Advisory Board
Annual Meeting | September 2009
11 a.m. — 1 p.m. on 21st September 2009 Radcliffe House, University of Warwick Coventry CV4 7AL
Agenda
Paper One Advisory Board | September 2009
Welcome & Apologies ...... 5 Minutes from 2007/08 ...... 7 Director’s Report...... 15 The context...... 15 Our priorities ...... 17 Centre organisation and staffing ...... 19 Celebrating our accomplishments...... 19 Annual Report 2008/09 ...... 21 Introduction ...... 21 Events Programme...... 23 Learning in Law Annual Conference (LILAC09)...... 24 Law Teacher of the Year 2009...... 25 Student Essay Competition...... 26 Other direct engagement with students ...... 26 Project Development Fund...... 26 Major grant awarded to UKCLE for OER project ...... 27 Communications ...... 27 Research ...... 29 Engagement with specific institutions...... 29 Project work...... 30 Collaboration with Higher Education Academy colleagues...... 31 Collaboration with other professional bodies ...... 32 Online resources at www.ukcle.ac.uk...... 33 UKCLE contacts ...... 36 Financial information and accountability...... 37 Plans for 2009/10 ...... 40 Introduction ...... 40 Operational Plan ...... 40 Summary Budget for 2009/10...... 46 Members’ Reports...... 47 A European qualification framework for social sciences — how does law fit in? ...... 47 Chair’s Report ...... 50
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Any other business...... 50 Appendix...... 51 Reports to the Higher Education Academy ...... 51
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Welcome & Apologies
Paper Two Advisory Board | September 2009
Purpose of paper Action requested To record attendance Chair to welcome Author attendees and receive Danielle Lysaght apologies into record
Attendees
Members Jane Buddle British and Irish Association of Law Librarians Roger Burridge University of Warwick (host institution) Liz Campbell Law Society of Scotland Mike Cuthbert Association of Law Teachers Penny English Socio-Legal Studies Association Eileen Fry Association of LPC Providers Selina Goulbourne Commonwealth Legal Education Association John Hamilton* Faculty of Advocates Phil Harris Legal Education Research Group Alison Hollyer Institute of Legal Executives Kevin Kerrigan Clinical Legal Education Organisation Julian Lonbay Society of Legal Scholars Tim Pearce Solicitors Regulation Authority Valerie Shrimplin Bar Standards Board Co-opted members Alison Bone University of Brighton Fiona Cownie Keele University Nigel Duncan The City Law School Ann Holmes Manchester Metropolitan University Pat Leighton University of Glamorgan Paul Maharg University of Strathclyde Avrom Sherr (Chair) Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Ex officio members William Twining UKCLE External Evaluator
* new member replacing Pino di Emidio
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UKCLE staff Danielle Lysaght Centre Manager Patricia McKellar Senior Teaching and Learning Advisor Hansa Surti Events Coordinator Tracey Varnava Associate Director Julian Webb Director
Apologies
The following Members and staff have given their apologies for the meeting: Sefton Bloxham British and Irish Law, Education and Technology Assocation Rebecca Hilsenrath LawWorks Mike Ottley Consortium for Access to Legal Education Alan Paterson (co-opted) University of Strathclyde David Sadler Higher Education Academy Ashley Wilton Committee of Heads of University Law Schools
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Minutes from 2007/08
Paper Two Advisory Board | September 2009
Purpose of paper Author To enter minutes of Victoria MacFarlane previous meeting into Action requested formal record Approval of minutes
Minutes of a meeting of the UKCLE Advisory Board held at University House, University of Warwick on September 24th 2008
Present: Alison Bone (University of Brighton), Jane Buddle (British and Irish Association of Law Librarians), Roger Burridge (University of Warwick), Liz Campbell (Law Society of Scotland), Fiona Cownie (Keele University), Mike Cuthbert (Association of Law Teachers), Nigel Duncan (The City Law School), Pino di Emidio (Faculty of Advocates), Penny English (Socio-Legal Studies Association), Selina Goulbourne (Commonwealth Legal Education Association), Joanne Green (Solicitors Regulatory Authority), Rebecca Hilsenrath (LawWorks), Ann Holmes (Manchester Metropolitan University), Kevin Kerrigan (Clinical Legal Education Organisation), Patricia Leighton (University of Glamorgan), Julian Lonbay (Society of Legal Scholars), Paul Maharg (University of Strathclyde), Mike Ottley (Consortium for Access to Legal Education), Diane Rowland (British & Irish Law, Education and Technology Association), Avrom Sherr (Chair, Institute of Advanced Legal Studies), Valerie Shrimplin (Bar Standards Board), William Twining (UKCLE External Evaluator), Ashley Wilton (Committee of Heads of University Law Schools).
UKCLE: Victoria Macfarlane (Centre Administrator), Patricia McKellar (E-learning Advisor), Hansa Surti (Events Co-ordinator), Tracey Varnava (Associate Director), Julian Webb (Centre Director) and Hollie Wright (Centre Assistant).
Apologies: Alison Hollyer (Institute of Legal Executives), Eileen Fry (Association of LPC Providers), Alan Paterson (University of Strathclyde), Phil Harris (Legal Education Research Network).
Item 01/08 Welcome and apologies
Avrom Sherr welcomed the members and made particular mention of the new members to the Advisory Board. Apologies were noted and members introduced themselves. Avrom informed members of the retirement of Lewis Elton from the Advisory Board. Fiona Cownie questioned whether a card and letter of thanks should be sent to Lewis and Tracey Varnava explained that the UKCLE had already sent a card but that the Advisory Board was welcome to do so also. Avrom Sherr agreed to organise this on behalf of the board. Action Point | Avrom Sherr to send a card to Lewis Elton on behalf of the Advisory Board thanking him for his contribution to the work of the UKCLE
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Avrom announced to the Board that Alistair MacQueen, publisher and former sponsor of Law Teacher of the Year, passed away on 21 September 2008. Board members held a minute’s silence for Alistair.
Item 02/08 Minutes and action points from the meeting on 17 September 2007 The minutes were confirmed and all action points were confirmed as having been completed except for point 04/08, which was for Advisory Board Members to put forward suggestions to the UKCLE on funding an income generation plan. Avrom explained that this was a difficult area for Board members to contribute to and would be revisited as part of the agenda.
Items 03/08 Director’s report Julian Webb introduced the Director’s report and requested that it be discussed together with the annual report due to similarities between the documents. He explained that 07-08 had been a challenging year for the UKCLE, a year of transition in which the Centre had succeeded in maintaining the level of service expected by the subject community despite the loss of three key staff. The UKCLE had achieved its key targets and contributed to the HEA Evaluation Strategy, HEA Strategic Plan and had also developed its own Strategic plan and moved forward on income generation. Julian reported that the HEA was seeking to address the Oakleigh evaluation report recommendations and noted that the Subject Centres had received strong support from across the sector in the report. Julian informed the Board that the UKCLE had clear future priorities for 2008- 09 and was committed to continuing work started during 2007-08. Staff roles were being reorganised and key areas of change in staffing include the introduction of Teaching and Learning Advisors and consultants as well as the new post of Centre Manager. Julian stated that none of the work of the last year would have been possible without the efforts of the whole team and he would like to publicly acknowledge the performance of staff.
Item 04/08 Annual Report 2007-2008
Tracey Varnava introduced the annual report. She explained that the departmental engagement data was better this year due to the nations’ visits, which were a positive way of raising the Centre’s profile. The UKCLE had been involved for the first time in the Law Teacher of the Year awards, which had provided a good opportunity to visit law schools and interview staff and students. Consultation work had continued during 2007-08 and Julian Webb had worked closely with the HEA on a number of issues, though the Centre was aware of the need carefully to manage the additional workload that such cross-Academy work could bring. Julian added that the HEA was trying to work more with its Directors and to operate as ‘one’ organisation less centred on the head office in York. Julian Webb said a little more on the nations’ visits, explaining that there were plans for further visits during 2008-09 with Northern Ireland a priority together with the completion of the Wales and Scotland visits. The process overall had been very useful and had enabled the UKCLE to build direct engagement with UK Law Schools and allowed access to much information that was usually below the surface. It had become apparent that law schools were not always aware of the innovation within their own walls. In particular there was a great deal of interest in e-learning, and some evidence of growing interest in distance learning at Master’s level. It was also clear that many drivers were external to the law school and were focused on institutional priorities. In Scotland one of the areas of interest was discovering how individual institutions had responded to the quality enhancement agenda and how quickly it had become embedded in departments. Challenges in Scotland included student numbers and massification, while in Wales the issue of adding a Welsh dimension to legal education was a key challenge. In addition there was evidence from a number of contexts that, outside of London at least, recruitment at Master’s level had peaked, with important implications for resourcing and future teaching and learning issues. Other current areas of concern
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included student motivation, diversity and widening participation, and the problem of embedding skills in the curriculum, especially beyond the first year. The Chair invited Patricia McKellar to describe the new approach to events taken in the form of the e-learning seminar series during 07-08. Patricia explained that a steering group had been set up 18 months in advance to work out a programme of seminars. There were four seminars in total with a keynote speaker in each (drawn from law and other disciplines), who gave a theoretical talk which was then followed by a practical session. The workshops were well received with 35 – 40 attendees at each and good feedback. The idea was to plan for the future and build on these events. For example, a steering group had been set up to develop an e-learning conference in 08-09. Avrom Sherr highlighted work with regulatory bodies in part two of the Directors report, and mentioned that there was no legal academic on the Legal Services Board. Julian Webb replied that the UKCLE was aware of this issue and had been in communication with the academic associations, including the Committee of Heads of University Law Schools during the summer. He added that it was a matter more for representative bodies but the UKCLE was maintaining an interest. Ashley Wilton stated that he felt that the UKCLE should emphasise the need for informed decision-making and sensible regulations using whatever mechanisms were at its disposal. Ashley added that CHULS had decided that he would write a letter to the Legal Services Board about this issue, to explore how an informed dialogue may be facilitated. Fiona Cownie suggested that the UKCLE should also write to the Board to express concerns and emphasise the need for a dialogue. She added that the SLS was also planning to write and stressed that the more bodies that did so, the better. Mike Cuthbert added that the ALT was planning to write and to be involved in any future dialogue with the Board on this topic. Julian replied that it would be good to organise a co-ordinated response and thus if he were to write on behalf of the Advisory Board it would be with consent of the bodies present. Valerie Shrimplin indicated her agreement on behalf of the Bar Standards Board, and the general agreement of members of the Board was noted. Action Point | The UKCLE to support efforts to address the absence of legal academic representation on the Legal Services Board
Action Point | Julian Webb to write to the Legal Services Board on behalf of the UKCLE Advisory Board expressing concern about the absence of a legal academic representative
Fiona Cownie questioned how the UKCLE was capitalising on the SIMPLE project. Patricia McKellar stated that the UKCLE hoped to continue to be involved in the project into 2008-09, and although further funding was not possible at this stage, dissemination would continue. She reported that there were also ongoing discussions with the HEA about support for extending the project to other disciplines. Fiona Cownie expressed concern about the amount of work being done with so few staff. Tracey Varnava agreed that there was a lot of work being planned for 2008-09, but added that much of this work was consolidation. She added that the new Centre Manager post would free up a great deal of her time and would be combined with a broadening of Patricia McKellar’s role, and the introduction of Teaching and Learning Advisors and Consultants. Ashley Wilton stated that he was in support of the Centre Manager role and applauded the new staffing initiatives. William Twining mentioned that the Islamic Law project represented a significant development in the work that the UKCLE was involved in. He added that as far as the UK was concerned the emphasis should be on small modules on issues such as Islamic family law. He questioned whether the UKCLE was involved in the upcoming conference in Venice. Tracey Varnava replied that the plan was currently to have a legal education stream at the conference that Hansa Surti would be involved in organising. William added that the manuals produced by the project so far were a good resource but much thought needed to be devoted to the primary audience and other potential
