
Author(s):  
Nevena Petrusic ◽  
Slobodanka Konstantinovic-Vilic ◽  
Natalija Zunic
Keyword(s):  
Teaching Method ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Gender Issues ◽  
Law Students ◽  
University Education ◽  
Rights Protection ◽  
Law Faculty ◽  
Gender Education ◽  
Practical Model ◽  
The University

In this paper, the authors discuss models of integrating gender issues, gender perspective and some gender aspects into the university education. In that context, the authors particularly focus on the concept of clinical legal education in legal clinics offering a specific practical model of teaching gender studies. Legal clinics provide for an innovative approach to gender education of prospective legal professional. The teaching method used in these legal clinics is aimed at raising students' awareness of gender issues and common gender-related biases. In the recent period, the Legal Clinic at the Law Faculty in Nis has achieved excellent results in the Clinical legal education program on the women's rights protection, which clearly proves that legal clinics have good prospects in general legal education.

scholarly journals CONSTITUTIONAL VALUES, THERAPEUTIC JURISPRUDENCE AND LEGAL EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA: SHAPING OUR LEGAL ORDER

2016 ◽  
Vol 19 ◽  
pp. 1 ◽  
Author(s):  
Elmarie Fourie
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Legal Order ◽  
Therapeutic Jurisprudence ◽  
Law Students ◽  
First Year ◽  
Plain Language ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
Legal Principles ◽  
The Future

Law schools have a responsibility to remind law students that by studying law they have the power to transform thoughts, policies and lives, and that practising law is not just about financial rewards, but that its greatest reward is contributing to the betterment of society and ultimately to social change. The values and philosophies that law lecturers instil in law students can contribute to the legal order of the future; a legal order that supports a transformative South Africa. A need exists to bring legal education closer to the values enshrined in our Constitution. In addition to an extensive knowledge of legal principles, critical thinking and research skills, law students should critically engage with our constitutional values. The question remains: How do we transform legal education in South Africa? How do we change the way we teach law students? The introduction of concepts such as therapeutic jurisprudence enhanced by our constitutional values will ensure that we deliver graduates that display a commitment to our constitutional vales and an ability to engage critically with these values. It is important to establish a professional legal identity amongst students from their first year as this will assist in the development of a well-rounded graduate that can contribute to the legal order of the future. Letter writing and drafting skills, the value of plain language, moot court activities, alternative dispute resolution and clinical legal education provide opportunities to integrate valuable therapeutic jurisprudence principles into the curriculum and can allow students to critically engage with our constitutional values. By embodying these values they can improve the legal system, shape our legal order and promote progress toward an equal and free democratic society as envisaged by the Constitution.

scholarly journals TRANSFORMATIVE LEGAL EDUCATION IN THE SOUTH AFRICAN CONTEXT

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ropafadzo Maphosa ◽  
Nomathole Nhlapo
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Tertiary Education ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Further Education ◽  
Constitutional Court ◽  
The South ◽  
Colonial Era ◽  
The Republic ◽  
The Right

The late former Justice of the Constitutional Court of the Republic of South Africa, Pius Langa, opined that a truly transformative South Africa requires a new approach that places the Constitutional dream at the very heart of legal education. This view is consistent with section 29 of the Constitution which guarantees everyone the right to further education. However, the state has failed to make further (or tertiary) education progressively available and accessible. We believe this can be attributed to the fact that the South African legal education is still riddled with inequalities from the apartheid/colonial era. This article argues that decolonisation of legal education will begin when teachers of the law become cognizant of the reality that their teaching models will shape the future legal landscape, thus it is imperative for law schools to birth law graduates with an unwavering appreciation and willingness to implement constitutional values, such as human dignity and equality in practice. The advancement of these values is enhanced by the Africanisation of legal education which will ultimately legitimize the legal order so that it mirrors the society in which it exists.

scholarly journals LOOKING TO LITERATURE FOR TRANSFORMATION

2019 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kayla Thomas
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
English Literature ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Law Students ◽  
Marginalised Groups ◽  
Inferiority Complex ◽  
The Law ◽  
Transformative Approach

