1st Edition
Legal Education for Wellbeing Design, Delivery and Evaluation
This book aims to assist legal educators and law schools in integrating wellbeing within the design and delivery of the legal curriculum. It also encourages the evaluation of wellbeing-related initiatives, to develop an evidence-based, sustainable approach to its inclusion.
The contributions to this volume each focus upon different aspects of wellbeing and the curriculum, including the applications of vulnerability and social identity theory, the role of transitions and inductions, the implementation and evaluation of law school wellbeing initiatives, reflections on both the Socratic method and assessment, the results of a longitudinal student study and a consideration of the legal profession’s perspective. They contain both theoretical and empirical evidence to support the development of wellbeing-informed teaching and learning and foster positive interactions and experiences for both staff and students. Taken together, and coupled with international perspectives, they provide evidence and examples to support a holistic approach to wellbeing in legal education which moves beyond simply ameliorating damaging impacts and instead identifies meaningful routes to fostering positive wellbeing.
This volume will be of interest to legal academics and others with an interest in legal education, including legal professionals and law students. It will also appeal to those who have an interest in integrating wellbeing into the curriculum within higher education. This book was originally published as a special issue of The Law Teacher.
Introduction – Legal education for wellbeing: design, delivery and evaluation
Emma Jones and Caroline Strevens
1. Law-students wellbeing and vulnerability
Graham Ferris
2. “I was able to ask for help when I became stressed rather than sitting alone and struggling”: psychology and law students’ views of the impact of identity and community on mental wellbeing
Michael Fay and Yvonne Skipper
3. “Make glorious mistakes!” Fostering growth and wellbeing in HE transition
Stella Coyle and Hannah Gibbons-Jones
4. Is using the term wellbeing with students a mistake? Evaluating a wellbeing intervention in a UK Law School - suggestions for repositioning strategies to address the impact of deficit-discourse
Denise Meyer and Caroline Strevens
5. Influences on students’ interest in a legal career, satisfaction with law school, & psychological distress: trends in New Zealand
Valerie Sotardi, Lynne Taylor, Erik Brogt, Ursula Cheer and Natalie Baird
6. “Hell is other people”: rethinking the Socratic method for quiet law students
Rachel Spencer
7. Feeling feedback: screencasting assessment feedback for tutor and student well-being
Alison Turnbull
8. The role of employer/educator collaboration in improving the wellbeing of lawyers
Nigel Jones
9. Harnessing the winds of change
Anne Macduff and Vivien Holmes
Biography
Dr Emma Jones is Senior Lecturer of Law at the University of Sheffield School of Law. Her research focuses on the role of wellbeing and emotions in legal education and the legal profession. She is Chair of the Association of Law Teachers and an International Bar Association Wellbeing Commissioner.
Caroline Strevens is Professor of Legal Education at the University of Portsmouth Law School. Her research focuses on the wellbeing of Law staff and students including investigating how principles of positive psychology may influence or promote flourishing.