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audiences. Tracey explained that there was much work being done in this area but that the current focus of the manuals was teachers teaching Islamic Law. The format and approach was based on the original National Centre for Legal Education (NCLE) manuals. She added that an editor had been appointed to continue work on the manuals. Fiona Cownie suggested that dispute resolution would be an important topic to address in future further manuals. Julian replied that this was potentially a huge project and ideally required much more funding than UKCLE could provide. Kevin Kerrigan questioned whether there were any plans to develop further modules for the Toolkit project aside from the five already mentioned. He suggested clinical and experimental learning would potentially make good topics. Julian replied that there was much potential to expand the project and other topics of interest included vocational legal education and skills based learning. He added that existing funding was sufficient for 5 modules and further funding had not yet been sought as it was felt that it would be useful to have a sample of the final project in place to secure this. Nigel Duncan stated that on page six of the annual report there was reference to a UKCLE funded project by Caroline Hunter; he questioned what the definition of empirical legal research training was. Julian replied that this was a question for Caroline to address during the course of the project. William Twining questioned whether the project was a follow up to the Nuffield report and Julian confirmed that it was, and added that it was attempting to discover what went on at an undergraduate stage. Hollie Wright introduced the expenditure report and invited questions. Avrom Sherr stated that the report was a very helpful addition to the paperwork for the meeting
Item 05/08 2008-2009 Strategic Plan 2008-13 Julian introduced the strategic plan and stated that an early draft had been seen by the Strategy Committee in January 2008. He explained that the plan had been written in tandem with the Academy’s strategic plan, which was itself only finalised in July 2008; as a result it had not been possible to send the plan to the Strategy Committee for comment prior to it being presented to the Advisory Board, which would have been the preferred procedure. Julian invited feedback and requested that broad approval be given to the plan prior to it going through a final redraft and being submitted to the Strategy Committee at their next meeting in January 2009. Julian suggested that comments be sent to him by Board members via email after the meeting and agreed to circulate them. Action Point | Advisory Board Members to send comments on UKCLE Strategic Plan to Julian Webb
Julian highlighted that the plan was not a radical departure from the previous one; it was a developmental document and had undergone a refocusing of priorities. The main aim was to increase the UKCLE’s responsiveness and improve engagement with the subject community, placing the UKCLE in a facilitator role in developing a community of practice. Other priorities included developing research and income generation capacity. Avrom Sherr stated that he was in favour of the aims and objectives and approved of the movement to a more evidence informed approach. Alison Bone recommended adding sustainability more visibly into the plan and this was agreed by Kevin Kerrigan. Nigel Duncan stated that it was important to look at outcomes in terms of feasibility and in light of the final column it was good to identify risks. He added that as the Centre engaged in such a vast amount of work there was a need to be cautious about what it hoped to achieve whilst also displaying ambition. He advised Board Members to look through and get a whole plan view in light of risks and achievability. Avrom pointed out there seemed to be broad agreement with the content but concern about the feasibility of the plan. Nigel added that the increased contact with Academy York highlighted the
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importance of Subject Centres. Ann Holmes suggested that in terms of monitoring and reviewing the plan for the Strategy Committee a traffic light system could be adopted, with use of red, amber and green for things that need to change. Julian agreed that items were likely to drop off the list over the course of the plan and Ann agreed that there was a need for the Centre to be pragmatic. Julian Lonbay pointed out that in the objectives section there were many acronyms and these should be accompanied by their actual meanings. He questioned to whom the plan would be publicised. Julian added that the publishing of strategic plans varied by Subject Centre and asked for views. Fiona Cownie proposed that it would not be helpful or necessary to publicise the full tabular details.
Item 06/08 2008-2009 Plans & Budget Tracey Varnava stated that the operational plan had been submitted to the Academy in June 2008. She explained that the detail needed to be worked through with the team as things had developed further since the plan’s submission. There was an emphasis on making more of the UKCLE’s website and the resources already contained as well as building on areas of activity and engagement from the previous plan. Tracey invited comment from Board Members. Kevin Kerrigan questioned why the Consultants and Teaching and Learning Advisors were not in the operational plan. Tracey replied that when the plan was written the budget had not been finalised but that in certain areas of work consultants had been allocated, for example in relation to work on HE in FE. Fiona Cownie pointed out that managing the Consultants was likely to be a large job and questioned whether full consideration had been taken of the time involved in working with staff ‘off site’. Tracey explained that over the life of the UKCLE various staffing models had been tried and that there were pros and cons with them all. Given the Centre’s funding and the size of the staffing budget, moving resources into a more flexible and responsive model was felt to be necessary. Due consideration of the risks involved and the need for careful management had been taken into account in reaching this decision. Avrom Sherr commented that he was in agreement with the UKCLE making more use of existing resources. Roger Burridge suggested that by completing the nations visits the UKCLE stood to gain a huge amount of useful information. He questioned whether this could be built into more specific outcomes and whether there was scope for writing up. Julian Webb responded that some of the information is confidential in nature, but that there should be scope to draw general conclusions and observations from the data. He added that it may be timely on a broader scale to revisit Phil Harris’ Law Schools Survey work.
Item 07/08 Income Generation discussion document Tracey Varnava highlighted some of the difficulties associated with developing an income generation strategy for the UKCLE. She explained that it was not possible to develop such a strategy without regard to the Higher Education Academy and other demands, but that a strategy was needed as the UKCLE’s core budget was failing to keep up with rising demand and central costs. She stated that the issue had been discussed with the Strategy Committee previously but that no clear agreement had been reached on the way forward. Clarity was needed as to what constitutes core activity at an Academy level but this had not yet been forthcoming, while Subject Centres were unable to concur even on the issue of charging for events. Tracey explained that the paper presented ways in which the UKCLE could prepare itself internally for income generation and also ways in which a strategy may be built. She added that the Centre’s view was that profit from any income generating activity should be fed back into the development of core services for the benefit of the legal education community in the UK. She raised the desirability of linkage between income generating activity and core services which could perhaps be most obviously made in relation to consultancy work. Tracey asked for views of Board Members and added that she was looking for general support for the types of activity set out in the paper.
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Ann Holmes asked about the Academy’s position on income generation. Tracey replied that information had been requested from the Academy and that Linda Challis (at the Higher Education Academy) had written a paper on the subject which was confidential at present but highlighted that the Academy itself was grappling with similar issues around what is core activity and what services over and above might be attractive to the HE community. Linda’s work was very much Academy York centred, with no reference to the role of the subject centres in any Academy wide income generation strategy. Fiona Cownie suggested that international consultancy or running an MA were sufficiently distinct activities to be outside core work. Julian Webb added that research was another area of work, which when carried out on an FEC basis would have direct financial benefit for the Centre and provide staff with development opportunities. The issue was the extent to which it was necessary that these activities should directly benefit the UK legal education community. Julian continued by saying that work on income generation must be self funding as regards staffing. Pat Leighton suggested that there may be potential for the UKCLE to work with non lawyers who want to know about law and legal education. Julian replied that the only possible problem with this idea was the issue of treading on other Subject Centre’s toes. Patricia replied that this would mean excellent scope for collaborative work. Julian agreed but noted that there may be difficulties agreeing charging structures between subject centres. Roger Burridge stated that income generation alone was not a sufficient objective and added that the UKCLE should function for the legal education community and work done by the Centre should benefit its community. He questioned whether the UKCLE could act in an agency role. Nigel Duncan suggested that there was a high degree of risk in setting up road-shows to break even and that the UKCLE should always aim for a small profit to reduce this risk. Kevin Kerrigan stated that caution was needed in distinguishing between free and chargeable services. He explained that overseas work was ideal as it was distinct whereas domestic services were a greyer area. To exemplify the difficulty, Tracey explained that in one case the UKCLE had been asked to aid a law school in redesigning its curriculum, a time consuming process and surely outside of what may be considered core activity. Fiona Cownie commented that this could definitely be charged for as it was tailored to an individual law school. Tracey added that the question remained where the line should be drawn. Julian Lonbay stated that in 2007 there was a lot of discussion about internationalisation and while it was hard to find the money there was scope for research activity in this area. However to obtain this kind of work there was a lot of upfront investment in time and effort required. Alison Bone pointed out that there were many events run by the UKCLE that she would like to attend but was unable to on the dates offered. She questioned whether there was a possibility of re-running certain popular events over several dates as more one day workshops would generate more bespoke events. Patricia McKellar replied that this had been an option considered with the E- learning Seminar Series and there was now planning around developing one e-learning event that could travel around the UK like a road-show. Fiona Cownie added that she too had wished to attend several UKCLE events but had been unable to due to scheduling conflicts. She explained that in cases where events had low attendance that did not necessarily mean the topic was unpopular but possibly that the date was awkward. She motioned for Advisory Board Members to let the UKCLE know of events of interest that could potentially be repeated. Action Point | Advisory Board Members to let the UKCLE know of events they have run previously which could be repeated
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Item 08/08 Reports from Members Avrom Sherr introduced the reports from members and asked that questions be discussed at lunch.
Report from Valerie Shrimplin on Bar Vocational Providers Course (oral) Valerie Shrimplin introduced the report and stated that the Bar Standards Board had a new Director, Mandy Lubbin; the posts of chair and vice chair had been advertised. The Bar Vocational review builds on existing work which had gone on for a while with consultation having started in October 2007 and the report completed by June 2008. The process, led by Derek Wood, involved extensive consultation, with 80 meetings being held with providers and professional bodies such as the Inns of Court and the UKCLE. Inputs and outputs had been analysed with particular emphasis on entry standards and the maintaining of standards and assessment standards, along with exit qualifications and competencies. An extract from the report and a new handbook were both available on the BVC website (http://www.bvconline.co.uk/). There were two main challenges highlighted: the accreditation of new courses and the ongoing debate over entry standards. The accreditation of new courses takes place on a tight timescale with the first half of the course being run in January 2009. Interest had been invited from existing and new providers as well as providers of qualifying law degrees. To combat the ongoing debate on entry standards it was agreed that an aptitude test would be implemented, as well as an exit test (with the first of these to be run in the summer of 2011). Valerie added that a pupillage group was hoping to meet by the end of October 2008 and that the Bar Standards Board was now managing the Joint Academic Stage Board.
Report from Paul Maharg on the SIMPLE project Paul Maharg introduced the SIMPLE project report. He stated that SIMPLE had begun in July 2006. Year one of the project involved the design and building of the software in association with the pilot institutions; the Universities of Warwick, Glamorgan, Stirling, Strathclyde, West of England and Glasgow Graduate School of Law. In year two the software was used in 14 organisations, with 12 successful projects being completed. SIMPLE is now accessible via the web (http://simplecommunity.org), on Apple I-phone and can be embedded in the web and podcasts. It is free open-source software for anyone to download and there are also discussion forums on the website. The full report of the SIMPLE project had now been completed and was available from the SIMPLE website. A community of practice was being set up to take the software forward and provide documentation. The next stage of the project was reliant on further funding. CALI, the Centre for Computer Assisted Legal Instruction, had agreed to provide funding for US law schools and a further three institutions had provided funding to support the community of practice in the UK. Avrom Sherr congratulated the SIMPLE team on completion of the project and noted the contribution of UKCLE E-learning Advisor Patricia McKellar.