The English literature that is being taught to law students plays a role in shaping critical and ethically conscious lawyers, as well as in contributing to a transformative approach to legal education in post1994 South Africa by engaging with different perspectives. Value lies in engaging specifically with previously devalued perspectives in a substantive way.5 While limited progress has been made to include diverse and previously undervalued perspectives, a more inclusive English syllabus will produce more ethically conscious and humanistic law students and lawyers.6 Incorporating more literature of marginalised groups into the law syllabus in a non-hierarchical way will challenge and perhaps begin to dismantle the pre-democratic dominance of structural and psychological oppression, systems of patriarchy, and the black inferiority complex.

scholarly journals DECOLONISING LEGAL EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA: A REVIEW OF AFRICAN INDIGENOUS LAW IN THE CURRICULUM

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Joshua Mawere
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Education System ◽  
Legal History ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Post Colonial ◽  
Indigenous Law ◽  
African People ◽  
The Status

The student demonstrations in universities, which began in 2015, demanded the decolonisation of higher education. The demands included free education and a decolonised curriculum. In the field of law, the demand is anchored in changing the law curriculum. The central issues accompanying the demand are the status of indigenous law, legal history, concept of law, how law is taught and the role of law in African societies. The article examines the necessity of decolonising legal education in relation to the curriculum and the teaching of law in South African universities. The article adopts a doctrinal approach to assess the need to transform the curriculum. The article is grounded in the theory of Afrocentricity in a bid to revive the African paradigm and to examine legal epistemology in post-colonial South Africa. The argument developed in this article is that the legal education system has not significantly been decolonised since 1994. Arguably, the education system is founded on European theories and systems, hence difficult or impossible for the students in Africa to relate. This article recommends that a new curriculum that reflect laws, principles and customs of the African people must be introduced in the South African legal education. Institutions are also encouraged to take positive steps to decolonise legal education and end eurocentrism.

scholarly journals Forgotten? The Role of Graduate Legal Education in the Future of the Law Faculty

2014 ◽  
Vol 51 (4) ◽  
pp. 761
Author(s):  
Rosalie Jukier ◽  
Kate Glover
Keyword(s):  
Legal Education ◽  
Law Students ◽  
Graduate Studies ◽  
Legal Studies ◽  
Canadian Law ◽  
Law Faculty ◽  
The Future ◽  
The Law ◽  
The University

In this article, the authors argue that the longstanding trend of excluding graduate studies in law from the discourse on legal education has detrimental effects on both the discourse and the future of the law faculty. More specifically, disregarding graduate legal education is at odds with the reality of graduate studies in Canadian law faculties today, ignores the challenges of graduate programs in law, and perpetuates inaccurate distinctions about both the career aspirations of law students and the relationship between undergraduate and graduate legal studies. In the authors’ view, these concerns can be overcome by reframing the discourse. Once the purpose of legal education is understood to be the cultivation of jurists and the law faculty is seen as an integrated whole of people, place, and program, graduate legal education moves easily into the discussion on the future of the law faculty. Including graduate studies in the discourse is an opportunity to explore, and be hopeful about, the institutional missions of law faculties and their place in the university, the optimization of legal education at all levels, and the methods by which participants in graduate studies should fulfill their responsibilities to the future of the discipline.

scholarly journals BREAKING THE LANGUAGE BARRIER IN LEGAL EDUCATION: A METHOD FOR AFRICANISING LEGAL EDUCATION

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Thokozani Dladla
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
First Language ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
African Language ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
African Languages ◽  
Chief Justice ◽  
The Law ◽  
The Republic

