Law Teaching On Trial: The Expectations and Experiences of First Year Canterbury Law Students
| Author | Lynne Taylor, Ursula Cheer, Natalie Baird, John Caldwell, Debra Wilson |
| Pages | 82-111 |
82
LAW TEACHING ON TRIA L: THE EXPECTATIONS AND
EXPER IENCE S OF FIRST YEAR CA NTERBURY LAW
STUDENTS
L T, U C, N B, J C,
D W *
A
is paper reports the results of two online surve ys focusing on the expectations
and experiences of students e nrolled in rst year law papers oered in 2014 by the
School of Law at the University of Canterbury. e re sults from these surveys make
up the rst phase in a planned longitudinal study of the participating students. A
survey of School of Law teaching sta was al so carried out. Student s participating
in the study shared many common characteristics and, for the most part, reported
high levels of engagement in, and satisfaction with, their law school experience.
ere was a high degree of correlation between the responses of students and
academic sta to questions directe d at students’ teaching and learning experiences.
Most students reported overall levels of mental wellness either consistent with or
better than the general population over the entirety of their rst year of study.
ere were few signicant gendered dierences in students’ responses. Although
the ndings of this phase of the project are prima facie positive, further work
needs to be done to determine the make-up of the small minority who reported a
dierent and more negative experience.
* e team of authors a re all members of the Socio -Legal Resea rch Group at the School of Law,
University of Canterbu ry. Ursula Cheer is Professor a nd Dean of Law, Lynne Taylor and John
Caldwell ar e Associate Profe ssors of Law, and Nata lie Baird and De bra Wilson are Sen ior
Lecturer s in Law.
We have a number of acknowledgements to ma ke. First, our th anks go to t he sta at the
University of Canterbu ry who gave thei r support and as sistance to t his study, partic ularly
the Dean of the L aw School at the time the project wa s carried out, Asso ciate Professor Chris
Gallavin . We acknowledge, wit h thank s, the fundi ng we have received f rom Ako Aotear oa
Southern Hub for this rst stage of the study. We also tha nk our independent consulta nt, Dr
Liz Gordon, for her assi stance with admi nistering the student su rveys and production of d ata
and for her general supp ort and assistance.
Law Teaching On Trial 83
I. I
is paper reports on the rst, baseline, collection of data in a planned
longitudinal study of law students at the University of Canterbury.1 e
ndings in this paper a re a subset of those in a wider study focusing on the
experiences and expectations of students at the Universities of Auckland,
Canterbury and Waikato.2
e expectations and experiences of New Zealand law students have been
little studied and we hope that this study may help inform and improve the
teaching practices of law teachers a nd, in turn, enhance law students’ learning
and law school experiences at the University of Canterbury and else where.
It is intended that, over time, a complete University of Canterbury law
student prole will be developed which will deta il the expectations, views
and experiences of law students during each yea r of their law studies and in
their rst years in the workforce.
In this rst phase of the study, two online surveys of the cohort of rst
year students enrolled in rst year law papers at the University of Canterbury
in 2014 were undertaken, the rst sur vey taking place at the beginning of t he
academic year, the second towards the end. An extensive range of data was
collected from core demographic information through to relationships with
teaching sta a nd other students, family background, f uture intentions and
general well-being. Results were ana lysed across the total survey cohort and by
gender. An online survey of Law School academic sta was also undertaken.
e methodology employed is detailed in Part II of the paper. Results and
accompanying commentary is set out in Part III.
A key, but not unexpected, nding was that the rst law students in t he
total study cohort shared many common characteristics. A fur ther nding,
likely inuenced by these shared common characteristics, was that there was
a high degree of consistency in students’ overall response s. For the most part,
students generally reported high levels of enga gement in, and satisfaction with,
their law school experience. ere was a high degree of correlation between
the responses of students and academic sta to questions directed at students’
teaching and learni ng experience. A further nding, aga in consistent with the
foregoing, was that most students reported overall levels of mental wellness
either consistent with or better than the general population over the entirety
of their rst year of study – a nding that is out of line with overseas trends.
A nal and unexpected nding was that the analysis of students’ responses
showed few signicant gendered dierences. However, whilst the ndings of
the study are prima facie positive, we also conclude that fu rther work needs
2 See Lynne Taylor, Ursula Cheer, Natalie B aird, John Caldwell, Debra Wil son “e Making
of Lawyers: E xpectations and Experienc es of First Year New Zealand Law St udents” (2015)
Project Outputs, Sout hern Hub, Ako Aotearoa, Welli ngton, 2015 .
To continue reading
Request your trial