Item 09/08 Chair’s report
Avrom stated that in the interests of time he intended to keep his report brief and thanked UKCLE for the more open and accessible information provided in this year’s reports and UKCLE staff for all their hard work over the course of the year.
Item 10/08 Any other business
Avrom mentioned that it may become necessary to invite a representative from the Higher Education Academy to future Advisory Board Meetings. Pat Leighton stated that the Legal Education Research Network (part of ALT) had organised an event on Research Skills in Legal Education taking place on 24th October 2008 at the Institute of
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Advanced Legal Studies. Flyers were distributed. Alison Bone mentioned that the date had been amended and therefore an incorrect date had been printed in Directions. Julian Webb stated that he would ensure that a correction was posted in the UKCLE’s e-newsletter. Action Point | Julian Webb to ensure that the date of the LERN event date is corrected in the UKCLE e-newsletter
End of minutes
Update on action points
All action points were completed.
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Director’s Report
Paper Three Advisory Board | September 2009
Purpose of paper Author The Director outlines the Julian Webb 2009/10 priorities within Action requested the context of an Comments invited uncertain environment
In this year’s report I wish to focus primarily on the future. If the theme of 2008-09 was one of consolidation and completion for UKCLE, 2009-10 promises to be a year of both considerable challenge and of celebration.
The context The financial environment
Obviously the longer-term financial climate creates significant uncertainties for the Academy, as it does for all HEIs. As is well known, the Higher Education Funding Council (HEFCE) for England has been required to identify £180M in efficiency savings for 2010-11, in addition to the reductions it has already adopted for 2009-10. Savings of about £59M are being sought by HEFCE from existing targeted allocations and from funding provided to bodies “that do not directly deliver teaching and research”. This includes the Higher Education Academy. The review that HEFCE has initiated is looking at the ‘added value’ that such bodies bring to the sector, their contribution to HEFCE priorities, and how they might develop in the future, so it is conceivable that the review will make recommendations that affect not just the amount of funding to the Academy, but its future priorities and structure as well. The Academy has submitted evidence to the review, though this will not report to the HEFCE Board until November 2009. At this stage we thus have little indication of its actual or likely impact on our future. Contingency and scenario planning is being undertaken within the Academy in anticipation of the review. A priorities Group comprising three Subject Centre Directors and three members of the Senior Executive Group has also been established to review and make recommendations on Academy priorities. One immediate consequence has been that, though I am pleased to report that a new funding agreement for hosting UKCLE has been finalised between the Higher Education Academy and Warwick University, because of the current financial constraints this agreement will operate only for one year, i.e., until 31 July 2010. In terms of a worst case scenario, the Academy has given its Subject Centres (SCs) assurances that they will receive twelve months notice of any closures, but this does mean that our continuance beyond July 2011, whether in the current form or at all, is not assured. This is a factor that we obviously have to take into account in our future planning and risk management strategies. Unfortunately it does significantly foreshorten our planning horizon, and also means that an element of succession planning will have to be built into any project commitments that extend beyond the existing resource envelope.
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Turning to the level and distribution of current resources within the Academy, the Challis Review (mentioned in my 2008 report), which looked at the issue of SC funding concluded in December 2008. The final Report made a number of recommendations concerning the distribution of existing funds, and came up with an agreed model which proposed that SC funding should be distributed across four rather than simply two funding bands. The main intention of this was to increase funding to the largest centres which it was agreed had experienced substantial underfunding. Inevitably this has resulted in a mix of winners and losers. UKCLE remains in what was, in effect, the old ‘standard’ category (now ‘Band C’). On original projections this would have seen the Centre absorbing a reduction in cash (rather than real) terms of approximately £8,000 between 2008-09 and 2009-10. However, as the result of a subsequent adjustment to the internal distribution of funds between Academy York and the SCs, UKCLE has actually received a small increase in core grant from £509,258 in 2008-09 to £511,204 in 2009-10. This is, on balance, a better outcome than we had anticipated. Added to this the Centre has operated a substantial under spend in 2008-09. This has been authorised by the Academy and the amount is fully allocated in our current budget plans for 2009-10. We do not at this stage anticipate having a significant carry forward to 2010-11, but it does mean that we can move forward on some substantial projects that would not otherwise have been possible this year. The sector and discipline context At policy and regulatory levels there are a significant number of developments that will influence and inform the Centre’s work over the next couple of years. It is worth noting at least the headline events here. As we are all aware, higher education has recently had an unusually high and not entirely welcome profile on the political agenda. The IUSS Select Committee potentially raises a range of issues around standards, quality assurance and enhancement, and recognition for teaching. The Committee’s report was critical of some aspects of the Academy’s work, but it also identified a key continuing role for the Academy in supporting quality enhancement. The Academy is currently preparing a response to that report. The Review of Higher Education, commenced by John Denham, to which Professor Paul Ramsden submitted a well-received report, is also continuing. In addition, the new review of postgraduate provision, chaired by Professor Adam Smith, and announced by Lord Mandelson in July, is also scheduled to report later next year. And in the background, of course, we still have the continuing development of the new Research Excellence Framework. These various initiatives will continue to influence and inform Academy and Centre activities. At the discipline level, in England and Wales, the new Legal Services Board will become fully operational as an oversight regulator early in 2010; we are keen to build a working relationship with the LSB that will help inform its statutory obligations in respect of legal education, and we will be working to this end during 2009-10. The modified Legal Practice Course is being taught for the first time this year by a number of providers, with all providers committed to delivering the new programme from September 2010. The new Bar Professional Training Course is also due to come on-stream in 2010-11, while, at the academic stage, it is expected that the Joint Academic Stage Board will commence its review of the Joint Announcement next year. Again these are developments in which we will continue to take a particular interest and seek to contribute to developments. In Scotland, the Law Society of Scotland is moving towards implementation of its new training framework in 2011, and I am pleased to report that we have been working with the Society to ensure that discussion of its reforms will be a central feature of our national day conference for Scotland in November this year.
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Within the law schools, the changing financial environment will bring its own challenges. Although numbers on undergraduate programmes in particular appear to be buoyant, resources are becoming considerably tighter. We know that new and in some cases vacant posts are being frozen in many institutions, and (voluntary) severances have been announced in others. Once again, more will have to be done with limited resources. Institutions are placing staff under greater pressure to create new income streams, particularly through research, knowledge transfer and international student recruitment. By contrast, institutional and external funding for the enhancement of learning and teaching may decline. There are genuine concerns that the quality of learning and teaching will suffer. This environment will itself create challenges and opportunities for the UKCLE. It should also be said that there appears to be a growing expectation, reflected in the priorities fed down by the national funding councils that a key role of the Academy is to support the funding bodies in delivering the policy objectives defined by the national governments. Since we are as much recipients of public funds as the universities themselves, this may not be an unreasonable expectation, but equally there are, particularly at the SC level, potential tensions between these top-and the priorities of the subject communities that we were created to serve. This is not an entirely new concern, but it is an increasing one, and there is a risk that the SCs will increasingly find themselves caught in the middle, trying to meet the different expectations of multiple masters. This brings me to our specific priorities for 2009-10.
Our priorities
As I wrote to inform you in June of this year, the Academy as a whole has agreed three new priority areas for 2009-10, which we believe will strengthen the Academy’s role in the current climate. These are:
• Student engagement • Education for sustainable development (ESD) • Quality and standards (including the National Student Survey (NSS) and external examining) We are working on a number of projects in these areas, including: a day conference on ESD (noted below), undertaking further analysis of NSS data, and exploring the possibility of establishing a discipline-specific Student Forum.
We have also identified these three themes, plus feedback and assessment, as priority areas for project development funding in 2009-10. In addition, the Centre will continue to emphasise the following aspects of its work, which support its core mission and objectives, namely:
• Raising the status of teaching, notably through support of and engagement with the Academy Senior Fellow and National Teaching Fellowship schemes, and the LTOTY.
• Sharing effective practice through conferences, events and resource development, and internally across the SC network. The annual LILAC conference will continue to be a
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cornerstone of our activities, and we will be developing further the use of a conference wiki, following its successful introduction last year. Our work in support of technology- enhanced learning also continues to be an important part of this priority. We will be putting additional resources this year into jointly organised and co-sponsored day conferences and similar events, and will be looking, longer term, at the possibility of attracting more external funding for such events. In 2009-10 we have two such additional events planned: our Scottish day conference on 5th November 2009, supported by the Law Society of Scotland, and, on 29th March 2010, a conference on Environmental Justice in Legal Education, which is being organised in conjunction with University College, London, and Warwick Law School.
• Providing support for individual academics, again chiefly through resources, events and project funding. There are two particular initiatives I wish to mention here. The first is the ongoing Toolkit for Law Teachers. I can report that, despite some delays, this complicated and demanding project is now approaching its concluding stages. Two modules have been fully written and reviewed, and the remaining three have all been commissioned. Two of the latter are due for completion in early 2010, and the third by the end of next summer. Filming of the first two modules will be completed this autumn, and we intend to have those modules mounted on the website and live before the summer. The second is a new initiative. I am pleased to announce that we will be advertising opportunities for non- stipendiary Research Fellowships within the Centre. These will provide an opportunity for academics from both within and outside the UK who are undertaking research that is relevant to the Centre’s work and priorities to visit for a period of up to three months. Fellows will be appointed according to Warwick’s normal terms and conditions for such visiting appointments. The Centre will provide office space and access to Warwick University facilities for the duration of the visit. Visiting Fellows will be expected to produce a resource for the Centre out of their visit.
• Building networks and communities of practice: I noted in my 2008 report that the Centre needs to develop more collaborative ways of working with its subject community and other agencies. Some progress has been made in this area in 2008-09, but more work remains to be done. We will be implementing plans this year to appoint external consultants and teaching and learning advisors, in part, to support us in this process of network building. I hope to be able to make a more definitive announcement about the first of these appointments at the Advisory Board meeting. We are also looking for additional ways of supporting the community of practice that is evolving around the SIMPLE resources, and contributing (building on work at LILAC09) to best practice debates on the future of external examining. We will also be committing a small amount of funding in 2009-10 to support an international project, led by Professor Clark Cunningham of Georgia State University, USA, developing a website on teaching legal ethics and professionalism.