Section 6 of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 recognises eleven official languages of the Republic and further requires the State to take practical steps to advance the use of African languages. The Statistics South Africa 2017/18 report shows that most South Africans’ first language are African languages. Despite this reality and the constitutional imperatives, the South African Bachelor of Laws (LLB) curriculum does not prescribe any African language as a compulsory course, and very few sources of law are in an African language. Some law schools do offer some African languages as an elective. However, it is submitted that this is not sufficient. Experience has shown that the inability to articulate oneself in English can be a barrier to completing the LLB degree in regulation-time and admission to legal practice. Furthermore, it is submitted that the Chief Justice 2017 Directive, in which Chief Justice Mogoeng declared English as the only language of record in South African courts, does not address the language problems experienced by court staff. Instead it simply perpetuates the Eurocentric legal system. This is because it counters the advancement and use of African languages envisaged by the Constitution. This article investigates how the failure to advance multilingualism in the current LLB curriculum can disadvantage law students going to practice. It is proposed that law schools begin to address this issue by introducing two innovations. First, it is suggested that law schools make at least one African language a compulsory course. For English first language speakers in particular, this arrangement will strengthen their understanding of the sociological context in which the law operates. Second, it is proposed that each law school should choose an African language that is predominantly spoken in their geographical area and partner with schools of languages to translate sources of law. For African first language speakers in particular, this will assist them in understanding legal concepts better. Translations of legal texts may also allow for law schools to teach the law in the local African language.

scholarly journals Towards a Sound Pedagogy in Law: A Constitutionally Informed Dissertation as Capstone Course in the LLB Degree Programme

2017 ◽  
Vol 20 ◽  
pp. 1
Author(s):  
Andrea Bauling
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
South African ◽  
Legal Education ◽  
Authentic Learning ◽  
Legal Practice ◽  
Law Schools ◽  
Capstone Course ◽  
Degree Programme ◽  
South African Society ◽  
Academic Influence

The LLB degree programme (Bachelor of Laws) should adequately prepare graduates for the demands set by both legal practice and the greater South African society. Law schools are not tasked with producing future legal practitioners, but rather critical thinkers who can engage with the relationship between law and society in a meaningful way, and who recognise their duty to uphold the values of the Constitution of the Republic of South Africa, 1996 when performing their professional duties. Resultantly law teachers should construct learning environments that engage students in ways that help them develop creativity; embedded subject knowledge; and autonomous learning, critical thinking, and lifelong learning skills. A well-structured LLB degree programme should focus on this broader conception of legal education and a dissertation module as capstone course should be closely aligned with this objective. A greater academic influence could result in an academically rigorous degree programme that produces more mature graduates who possess competencies and attributes that exceed that which is demanded of them by legal practice. One way to establish a greater academic influence in a degree programme would be to include a final year dissertation module which demands that students illustrate the ability to think critically. The final year of a degree programme should provide the student with several opportunities aimed at culminating the learning experience and consolidating the skills and knowledge acquired throughout the preceding years of study. Capstone courses facilitate in-depth learning and should be employed to teach crucial skills related to the purpose of the degree. A compulsory dissertation module as capstone course, which embodies the pedagogical approach of transformative legal education, should be included in the revised curriculum of all law schools in South Africa. This dissertation module should demand that students engage critically with the principles of transformative constitutionalism in order to facilitate thinking that goes beyond traditional and conservative constructions of the South African legal system and its purpose. Such a dissertation could develop a student’s metacognitive ability and result in the development of new legal skills, and the sharpening of existing skills. When producing a dissertation a student is learning to write as well as writing to learn. Crucially, the process of disserting also requires legal research skills and the ability to formulate effective research strategies. A law student who is capable of utilising various sources of law, synthesising the information found therein and presenting it effectively is illustrating elements of authentic learning. But this form of authentic learning in will be near impossible to achieve without the active guidance of a willing supervisor. Law teachers perpetuate legal culture and the supervisor-student relationship creates the opportunity to sculpt the culture instilled so that it may have the desired impact on the student. The supervisor could advance this process by empowering the student to construct critical and transformative views of South African law. A dissertation module presented in this manner could produce students who are able to engage with law constructively and who will graduate as responsible citizens and aspiring legal professionals who are excited about inspiring social justice and transformation in their communities. 

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