Emboldening the student as advocate; being emboldened educators

Warning: sensitive/triggering content

The Daily Blog Crime Report reads: Mother, and former librarian, Emma (53) arrested for assault after, allegedly pushing her autistic son, Martin, aged 18, down the stairs. Neighbour, Roise gave an eyewitness report, ‘I knew something like this were going to happen. She’s finally snapped.’ Martin, who is non-verbal, has reportedly not been in education or training since the age of 16. According to neighbours, ‘the family keep themselves to themselves’. After decades of underfunding, the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) drafts in students from the Open University Law School to review the evidence with a view to prosecuting Emma for cruelty towards a vulnerable adult in her sole care.

This challenging scenario formed the crux of the W111 module session, at our Level 1 and 2 ‘How To Succeed’ conferences held across the UK. After being briefed on the Full Code Test (the criteria for prosecution) students were divided into prosecution and defence teams. Working together, they evaluated whether the evidence was to the standard required for prosecution, and if prosecuting Emma would be in the public interest. The teams put forward their arguments, exposing them to the scrutiny of the other side.

What did students learn?

This adversarial exercise was crafted with a number of learning objectives in mind. Firstly, it presented students with a nuanced, real-life example, of the cases faced by the CPS. Secondly students collaborated to select evidence, create arguments and reach a consensus (or not!). They exercised problem-solving skills and practised creating logically structured and persuasive arguments. In this intensive face-to-face experience, students gained confidence in presenting ideas, facing rebuttals and vigorously defending their arguments in lively debate.
In this engaging task there was no place to hide. The stakes were high; a mother’s liberty was a stake and a vulnerable young adult’s welfare was on the line. Where would justice lie? With sympathetic characters and finely balanced evidence, students rapidly realised there were no easy answers. They learned this abiding axiom of the law: there are no certainties and coming to a just decision requires balancing competing points of equal merit. In this scenario, the distinction between victim and perpetrator was blurred.

The challenges faced by the criminal justice system are linked to wider social issues; poverty, disability and a welfare system operating on a shoestring. Many of our participants had direct experience of these issues, enhancing their understanding of the complexities of legal decision-making. Effective legal representation depends upon empathy; by drawing on their own personal experience students were better able to champion Emma or Martin. This exercise leveraged the opportunity to empower their voice in the service of justice, giving them a taste as to how personal challenges could be transformed into strengths in legal practice.

Equally, effective legal representation requires anticipating opposing arguments and hearing difficult truths. The vox pop appears to have a punitive sense of justice, whereas this experience was a useful exercise in balance and nuance. The engagement in hearing about challenging experiences, listening to opposing views, and considering all stakeholders, strengthened students’ argument and reasoning skills. Unsurprisingly many participants concluded that the evidence indicated that both Emma and Martin were victims and criminal prosecution is a blunt instrument for achieving justice. Students ultimately put the austerity measures and the failings of the state in supporting vulnerable families on trial.

What did we learn?

This session provoked much reflection on our pedagogy. Students rose enthusiastically to this challenging task, clearly capable of deep learning through complex exercises. With time to think, rigour can be ingrained. One student described that this was difficult at first as they felt intimidated, yet as they participated their confidence grew. The step-by-step application of the Full Code test encouraged students to disentangle the facts and structure coherent arguments. It is never too early for law students to face the challenges of imposing legal order on life’s messiness.

Students valued the active, experiential and experimental learning. They appreciated the chance to have their say, share their experiences, and engage in meaningful debate. This taught us to let students lead and own their learning. In an online tutorial, it is easy for tutors to default to delivering content, especially if students feel inhibited. This exercise indicates, that given the right topic and environment, students relish the opportunity to educate each other through adversarial discussions. As one student commented; ‘it was great to have the opportunity to develop ideas and not just to be told stuff.’

Reflecting on this, how could this type of learning be fostered online? We may need to consider alternative online platforms, better suited to hosting debates and student led learning.

Topics that resonate with students’ own experiences, (topic-based learning) allow them to integrate prior knowledge, deepen understanding and progress to analysis and application. In short, realistic case scenarios, with true-to-life characters, however fraught and messy fuel their interest; students readily identified with the life circumstances of Emma and Martin, from the challenges of caring responsibilities, the financial strain of raising a family, the endless exhausting battles with the health and social care system, and finally to the irritations of nosy neighbours. Meaningful inclusivity enhances engagement which supports knowledge and skills development. In creating learning content, we should remember the benefit of students seeing their lived experiences as well as their identities, reflected in materials.

Learning should be a buzz for tutors as well as students. This conference activity stimulated legal learning and skills, as well as the appreciation of wider social justice for our students. For us as educators, the stunning pinnacle of this learning experience was what we learned from our students about the multi dimensions of deep learning.

As educators, reflecting on this session has challenged our pedagogical knowledge, and inspired us to explore new dimensions for creating deep online learning.

Corey Flynn

Criminal barrister based in NI, OU alum and Associate Lecturer.

Bryony Gilbert

Bryony has been an AL at the Law School since 2006, becoming a Student Experience Manager in 2021, focusing her effort on supporting our Level 1 students.