• Influencing policy: this will continue to be an important part of the Centre’s work that continues largely ‘behind the scenes’. The Centre contributes to policy debate through the wider Academy, through participation in the policy-related activities of other bodies, such as meetings and formal consultations and through our own publications and research which may have a policy dimension (or, more often, a contribution at the interface between policy and academic practice). We noted in 2008 that we needed to undertake further work on maintaining links with the profession. While I am sure more could be done, I am pleased to report that in the last twelve months we have re-established our relationship with the Law Society Education and Training Committee; met with members of the Solicitors’ Regulation Authority Education and Training Unit, facilitated a plenary session at LILAC09 on the Bar’s review of pupilage, and participated in an event at Glasgow Law School on Best Practice in Diploma Teaching. In addition, the Centre again organised a very well- received residential meeting of the Committee of Heads of University Law Schools, and
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enjoyed observer status at CHULS general meetings. The Centre has also continued to be involved in the planning and development of the new 14-19 Diploma curriculum in humanities and social sciences. It is our intention to build on this progress in 2009-10. Sitting behind all of these plans is a recognition that we need to do more to sell the achievements of the UKCLE. To this end we will shortly be putting a full redevelopment of the Centre website out to tender. Our aim is that this will both refresh the look of the site and provide us with an opportunity to enhance navigation and facilitate the integration of more interactive ‘Web2’ technologies. We are also progressing plans to publish an Annual Report specifically written for our communities and external stakeholders, and exploring ways of enhancing Centre publicity and raising its media profile. An important but difficult issue underlying these aspirations is the question of impact. Both the Oakleigh evaluation and the IUSS Select Committee have raised questions about the impact of the Academy’s work. We may respond in part by arguing about the difficulties of establishing meaningful impact measures in higher education, but this is unlikely to get us very far in the present climate. Consequently it is an area we must begin to address during 2009-10.
Centre organisation and staffing
In January 2009 we said goodbye to our Centre Assistant, Hollie Wright, who resigned to take up an administrative post in Warwick Medical School. Victoria Macfarlane, the Centre Administrator also left in May 2009 to take up a Centre Manager’s role at Cardiff University. I would like formally to record the Centre’s gratitude to both Hollie and Victoria for their contributions to our work. In June, we welcomed Danielle Lysaght to the new post of Centre Manager. Danielle has joined UKCLE after 12 years with YMCA England, and having previously worked for the Law Society. Danielle will take primary responsibility for the internal financial management and administrative functions of the Centre, and for supervising the support team. Danielle will thereby play an important role in reducing the management burden on the Centre Directors, and particularly the Associate Director, enabling us to focus more on outward-facing, academic, activities. Following a further review of staffing needs, the Centre will be seeking to fill the following posts within the next three months: Information Officer (f/t); Web Developer (f/t) and Administrative Assistant (0.5fte); all of these will of necessity be one year fixed term appointments in the first instance. As noted above, the Centre has also begun the process of appointing a group of consultants and teaching and learning advisors to support key projects and priorities (including our work with the nations) as part of its strategy of developing a more devolved and embedded approach to service delivery.
Celebrating our accomplishments
In 2010 the Academy’s Subject Network will be celebrating its tenth anniversary. UKCLE will be developing some activities of its own to mark this anniversary. We should – and will - grasp this opportunity to acknowledge what the Centre has done and continues to do well. In celebrating the accomplishments of UKCLE it is also important that we recognize that the Centre’s work is the product of a very substantial collaborative enterprise. I would like to take this opportunity to acknowledge the contribution not just of current and former staff, but of our subject community: you, our Advisory Board and Strategy Committee, our consultants, and particularly those many individual academics and teachers who support us in our day-to-day activities, and help ensure that what we do is relevant to and valued by our stakeholders.
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We will be launching our anniversary celebrations at LILAC10 and plan to use the conference as an opportunity not just to look back, but forward too. In the context of our theme of ‘perspectives on progress’, we will invite participants at the conference to offer their views on the future of law teaching, and the contribution of UKCLE to that future. We hope as many of you as possible will be able to join us. Despite the current difficulties we remain committed to the principles upon which the Subject Centres were founded, and to the belief that there will be a place for UKCLE in the future of legal education.
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Annual Report 2008/09
Paper Four Advisory Board | September 2009
Purpose of paper Author To summarise the key Danielle Lysaght work of the UKCLE (data from staff annual reports) over the past year Action requested Comments invited
Introduction
The UK Centre for Legal Education (UKCLE) was established in January 2000 with the aim of promoting the development of learning and teaching in legal education at the academic and vocational stages. Our mission is to improve the student learning experience by working with the legal education community to inspire and create excellence. Lilac 2009 Services to our community are channelled through the following key areas of activity:
• Provision of a high quality and relevant events programme. • Maintenance of a dynamic website with varied, topical resources.
• Promotion and dissemination of good practice and innovation: o Award of project grants for research and development. www.ukcle.ac.uk o Support of initiatives that champion excellence in Lilac 2009 teaching, such as Law Teacher of the Year. o Publication of a bi-annual newsletter Directions and other resources.
• Support and facilitation of networking and collaborative working in the legal community: o Learning in Law annual conference. o Regular e-news updates to registered contacts. o Provision of an online blog Digital Directions. The priorities for 2008/09 As a Subject Centre of the Higher Education Academy, our annual operational plans interpret the organisation’s overarching key priorities in a discipline-specific context. For 2008/09, the key priorities were vocational and professional issues, e-learning, research, staff support and development, education for sustainable development, and community Networking at LILAC09 engagement. We tailored our plans accordingly and set a challenging workload for the year – and despite reduced staffing and other constraints,Lilac 2009 on the whole are very satisfied with what was achieved. Over the following pages we take a snapshot look at delivery against the Plan and consider some of the year’s highlights in more detail.
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Performance snapshot
G = completed / progressed as planned A = partially completed / satisfactory progress R = no significant progress
Performance What did our Operational Plan say we would do in 2008/09? traffic light Review and update web resources G Commission new resources on work based learning R Meetings with Public and Statutory Bodies and other Subject Centres G Respond to consultation documents G Develop and organise an event on vocational and professional education and training in Scotland G Develop the capacity of the UKCLE website to support Web 2.0 technologies A Develop a podcast library A Develop and deliver a workshop programme on use of mobile learning in law A Develop web resources around podcasting in law to support users G Support and evaluate project using e-portfolios throughout UG curriculum at Cumbria as G follow up to DeL2 project work Provide continuation support to completed projects G Event to support development of research capacity in law G Evaluate impact of funded research on practice R Publish key papers from past conferences in Web Journal of Current Legal Issues G Edit and publish special issue of the International Journal of the Legal Profession R Edit and publish special issue of the Journal of Information, Law and Technology A Collaborate on a practice survey of teaching, learning and assessment of law in G undergraduate medical education Fund project on the pedagogic impact of law school sabbaticals G Review and update web resources on linking teaching and research R Develop Toolkit for New Law Teachers A Professional development seminars as requested G Support the administration and judging of the Law Teacher of the Year award G Away day for Heads of Law Schools G Workshop for new law teachers G Develop network in law A Commission further case studies. G Contribute to chapter for Green Infusions: Embedding Sustainability across the Curriculum, G ed. Paula Jones, David Selby, Stephen Sterling Collate and publish e-newsletter and Directions G Develop web information for law students A Map provision and support needs of HE in FE R Annual Learning in Law conference G Provide secretariat services to BILETA G Continue and complete visits to Scottish law schools G Develop and promote country specific information and resources on the website G Continue and complete visits to Welsh law schools G Review and regularly update Welsh pages on website A Support activities of cognate disciplines as appropriate. G Provide support for emerging and established special interest groups in the subject community A
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Events Programme
The UKCLE ran 12 open events over the year (five on behalf of JISC Legal), a planned reduction from previous years to maintain a quality product whilst mitigating the impact of the reduced core staff team. The intention is for a phased increase back to at least 20 events once the staffing complement is restored in 2009/10.
Date Description Location Type No.
E-learning seminar 4: Simulation University of 11 Sept 08 Seminar 42 learning Warwick
Web 2.0 Senior Managers Workshop Regent's College 22 Sept 08 for HE: Liability & Law Workshop 29 Conference Centre (JISC Legal event)
Web 2.0 Senior Managers Workshop Jury's Inn Hotel, 6 Oct 08 for FE: Liability & Law Workshop 15 Birmingham (JISC Legal event)
Web 2.0 Senior Managers Workshop The Teacher 13 Oct 08 for FE: Liability & Law Workshop 23 Building, Glasgow (JISC Legal event)
Web 2.0 Senior Managers Workshop Manchester 20 Oct 08 for FE: Liability & Law Workshop 22 Conference Centre (JISC Legal event)
Web 2.0 Senior Managers Workshop Regent's College 27 Oct 08 for FE: Liability & Law Workshop 34 Conference Centre (JISC Legal event)
3rd Learning in Law Annual University of 23-24 Jan Conference 208 conference Warwick
Annual event for the Committee of University of 26-27 Feb 09 Heads of University Law Schools Conference 45 Warwick (CHULS)
CETL event for new law teachers. University of 25 Mar 09 Changing academic practice: Seminar 37 Oxford implications for future academics
University of 21-23 April 09 BILETA conference Conference 72 Winchester
University College 15 Jun 09 ICT & Legal Education Workshop 25 London
Empirical legal research in University of 8 Jul 09 Seminar 20 undergraduate education York
Feedback from delegates
The feedback received from all events run this year was universally positive for both administration and content. We would like to build on this by exploring innovative ways to increase the response rate. For example, by providing mechanisms for more immediate and dynamic interactive feedback, such as enhanced use of the UKCLE wiki and tapping into the Twitter phenomenon.
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Learning in Law Annual Conference (LILAC09) Concepts of Culture in Legal Education Delegates We were particularly proud of LILAC09. It brought together 208 delegates from 13 countries, a 12% increase from the previous year that continued the upward trend in attendance since the 11% first UKCLE conference in 1998. The delegates were 5% predominantly from UK law schools but there were also 37 representing vocational training providers, 16 from public and statutory bodies and 11 from overseas. Nine publishers were 18% represented on stands. 58%
The quality programme conceptualised by Tracey Varnava and 8% the academic team was interpreted and delivered in innovative ways by inspiring speakers from the legal education community. The keynote address was by Professor Ian Ward UK Law Schools / HEIs from the University of Newcastle on Legal education and the Public and Statutory Bodies democratic imagination. The five parallel sessions, with 42 Vocational Training Providers papers, explored diverse takes on the central theme of concepts of culture. Overseas Delegates appreciated efficient organisation by our Events Publishers Coordinator Hansa Surti and a special mention must also go to our web information and developer consultants, Ann Priestley and Dana Ciocan, who made a vital contribution to the overall success by maintaining a high conference profile on the UKCLE website and pioneering the use of a wiki. In simple terms, a wiki is a user-friendly online site where information and resources can be uploaded, edited and accessed easily. The use of one for LILAC09 was not without practical challenges but the aims — to cut down An indoor session… on paper, to develop and enhance materials pre and post conference, and to enable continuing engagement with the ideas and issues generated at the conference — were all successfully realised.
Despite trepidation on the part of some delegates, 69% found it easy to use the wiki and 57% of the presenters found it easy to upload and edit their materials. Overall UKCLE found this facility to be a Ian Ward, the keynote speaker less rigid and more collaborative approach to the generation of abstracts and papers. It has also resulted in a significant increase in the volume of material generated by the conference. Tracey Varnava
The more informal networking opportunities included a drinks reception with live band The Thirty Nine Steps, and a dinner incorporating the presentation to the winner of …and a session al fresco the Law Teacher of the Year competition.
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Some key outcomes of the conference
• The feedback for the conference was overwhelmingly positive, with comments such as ‘inspirational’... ‘friendly and informative’...‘better and more buzzy each year’...‘always stimulating’... ‘this was my first LILAC but I am sure it will not be my last’.
• Five papers from the conference, including the keynote address were subsequently published as part of a special legal education edition of the Web Journal of Current Legal Issues, June 2009.
