Non-traditional students and critical pedagogy: transformative practice and the teaching of criminal law

ABSTRACT

This article explores the practical implication of adopting critical pedagogy, and more specifically critical legal pedagogy, in the teaching of non-traditional students in higher education context. It is based on the teaching of criminal law at Birkbeck School of Law, addressing learning tasks which have been designed to enhance students’ learning experience. The proposition put forward in this article suggests that exactly because many of the non-traditional, mature students do not intend to pursue an ad hoc legal profession, the teaching approach should be geared towards widening the social context of learning and the acquisition of transferable skills, but mainly towards fostering students’ social ‘transformation’.

KEYWORDS:

• Non-traditional students
• widening participation
• student-centred approach
• threshold concepts
• critical (legal) pedagogy

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.

Notes

1. The Joint Statement was created by the Joint Academic Stage Board. This includes representatives from academia, the Solicitor Regulation Authority and the Bar Standard Board. Accessed 15 April 2016. https://www.barstandardsboard.org.uk/qualifying-as-a-barrister/academic-stage/joint-academic-stage-board/.

2. The Foundations of Legal Knowledge are: Public Law, Law of the EU, Criminal Law, Obligations, Property Law and Equity.

3. See, for example, students testimonies in Student Profiles on Birkbeck School of Law web-page, 2016. Accessed 29 February 2016. http://www.bbk.ac.uk/law/study-here/student-profiles?next=10&prev=0); also, see relevant statistics on Birkbeck's students, Birkbeck Statistics Book 2010/11, Chapters one and two. Accessed 29 February 2016. http://www.bbk.ac.uk/committees/committee-papers/committees-and-working-group-archive/governors-committee-archive/20111130/statsbook.

4. Currently, mature students are those above the age of 21 (UCAS, Mature Students' Guide, 2015. Accessed 29 February 2016. https://www.ucas.com/sites/default/files/Mature%20guide%202015.pdf).

5. Re A (Conjoined twins) [2001] 2 W.L.R. 480. In this case law, the parents of the twins came from India for a specialised advice. However, because they refused to have the twins surgically separated due to their religious believes, the doctors sought a legal authorisation, which was granted.

6. R v R [1992] 1 AC 599 (HL) [1991] 3 WLR 767. The legal principle on that regard has introduced the notion that even within married couples, an un-consensual sexual intercourse can be classified as rape.

7. R v Ahluwalia [1993] 96 Cr. App. R. 133.

8. See http://www.bbk.ac.uk/law/news/student-members-of-the-school-of-law-mooting-society-participate-in-lses-lgbt-moot.