• The successful introduction of the conference wiki, which has opened up new ways of working. We intend to incorporate a ‘socialising’ element for LILAC10 to facilitate more informal networking amongst the conference attendees and the community in general.
Thank You
UKCLE is grateful to the delegates, speakers, session chairs, publishers and the team at Warwick Conferences, all of whom contributed to making LILAC09 such a resounding success. We look forward to welcoming old friends and new at LILAC10.
A full retrospective on LILAC09, with materials from the sessions, reports, comments and blog posts can be found at www.ukcle.ac.uk/newsevents/LILAC2009. Booking for LILAC10 is now open at www.ukcle.ac.uk/LILAC10.
Law Teacher of the Year 2009
The Associate Director Tracey Varnava again made a major contribution to the selection process for Law Teacher of the Year, a competition sponsored by Oxford University Press in association with UKCLE. There was a strong field, with 14 candidates put forward from various institutions, including London and Manchester Metropolitan Universities, Harrow College, and the Universities of Brighton, Cambridge, Exeter and Kingston. The four finalists were from King’s College, London, and the Universities of Leeds, Reading and Warwick. Gary Watt receiving his award at LILAC09 from Law Teacher of the Tracey particularly Year originator and UKCLE Advisory Board Member Alison Bone enjoyed visiting the finalist institutions for direct engagement with the law staff and students as part of the assessment process. All finalists were of a particularly high calibre and the panel was faced with a difficult decision. The winner was Gary Watt, Reader and Associate Professor at Warwick Law School, an enthusiastic and inspiring teacher who encourages his students to challenge conventional thought. In addition to his personal prize of £3,000, Oxford Univerity Press presented Gary with the first Alistair MacQueen Memorial Grant. The £1,000 grant is for the winner’s institution to support a charitable project or initiative focused on supporting student learning in law.
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Student Essay Competition
Our Senior Teaching and Learning Advisor Patricia McKellar led a well-managed and highly successful Student Essay Competition this year, on the theme ‘how does the study of law match expectations?’. We had excellent publicity through posters, flyers, the competition webpage, emails and a letter to Key Contacts. This produced many enquiries and resulted in nearly 60 essay submissions from 30 institutions, and we kept the latter informed of the entries from their law schools. The winning entry was of a high quality, and the essays themselves are now being analysed for research purposes. Patricia McKellar The winning entry, entitled Reading law and drawing elephants, was by James Tanner from the University of Oxford. Recalling an apt metaphor James Tanner by his head tutor, he explained how any preconceptions that legal study would be about rote learning were soon forgotten along a stimulating journey of enquiry, where the interpretations by teachers and students of what the problems actually were, let alone any solutions, really were as diverse as children’s drawings of elephants. James won an i-Pod Touch and the six runners-up received ‘highly commended’ certificates of achievement from the Higher Education Academy. We look forward to another exciting competition in 2010.
Other direct engagement with students
• Julian Webb delivered two workshops on Teaching Legal Ethics as part of the Law Teachers Programme, an optional course for LLM students, at University College, London on 11th and 18th February 2009. Julian also used the opportunity to introduce the students to the wider work of UKCLE.
• Warwick Digital Press funded a project for students to create a video for a ‘client’, UKCLE. The brief was to produce a video of what makes a good lecturer. After a quality response to the call, Patricia McKellar worked with the three successful students in facilitating the project and despite time constraints, a tight specification was produced and the video will be completed and uploaded to the website in the Autumn term.
Project Development Fund
Each year UKCLE invites applications for small grants to fund research and development work in legal education. During 2008/09 the following grants were awarded:
• The pedagogic impact of law school sabbaticals – Maureen Spencer and Penny Kent, Middlesex University (£5,200)
• A practice survey of the teaching, learning and assessment of law in undergraduate medical education – Judy McKimm and Michael Preston-Shoot, University of Bedfordshire (£3,500 plus £1,500 from MEDEV Subject Centre)
• Access to legal work experience and its role in the (re)production of professional legal identity – Andrew Francis, University of Keele, and Hilary Sommerlad, Leeds Metropolitan University (£3,430)
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• The internationalisation of law degrees and enhancement of graduate employability: European dual qualification degrees in law – Greta Bosch, Exeter University (£1,652)
Major grant awarded to UKCLE for OER project
The UKCLE was delighted to be successful in a bid led by Patricia McKellar to the Higher Education Academy / JISC for £250K to develop Open Education Resources. The project has been somewhat problematic post grant notification in terms of staffing, and we are yet to fully commence the implementation phase. However, negotiations are being finalised with appropriate consultants and we remain hopeful that despite a late start, we will deliver the project on time and budget.
Communications
Directions
The Director Julian Webb edited our bi-annual newsletter Directions. Julian’s editorial for Spring 2009 argued that despite media hype to the contrary, the quality of UK legal education is still world class. He also completed a feature article for the Autumn 2008 edition that looked at threshold concepts as a tool to improving learning in law. The editorial for the Autumn 2008 edition was What do lawyers do by Avrom Sherr, Director of the Institute of Advanced Legal Studies and Woolf Professor of Legal Education, University of London. Julian also commissioned feature articles for the two editions as follows:
• When science doesn’t meet the law: addressing the absence of forensic skills in law degrees - Carole McCartney (University of Leeds) and John Cassella (Staffordshire University)
• Promoting ethical lawyering – Martin Partington, CBE, QC, Emeritus Professor of Law at the University of Bristol
• Project Internationalisation – Andrea Nollent and Iain Garner of Sheffield Hallam University The newsletter was distributed widely around the legal community, including to our 1057 registered contacts. All editions are also available online at www.ukcle.ac.uk/resources/Directions.
Publicity materials
The academic and support team liaised to produce the following project summary leaflets:
• The e-portfolios project • The SIMPLE project • The Academic Misconduct projects • Employability and work resources
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Tracey Varnava also put together two new promotional leaflets, one summarising the range of UKCLE activities and the other focussing in more detail on the research activities and opportunities.
Dissemination of publicity materials
Hansa Surti distributed UKCLE publicity materials at 42 external events during the year, a selection of which are shown in the table below.
Event Details
SLS conference (UKCLE stand display) 15-18 Sept 08, London School of Economics.
Using technology to support the student learning 15 Oct 08, University of Oxford. experience
ISSOTL conference 16-19 Oct 08, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
17 Oct 08, University of Brighton. Sent ESD Education for sustainable development poster. Using technology to support the student learning 22 Oct 08, University of Newcastle. experience
Lord Upjohn lecture 2008: The student contract 24 Oct 08, City University, London.
University of Bristol's Teaching & Learning 10 copies of Reflective Practice books sent Programme to HEA SC for Education, University of Bristol for new staff resources.
Socio-legal studies and the humanities conference 5 Nov 08, IALS, London.
Managing law students' expectation 28 Nov 08, IALS, London.
SEDA workshop hosted by Vitae 4 Dec 08, Woburn House, London.
15 Dec 08. UKCLE promotional materials Sheffield Hallam University event for new staff sent for new staff. University of Edinburgh's postgraduate certificate in 15 Dec 08. Sent toolkit poster to be University teaching programme displayed at the event. 9 Jan 09. Sent LILAC09 A4 poster/booking CLEO symposium form to be inserted into packs.
The value of this was increased awareness of UKCLE work, including projects and events, the website, publications and other resources available to the legal community. This was demonstrated by increased bookings at events, particularly the annual conference, and more hits on the website.
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Research
Our academic staff members were involved in various pieces of research during the year. The 2007/08 Student Essay Competition entries were analysed by Tracey Varnava as part of her research into the concept of excellence in teaching in Higher Education. It culminated in a paper presented at the Society of Legal Scholars (SLS) entitled ‘In search of the x factor: reflections on accounts of excellent teaching in law.’ The work was repurposed to populate a section on the LILAC wiki designed to stimulate further discussion around the issues. Tracey was also invited to co-edit a book on Methodologies in Legal Research, which is being considered for publication by Routledge. Patricia McKellar completed a book chapter with Karen Barton, and was also asked to review two other chapters prior to publication. Julian Webb continued work on two areas for potential book chapters: the affective domain and threshold concepts in legal education. Spin-offs for UKCLE are envisaged in terms of website resources and an activity at LILAC10. Julian also collaborated with Mark Israel from Flinders University, Australia to develop a joint research project on teaching socio-legal research ethics. The funding bid is to be submitted to the Nuffield Foundation in September 2009.
Engagement with specific institutions
The Director Julian Webb engaged at various levels with institutions across the UK and beyond during the year, some examples of which are touched on below. Nations Road Show Julian continued his visits across the Nations, with departmental visits to Aberdeen, Queen’s University Belfast, Robert Gordon, West of Scotland and Ulster. UKCLE publicity packs were taken to each institution, and the engagement varied from presentations and a CPD taster on assessment and feedback, to meetings with Heads of Departments and key contacts. Individual reports are to be completed but outcomes included sharing of information and enhancing the first year experience with University of Ulster, and agreement by Margaret Ross from Aberdeen to deliver the keynote at the Scotland event in November 2009. Robert Gordon University is also potentially interested in a follow-up event in February 2010. Delivery of invited papers Julian delivered invited papers to the following:
• ‘Best Practice in Diploma Teaching’ day conference at Glasgow (June 2009). • Final AHRC-funded ‘Beyond Text in Legal Education’ conference at Edinburgh (June 2009). • Lancaster Professions’ Network annual workshop (June 2009). • Staff seminar at NUI Galway (February 2009) and lead a Q&A session on clinical legal education at UC Dublin (February 2009).
• Paper on Teaching Research Ethics at York event in July 2009. Outcomes included:
• Douglas Mill, Director of the new Diploma course at Glasgow – and new key contact for Glasgow – expressed interest in working with UKCLE.
• Feature by Prof Zenon Bankowski and Dr Maks Del Mar on Beyond Text for Directions, Autumn 2009.
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• Lancaster – discussions with James Faulconbridge (LPN) and Daniel Muzio (Leeds Business School) on possible future work with UKCLE; they have agreed to produce a piece on their research on preparation for practice in global law firms for Directions, Spring 2010. Other
• Edited Teaching Resource Note on Small Group Teaching by Caroline Maughan, University of the West of England.
• Coordinated UKCLE collaboration with Caroline Hunter, York Law School, in respect of the project ‘Empirical legal research in the undergraduate curriculum’, including advising on the survey carried out between January and March 2009. Caroline Hunter is to produce a report and summary for Directions. Tracey Varnava‘s interaction with law schools as part of the LTOTY competition has been mentioned elsewhere in this report. Some other examples included:
• Represented UKCLE as co-sponsors of the Sustainable University event in September 2008 with University College London’s Environment Institute and the involvement of Jane Holder from the Faculty of Laws.
• Invited to join the OSCOLA advisory board and attended the first meeting at the University of Oxford in January 2009.
• Represented UKCLE at a University of Warwick lunch meeting with Judith Rochecouste, Senior Lecturer at the Centre for the Advancement of Learning and Teaching (CALT), University of Monash, hosted by the Learning and Development Centre. Patricia McKellar gave a presentation to Liverpool Law School on e-learning in March 2009 and one on SIMPLE to staff at Buckingham New University in May. She was also a presenter and event facilitator at the University of London’s E-Learning Day in June 2009.
Project work
DEL Evaluation Project Patricia McKellar completed an e-learning survey as part of this project, which has been peer reviewed and tested. It is now live, with responses to be collated mid October and disseminated through the website. Toolkit for Law Teachers Progress was made on the project being led by Julian Webb. Keren Bright from the Open University was commissioned to produce the module on small group teaching and initial drafts were reviewed. The final drafts of this module were submitted just outside the 2008/09 reporting year (August 2009). Two further modules have been commissioned from Gail Simmonds (Hertfordshire) on student support and Alison Bone (Brighton) on marking and feedback. E Portfolios Patricia McKellar completed the last part of this project, which was the Cumbria e-portfolio pilot. It has gone well and a positive verbal report has been received from Sefton Bloxham, who also gave a paper on the early results at BILETA. He will be preparing a final written report for the UKCLE website. Islamic Law Curriculum Tracey Varnava has continued to support the development of the Islamic Law Curriculum project. Funding was allocated during the year for the editing and further development of the teaching manuals. Tracey is the key contact for the commissioned editor and she has already provided
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extensive verbal and written feedback on the approach, format and content of the first manual to be edited, on Teaching Family Law. Academic Misconduct in Law Tracey reviewed and edited the final report received from the project, which is now published on the website and a summary leaflet has been produced. Medical Education project Tracey proposed the medical education project for one of the Subject Centre sponsored slots at the Higher Education Academy’s 2009 Annual Conference.
Collaboration with Higher Education Academy colleagues
Some examples of UKCLE collaboration during the year with other Subject Centres and the central Academy team in York are mentioned below. Julian Webb:
• SC cluster representative on SCD-SEG. • Key contact with AY for UKCLE on policy matters, and on internationalisation theme. • Attended SC Cluster meeting in Bristol – September 2009 and Academy Away Day – December 2008.
• Attended Academy Forums – December 2008 and January 2009. Tracey Varnava:
• Physical Sciences on forensic science – joint event with them held in May 2009 at Leeds Metropolitan University. Attended by a total of 38 delegates from 21 universities (including 3 Scottish institutions – Heriot Watt, Abertay Dundee and Glasgow Caledonian).
• Also linked to this a survey of cross-disciplinary teaching in this area devised by Carole McCartney, University of Leeds, has been disseminated, for example in the e-newsletter.
• LLAS, PRS, C-SAP, BMAF and Academy York on Islamic Studies bid and project. This has involved liaison via email and SharePoint plus meetings in February in Birmingham and July in Bristol.
• Member of the HEA ESD planning group – attended meeting in Birmingham November 2008 and June 2009.
• C-SAP, Psychology, SWAP on Criminology. Meeting held with the British Society of Criminology at Birmingham on 13 October and an action plan was developed for work in this area. In April/May 2009, worked with colleagues at C-SAP to advise HESA on additions to the JACS codes for criminology. This included contacting our criminology contacts in law for their views.
• Collaborated with MEDEV in funding a project – see Project Development Fund section of this report.
• Peer reviewed the ESCALATE annual report. • Worked with the Research and Evaluation team at Academy York – on the Advisory Group, which met October 2008 at the Institute of Education and June 2009 at the Institute of Education.
• Met with Matthew Watkins, Academy York, re: research and evaluation strategy in February 2009 at UKCLE.
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• Attended the Academy Away day December 2008 and facilitated a session on dealing with uncertainty.
• Attended (with Patricia McKellar) the OER briefing meeting for successful applicants for JISC/HEA funding. Held 7 May at Academy York.
• Attended the Academy Forum on 15 June at Woburn House and the Senior staff away day June 2009 at the Ashridge conference centre.
• Attended the Centre Managers away day at King’s College London May 2009. (Also attended by Danielle Lysaght.)
Collaboration with other professional bodies
UKCLE collaboration with other professional organisations during the year included the following:
• IDEAS CETL at University of Leeds - Tracey Varnava is the main contact. • ASKe CETL, Oxford Brooks University - Chris Rust was a panel speaker at LILAC on external examining.
• CAPITAL Centre CETL at Warwick – Jonathan Heron was a presenter at LILAC. • Reinvention Centre CETL at Warwick – Cath Lambert presented at LILAC. • Tracey Varnava wrote a chapter with colleagues at the Law School n Plymouth, who are also fellows of the Centre for Sustainable Futures CETL. The book is to be published by Earthscan called ‘Sustainability education: perspectives and practice across Higher Education.’
• UKCLE staff organised and attended the Heads of University Law Schools away day in February 2009.
• Tracey Varnava was interviewed by telephone by Dr Vanessa Hogbin for her research project on the state of entrepreneurship education in Higher Education Institutions. The project was commissioned by the Higher Education Academy and the National Council for Graduate Entrepreneurship.
• Tracey is a member of the Law Teacher journal editorial board, which met twice during the year.
• Tracey has also compiled and edited two issues of Policy and Education Developments. • Patricia McKellar continued to act as the Secretariat for BILETA meetings and their AGM in April 2009. She has been re-elected to the Committee for a period of 3 years.
• Patricia also attended the BLU Steering Group meeting in July 2009. BLU are however due to integrate into the Learning and Teaching Institute in Hertfordshire so may not be an independent unit post 2010. The Director Julian Webb’s collaborative work included:
• Involved in planning Scottish day conference for November 2009 in association with the Law Society of Scotland.
• Executive Committee member, Socio-Legal Studies Association. • Attended SLS (September 2008), SLSA and ALT (both April 09) Annual Conferences as a UKCLE representative; also presented work in progress at ALT as part of a poster session on the Affective Domain in Legal Education.
• Collaboration with the Centre for Excellence in Preparing for Academic Practice (Oxford University) in the design and delivery of an event at Oxford on “Changing Academic
32 | Page Meeting of the UKCLE Advisory Board | September 2009
Practice: Implication for Future Legal Academics” (March 2009) and also spoke at the event.
• Attended meeting as UKCLE representative with RAE Sub-Panel chair to provide feedback to UK law school representatives on RAE 2008, organised by CHULS and SLS (London, UCL, January 2009).
• Attended information sharing/updating meeting with members of the Solictors Regulation Authority Education and Training Department (March 2009).
• Invited to attend publication of the Economides/Rogers Report on Preparatory Ethics Training for Solicitors at the Law Society (March 2009). This report makes a number of potentially significant recommendations that could impact all stages of legal education and training. The Report recommends a significant role for the UKCLE in supporting the development of teaching and resources in legal ethics. The Report has been considered and approved by the Law Society Education and Training Committee, and by the equivalent committee at the SRA.
• Creative and Cultural Skills – member of the HE Group (now Progression Group) of the Diploma Development Partnership for the Diploma in Humanities and Social Sciences – attended meetings of the HE Group at CCS, London, in September 2008 and March 2009.
Online resources at www.ukcle.ac.uk
With professional updating of content from our web information consultant Ann Priestley and technical expertise from Dana Ciocan, the website continued to be a rich source of materials for our community of practice.
Content
By the end of the year there were 977 pages on the public site, a 5% increase from last year. Over the year 117 new resources were added and although the high level was partly due to ‘catch up’ from a period of inactivity in the previous year, it was still impressive. The number of news items added was 75, compared with 48 in the previous year, and 121 events were publicised in the diary, an increase of 39% from 2007/08. Offsite resources were also added: the LILAC wiki and UKCLE Slidespace on Slideshare.
Selected highlights of the new resources: The e-portfolio resources – a research report broken down into usable chunks. Building the sustainable university report and examples – an event report drawing out key themes and introducing new areas for exploration. LILAC 2009 papers – drawing together resources and commentary from a range of different sources. Small group TRN – good quality content from the community. Ann Priestley
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Key content changes made in comparison with last year
977 934 Number
117 121 82 48 75 74
Pages on site New resources added News items added Events publicised in diary 2007-08 2008-09
Visitors to site
Whilst still predominantly attracting UK visitors, there was still a significant minority of hits from around the world.
Country of origin of website visitors 250 215 200
150
100
49 50 37 Number of visits in 1000s 9 8 7 5 5 4 3 2 0
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How do visitors find the site – and are they newbies or returners? Most visitors come to the site via search engines, predominantly google. Both unique and return visitor statistics increased from last year.
62%
86%
8%
Search engines Direct to site Referring sites (e.g. HEA)
Type of visitor Total visits Change from 2007-08 Unique visitors 282952 Increase of 13%
Return visitors 59871 Increase of 42%
Page views
The total page views reached 701,049, a 15% increase from 2007-08. Resources that have also been promoted offline seem to do better than others in terms of page views. The search and ‘what’s related’ functionality are not used extensively, which could be partially attributable to the relatively unsophisticated needs of many visitors to the site, who are mainly interested in being pointed at a specific file to download and print. The most visited resource pages were as follows:
Resource Page views
What is reflective practice? 48643
Directions (all issues) 36189
E-portfolio resources 4837
Small group TRN 1707
Work experience project 605
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In terms of website directory usage, ‘resources’, ‘get involved’ and ‘news events’ all showed an increase but the most significant rise was in respect of the annual conference, LILAC.
Directory usage - % changes from last year 400% 338%
300%
200%
100%
14% 9% 8% 0% resources get involved newsevents LILAC about research -16% -11% -100%
Discarding search engine activity and one off visits, most numbers are moving in the right direction and would seem to be in line with the size of UKCLE’s target community. Ann Priestley
What next for the website?
Whilst we are delighted that the website continues to be popular with our community, we are planning to build on the success with an overhaul in terms of design and functionality, for example to enable more extensive use of interactive resources. We have carried forward funds into 2009/10 for this work and will be putting a specification together in the first quarter.
UKCLE contacts
The UKCLE’s registered contacts stood at 1057 at the end of the year and the Centre now has key contacts at 94% of the HEI law schools in the UK. The contacts database underwent some maintenance during the year in preparation for potentially moving across to the Higher Education Academy’s Integra system.
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Financial information and accountability
Higher Education Academy
As one of the 24 Subject Centres, UKCLE is funded by the Higher Education Academy, to whom it submits annual operational plans, budgets, reports and financial statements. Income and expenditure account for the year ended 31st July 2009
Budget Actuals Variance Note Income c/f variance from 2007-2008 72,966 72,450 -517 Core grant from Higher Education Academy 381,775 381,775 0 Overheads funding from Higher Education Academy 127,483 127,483 0 Income from BILETA (secretariat duties) 1,000 2,000 1,000 Income generation 2,354 6,304 3,950 Income from CSET for toolkit project 21,668 21,668 0 Total Income 607,246 611,680 4,433 1 Expenditure Staff salary costs 298,132 271,179 26,953 Temporary staff 500 3,278 -2,778 Recruitment 18,000 4,536 13,464 Staff development 2,500 489 2,011 sub-total 319,132 279,482 39,650 2 Travel & Subsistence 10,000 5,984 4,016 Conference Fees 4,000 3,868 132 Advisory Board & Strategy Committee costs 3,000 3,561 -561 Publicity 13,000 17,151 -4,151 sub-total 30,000 30,564 -564 3 External Evaluators 10,000 2,198 7,802 4 e-Learning (DeL2 project) 9,988 4,868 5,120 5 Nations Fund 3,000 393 2,607 6 Research fund 25,500 8,589 16,911 7 Toolkit 43,266 4,201 39,065 8 UKCLE Consultants and Teaching & Learning Advisors 35,000 0 35,000 9 sub-total 126,754 20,249 106,506 Overheads to host institution 127,483 127,483 0 Office running costs 3,877 11,471 -7,594 10 sub-total 131,360 138,954 -7,594 Total Expenditure 607,246 469,249 137,997
Balance 0 142,430 142,430 11
Meeting of the UKCLE Advisory Board | September 2009 Page | 37
Notes
1. Income was higher than anticipated, mainly due to substantially increased attendance than expected at the annual conference. Income generation is a key area of focus for UKCLE and other Subject Centres, so the surplus was welcome but we will be keeping close control of events budgeting to ensure that our subject community continues to receive value for money. 2. Staff costs were lower than budgeted due to the smaller core staff team and delays in recruitment. The Centre Manager was appointed in June, and three further posts were advertised in September, therefore expenditure should be much nearer budget in 2009/10. 3. Publicity and Advisory Board expenditure was higher than planned but was largely offset by reduced staff travel and subsistence expenses. 4. External evaluation costs were not incurred to the budgeted level but UKCLE is planning for the events programme to be the focus of impact evaluation in 2009/10, which will utilise the carried forward funding. 5. The DEL E-learning project slightly ran over into 2009/10 but the remainder of the grant will be spent in the first quarter. 6. The Nations budget was predominantly to cover the Scotland event, which was expected to fall into 2008/09 but was finally scheduled for the coming November. The costs will therefore be incurred in the first quarter of 2009/10. 7. There were not as many applications this year for grants from UKCLE’s project development fund and more proactive ways to commission work in 2009/10 will be considered. In addition, work on the Islamic Law Curriculum project fell behind schedule and was not billed as planned, which impacted on the final spend from the PDF budget. 8. The Toolkit project is funded by equal annual instalments over 3 years but it was always intended for the majority of the costs to be incurred in the final year. 9. The planned employment of consultants and advisors was considerably delayed due to staff capacity issues, with the academic team stretched to their limit to meet existing work commitments. However, significant progress has now been made by Tracey Varnava, with two consultants appointed from September 2009 and plans to engage others underway. 10. Office running costs were over budget, mainly due to replacement of computers, printers and other equipment. The Centre also purchased mobile phones with email access to facilitate better communication for staff whilst off-site. 11. The £142K surplus was potentially problematic but the Higher Education Academy recognised the significant issues that had contributed to it and agreed for all of the under spend to be carried forward for planned work in 2009/10.
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Advisory Board
The Advisory Board and its sub group, the Strategy Committee each convenes once a year to provide the UKCLE team with advice and guidance on the development of the strategic and operational plans, and to offer feedback and support in relation to the range of activities delivered. The Board membership is representative of the legal community UKCLE serves, and helps to ensure that its work is relevant, focused and current.
Members Organisation
Jane Buddle British and Irish Association of Law Librarians Roger Burridge University of Warwick (host institution) Sefton Bloxham British and Irish Law, Education and Technology Association Liz Campbell Law Society of Scotland Mike Cuthbert Association of Law Teachers Penny English Socio-Legal Studies Association Eileen Fry Association of LPC Providers Selina Goulbourne Commonwealth Legal Education Association John Hamilton Faculty of Advocates Phil Harris Legal Education Research Group Alison Hollyer Institute of Legal Executives Kevin Kerrigan Clinical Legal Education Organisation Julian Lonbay Society of Legal Scholars Mike Ottley Consortium for Access to Legal Education Tim Pearce Solicitors Regulation Authority Rebecca Hilsenrath LawWorks Valerie Shrimplin Bar Standards Board Co-opted members Alison Bone University of Brighton Fiona Cownie Keele University Nigel Duncan The City Law School Ann Holmes Manchester Metropolitan University Pat Leighton University of Glamorgan Paul Maharg University of Strathclyde Alan Paterson University of Strathclyde Avrom Sherr (Chair) Institute of Advanced Legal Studies Ashley Wilton Committee of Heads of University Law Schools Ex officio members William Twining UKCLE External Evaluator
Meeting of the UKCLE Advisory Board | September 2009 Page | 39
Plans for 2009/10
Paper Five Advisory Board | September 2009
Purpose of paper Authors
To advise the Board of Tracey Varnava / the Operational Plan and Danielle Lysaght Budget for 2009/10 Action requested Comments invited
Introduction
In May the Associate Director Tracey Varnava put together the UKCLE’s operational plan for 2009/10, aligning it to the Higher Education Academy’s key priorities for the year. The linked budget was finalised in June with the new Centre Manager Danielle Lysaght and both documents were submitted to the Academy using their prescribed spreadsheets. The following table outlines the key information and the full version is available on request.
Operational Plan
Key Activity EVENTS
Activity / Intended outcomes Key Quality Indicator Primary Strategic Budget Output detail of activity / Milestones Function / Programme (non-pay)
Annual conference Provide a forum for Selected papers Supporting and £4,000 (LILAC10) exchange of research published; conference championing teaching and practice; raise attendance exceeds Note: Focus of impact the quality of legal numbers in 2009; evaluation in 2009/10 education research positive feedback ratings exceed 2009.
International Provide a forum for Number of delegates; Internationalisation Funding conference on exchange of research number of countries from Reimagining the and practice; inform represented; positive Warwick Shari'a, organised on and develop dialogue feedback ratings Law behalf of Warwick on issues pertaining School Law School to teaching and researching Islamic Law
How to podcast - Dissemination of Resources produced Enhancing Learning £3,000 practical hands on effective practice in demonstrate success through Technology event use of podcasts; all of training received (ELT) participants able to during event; number podcast by end of the of visits to podcasts event; a range of on website; positive podcasts as feedback on event exemplars for others and on resources available through produced website
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Activity / Intended outcomes Key Quality Indicator Primary Strategic Budget Output detail of activity / Milestones Function / Programme (non-pay)
Enhancing Scottish Support the Law Event attended by Employability and £2,525 legal education - one Society of Scotland 30+ academics; at Employee Learning day event in and subject least 85% positive (EEL) conjunction with community to feedback rating academics and implement professional bodies in professional training Scotland reforms; to support the professional development of new law academics in Scotland; internationalising the law curriculum; to raise awareness of UKCLE activities in Scotland
Assessment and Enhance existing Event attended by Assessment and £2,000 feedback event - practice; develop 20+ academics; at Feedback drawing on NSS data understanding of least 85% positive to enhance current effective feedback feedback ratings; practice drawing on NSS data website resources and practice in other made available disciplines
Away day for Heads Provide a forum for Event attended by Institutional Strategy £2,525 of University Law HODs to discuss more HODs from pre- and Change Schools common concerns and 92 sector; numbers of interests; raise the delegates increased profile of UKCLE with from 09; positive UK law schools; feedback ratings identify areas increased from 09. requiring support from UKCLE
National E-learning A forum for all staff Popularity of event in Enhancing Learning £4,000 conference for all engaged in e-learning terms of numbers through Technology staff engaged in in law; exchange of attending and (ELT) supporting and practice and ideas; feedback received; delivering e-learning teaching resource range of staff roles in law. notes produced for attending; range of dissemination through institutions website represented
Meeting of the UKCLE Advisory Board | September 2009 Page | 41
KEY ACTIVITY: COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
Activity / Intended outcomes Key Quality Indicator Primary Strategic Budget Output detail of activity / Milestones Function / Programme (non-pay)
Involvement in Effective engagement Feedback on UKCLE Sharing of effective £2,000 activities organised with events, projects, involvement is practice by others as meetings organised by positive; new facilitators/ other partners/ contacts, resources, contributors; hosting stakeholders; profile and projects flow of visits to UKCLE; of UKCLE raised from engagement; attendance at increased number of meetings/events requests for UKCLE hosted by Warwick; involvement in a participation in range of activities meetings and projects organised by others. with Academy partners; work with PSBs and subject associations
Resources for Resources and Enhanced support for Sharing of effective £2,500 criminology services developed learning and teaching practice for criminology; in criminology clarification of scope through the SC of provision for network; level of criminology through engagement by the SCs subject community
Development of Progress made on Progress is made by Assessment and £3,000 shared assessment developing a providers on a Feedback standards collaborative collaborative approach to quality approach to and standards in legal determining education assessment standards
Monitoring of Consultations of UKCLE responses are Inform and influence £500 opportunities to interest and well publicised and policy respond to relevance to subject disseminated; consultation community and stakeholders engage documents of stakeholders are in debates arising; relevance to highlighted; UKCLE UKCLE responses stakeholders; timely responds to key cited by others notification and consultation papers; involvement of stakeholders stakeholders; wide recognise UKCLE as a dissemination of key respondent to documents and consultation exercises responses; follow up with further activity as appropriate.
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Activity / Intended outcomes Key Quality Indicator Primary Strategic Budget Output detail of activity / Milestones Function / Programme (non-pay)
Departmental visits A range of law schools Visits to law schools Communications/repu 2,000 involving HOD and visited; issues of in devolved nations tation management other key staff; concern and interest completed; reports presentation on discussed; potential compiled; activities UKCLE activities and for UKCLE support followed up services identified and taken forward; profile of UKCLE and its services raised
Key Activity PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT
Toolkit for Law Discipline specific Material for 2 Sharing of effective Funded Teachers - discipline resources for new law modules delivered; practice by CSET specific resources for teachers final two modules new law teachers commissioned; online environment developed and populated
Law Teacher of the Law Teacher of the Increase in number of Raising the status of £1,000 Year award - annual Year awarded; status nominations for teaching award sponsored by of teaching promoted award; evidence of UKCLE and Oxford wider engagement in University Press nomination process by staff, students and law schools
Key Activity RESOURCES
Web resources and Law schools able to Web resource in place Assessment and £5,000 other services understand trends by December 09; Feedback developed around and to respond level of interest in feedback and effectively to NSS and feedback on assessment data; UKCLE develops resources; additional further activities and services and activities services to meet around feedback and needs assessment developed
Project in conjunction Enhancement of At least 5 video Sharing of effective Funded with Warwick Digital student area of the interviews with practice by Press to develop web website; improved students; positive Warwick based video with understanding of feedback from users; Digital students student perspectives student resources on Press on a range of topics website enhanced
Tailored web Specific website Number of visits to Communications/repu £4,000 resources for users in resources for users website; positive tation management Scotland based in Scotland feedback from users
Tailored web Specific website Number of visits to Communications/repu £4,000 resources for NI users resources for users website; positive tation management based in NI feedback from users
Tailored web Specific website Number of visits to Communications/re- £4,000 resources for users in resources for users website; positive putation management Wales based in Wales feedback from users
Meeting of the UKCLE Advisory Board | September 2009 Page | 43
Activity / Intended outcomes Key Quality Indicator Primary Strategic Budget Output detail of activity / Milestones Function / Programme (non-pay)
LILAC wiki Improved capture and Level of engagement Organisational £1,000 dissemination of by community and Effectiveness annual conference UKCLE team; number (LILAC) related of resources made material and available; positive information; greater feedback from users involvement by community and UKCLE team in website publishing
Website resources are Resources in key Resources are Curriculum design £8,000 updated and areas of work are updated and enhanced in priority updated and enhanced in priority areas enhanced areas; evidence that user numbers increase over the year
Key Activity RESEARCH
Commission new Development of Projects Sharing of effective £25,000 projects and provide evidence base in commissioned on key practice on-going support to relation to a range of areas that proceed existing projects legal education according to budget issues; enhancement and timetable of legal education research; raising the profile of pedagogical research
Analysis of key issues Enhanced Analysis completed Evidence-informed £500 arising from the understanding of and report prepared practice student essay student expectations to timetable; positive competition on of the law degree; feedback from expectations of the future activity recipients; further law degree informed by findings; activity arising from findings widely research disseminated e.g. to HODs
Simulated learning Resources on Project proceeds to Enhancing Learning Funded resources developed simulation learning timetable and through Technology by JISC through OER project made available; budget; project (ELT) better understanding objectives are met; and use of simulation positive feedback in law and other from participants and discipline areas users
Scenarios around Development of Research and Evidence-informed Externally ethical issues in resources for socio- associated activities practice funded socio-legal research legal research; completed by July developed capacity to conduct 2010 research enhanced
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Key Activity PUBLICATIONS
Activity / Intended outcomes Key Quality Indicator / Primary Strategic Budget Output detail of activity Milestones Function / Programme (non-pay)
Selected LILAC Publication of Number of papers Raising the status of £1,000 papers published selected LILAC selected; level of teaching papers; raising the interest in preparing a profile of pedagogical paper for publication; research feedback on publication
UKCLE newsletter Legal education Newsletter produced Inform and influence £5,000 Directions community informed to timetable; quality of policy published about key issues; contributions received; opportunity given for positive feedback from dissemination of readership effective practice; debate encouraged on issues of the day
Key Activity COMMUNICATIONS
Website resources Website developed Information Organisational £2,000 are updated and and enhanced; architecture better Effectiveness enhanced in greater use made of reflects Academy priority areas web 2.0 technologies priorities; navigation improved; users report high satisfaction with content and useability
Integra adopted for Integra adopted for Transition to integra Organisational £0 contacts contacts proceeds according to Effectiveness management management; better timetable with management of minimum disruption; contacts; more benefits in terms of streamlined reporting more efficient and processes effective working observable
Key Activity POLICY AND STRATEGY DIRECTION
Development and UKCLE is able to meet Income generation Organisational £0 implementation of requirements of strategy in place across Effectiveness an income funders and Academy by July 2010; generation strategy stakeholders; UKCLE income generation is viable and activity undertaken sustainable during 09-10; proportion of income from other sources increases
Meeting of the UKCLE Advisory Board | September 2009 Page | 45
Activity / Intended outcomes Key Quality Indicator / Primary Strategic Budget Output detail of activity Milestones Function / Programme (non-pay)
Diploma in 14-19 diploma in HSS; Progress is made by Curriculum design £697 humanities and subject community working group on social sciences informed about progression and development developments; standards partnership diploma fit for purpose as a progression route to HE
Key Activity CENTRE ORGANISATION
UKCLE UKCLE's internal Consultants and T&L Organisational £35,000 infrastructure systems and advisors are recruited Effectiveness monitored and processes are fit for and active in priority plans implemented purpose; staff are areas; review of admin to maintain and well supported to do team completed; staff enhance services their jobs; UKCLE is development provided staffed appropriately opportunities provided
Annual reporting UKCLE's activities and Annual reports receive Organisational £2,000 and other expenditure are positive feedback; Effectiveness monitoring monitored and Advisory Board and activities planned supported by key Strategy Committee and implemented stakeholders meet on schedule; throughout the UKCLE meets all year reporting requirements of key stakeholders
Summary Budget for 2009/10
Full Year Budget £ Income Total c/f from 2008-09 88,252 Higher Education Academy grant 501,000 Host Institution contribution 205,288 Total income 794,540
Expenditure Payroll 322,755 Office running costs and overheads 345,538 Non pay costs for strategic functions 94,025 Non pay costs for programmes 32,222 Total 794,540
Agreed surplus / deficit 0
Note: this budget has changed since submission, for example the grant has now been confirmed by the HEA at £511,204.
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Members’ Reports
Paper Six Advisory Board | September 2009
Purpose of paper Author To share any reports Julian Lonbay submitted by members Action requested for Board discussion Comments invited
A European qualification framework for social sciences — how does law fit in?
European higher educational policy slowly emerges from complex decision-making models. A European Higher Education Area with its attendant Qualification Framework (QF) was developed under the Sorbonne-Bologna process and now covers 46 countries – see www.bologna-bergen2005.no/. A European Qualification Framework (EQF) (2008) for life-long learning has been developed under the Lisbon process by the EU Member States using the Open Method of Co-ordination (OMC) – a ‘soft law’ approach to social policy-making that relies on the development of guidelines, benchmarks and indicators under the supervision of the Council of the European Union. The EQF is designed to improve cross-border mobility by mapping national qualifications to the EQF enabling a ‘translation’ of national qualifications thereby making the national qualifications more understandable to those not familiar with them, thus improving mobility for individuals holding such qualifications. There are eight EQF reference levels spanning the full set of qualifications, from basic (Level 1, for example school leaving certificates) to advanced (Level 8, for example Doctorates) levels, and from general/academic to professional qualifications. The three highest EQF levels correspond to higher education levels as defined within the European Higher Education Area and to highly specialised professional qualifications. The system includes the results of all types of learning and concentrates primarily on ‘outputs’ rather than learning inputs such as duration of studies. The EQF level 6, corresponding to university undergraduate level education, has general descriptors at the European level. The knowledge required is set out as follows: Advanced knowledge of a field of work or study involving a critical understanding of theories and principles The skill set is defined as: Advanced skills demonstrating mastery and innovation required to solve complex and unpredictable problems in a specialised field of work or study And the competence is defined as:
Meeting of the UKCLE Advisory Board | September 2009 Page | 47
Manage complex technical or professional activities or projects, taking responsibility for decision-making in unpredictable work or study contexts - Take responsibility for managing professional development of Individuals and groups The corresponding descriptors from the equivalent 1st cycle of the Bologna QF are: Qualifications that signify completion of the first cycle are awarded to students who:
• have demonstrated knowledge and understanding in a field of study that builds upon their general secondary education, and is typically at a level that, whilst supported by advanced textbooks, includes some aspects that will be informed by knowledge of the forefront of their field of study;
• can apply their knowledge and understanding in a manner that indicates a professional approach to their work or vocation, and have competences typically demonstrated through devising and sustaining arguments and solving problems within their field of study;
• have the ability to gather and interpret relevant data (usually within their field of study) to inform judgments that include reflection on relevant social, scientific or ethical issues;
• can communicate information, ideas, problems and solutions to both specialist and non- specialist audiences;
• have developed those learning skills that are necessary for them to continue to undertake further study with a high degree of autonomy. The descriptors for a sectoral qualification framework specific to law have not yet been developed and are in the process of being created. Their emergence is necessary to help enable the required ‘mapping’ or ‘referencing’ of national qualification frameworks to the EQF. The openness of the processes from which they emerge means that interested parties can have an influence. Some of the work is being carried out under the Tuning project based in Bilbao and Groningen – see http://tuning.unideusto.org/tuningeu/. For law, a set of “learning outcomes” is needed from which reference points and cycle descriptors could emerge and be used in creating a qualification framework for law. The Quaacas (quality, accreditation and assessment) group of ELFA has had a first stab at developing a pan-European set of learning outcomes for law, set out in Table 1 overleaf. The full Quaacas Report can be found at: http://elixir.bham.ac.uk/menu/FreeMovement/frameset.htm The responses to their consultation did not cover all of the EU member States and in some countries the responses were patchy. The law learning outcomes used in Quaacas however were the basis for a more successful Latin American venture which has set out learning outcomes for law in South America. The Council of Bars and Law Societies of Europe has adopted Training Outcomes for European Lawyers in 2007 - see www.ccbe.eu/index.php?id=94&id_comite=13&L=0. Currently a small working group is discussing how to develop law indicators within Europe. Please contact me if you would like to help frame a UK viewpoint on this that can be taken into account as the qualification framework for law is being created.
Reference Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council (April 2008) on the establishment of the European Qualifications Framework for lifelong learning. http://eur-lex.europa.eu/LexUriServ/LexUriServ.do?uri=OJ:C:2008:111:0001:0007:EN:PDF (2008) OJ C 111/1
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Table 1: Learning outcomes in law used by QUAACAS
Specific competences in law 1. Demonstrate knowledge of principal features of the legal system including general familiarity with its institutions and procedures 2. Demonstrate knowledge of legal principles and values in a wide range of topics extending beyond the core curriculum 3. Demonstrate some in-depth knowledge of specialist areas 4. Demonstrate critical awareness in the analysis of the legal order 5. Ability to identify and apply primary legal sources 6. Ability to identify and apply all legal sources of relevance for a specific legal issue 7. Ability to identify societal concerns and values behind legal principles and rules 8. Ability to identify contemporary debates and engage with these while accurately reporting the applicable law 9. Ability to make a distinction between reasoning founded on law and policy-based arguments 10. Ability to identify and work with principal aspects of a foreign legal system 11. Ability to act independently in planning and undertaking complex legal tasks 12. Ability to identify and comprehend legal issues 13. Ability to identify relevant legal (including procedural) issues from a large body of unstructured facts 14. Ability to create new or imaginative solutions through approaching a problem by using legal material in different ways 15. Ability to decide whether factual circumstances are sufficiently elucidated for a legal decision 16. Ability to render a reasoned legal decision 17. Ability to draft legal provisions (legislation, contracts) 18. Ability to conduct legal research for giving legal advice 19. Ability to be aware of the need for a multidisciplinary view of legal problems 20. Ability to conduct academic legal research 21. Ability to present knowledge with range of professional presentation skills (oral and written) 22. Ability to write fluent and technically sophisticated prose, using legal terminology accurately 23. Ability to read a range of complex works within and about law and to summarise their arguments accurately 24. Ability to work in cross-disciplinary teams as the legal expert of the team and contribute effectively to its task 25. Ability to advise an interested person on the possible outcome of a case, and outline alternative strategies leading to different solutions 26. Ability to identify and collate relevant statistical or numerical information and use it in a report 27. Ability to use relevant IT-tools, i.e. word-processing, standard information retrieval systems, web-resources, and ability to specify technological tools needed for personal support 28. Ability to reflect on own learning 29. Ability to seek and make use of feedback 30. Awareness of the ethical dimension of legal work 31. Ability to use a foreign legal language
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Chair’s Report
Paper Seven Advisory Board | September 2009
Purpose of paper Action requested To introduce oral report Members invited to from the Chair of the comment and raise any Advisory Board other business
Oral report from the Chair
The Chair, Avrom Sherr, to provide an oral report to the meeting.
Any other business The Chair to invite members to raise any other issues not covered in the Agenda.
Chair to close meeting, followed by lunch.
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Appendix
Advisory Board | September 2009
Purpose of appendix Action requested To advise of the None - for background reports to be submitted information only to the HEA
Reports to the Higher Education Academy
The following reports are to be submitted to the Higher Education Academy at the end of September, and will be available to Advisory Board members on request thereafter:
• Engagement with Higher Education Institutions (Annex A) • Key Performance Indicators (Annex B) • Financial Statement
These reports are in a non-editable spreadsheet format prescribed by the Academy to facilitate consolidation of the data across the Subject Centre network.
The Academy’s planning and annual reporting group (PAARG) has confirmed that the narrative report of previous years will be discontinued from 2009/10. The UKCLE has decided not to submit one for 2008/09 either, given the Academy’s confirmation that they do not need or fully utilise the data in that format. The Annual Report included in this Agenda will be submitted for information.
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