Module LAW3627: LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Department: Law

LAW3627: LAW AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

Prerequisites

• The Individual and The State (LAW1081) and Introduction to English Law and Legal Method (LAW1121).

Corequisites

• None

Excluded Combination of Modules

• None

Aims

• To develop a detailed understanding of specialised aspects of law and social justice

Content

• The module will consist of critical analysis of specialised areas of law and social justice.
• The following is an indicative list of the topics that would come within the module description:
• Race and ethnicity
• Social welfare provision
• Disability law (education, medical and/or employment aspects)
• Immigration (access to services, education)
• Public interest law and legal education and/or activism
• Intersectionality and discrimination
• The list is not intended to be comprehensive or exclusive, but to help clarify the scope of the module. Topics would be determined by the availability of staff and the interests of students.

Learning Outcomes

• Students should be able to demonstrate:
• A thorough knowledge of selected issues in law and social justice.
• A familiarity with the key debates and policy and reform literature on selected issues in law and social justice.

• Students should be able to:
• Identify legal and policy issues and arguments concerning selected issues in law and social justice.
• Critically evaluate how political, cultural, social, and historical factors affect legal approaches to selected issues in law and social justice.
• Appreciate that certain aspects of the law and social justice may be uncertain and complex, and critically evaluate the doctrinal coherence and consistency of law in this area.

• Students should be able to:
• Demonstrate research skills, including the ability to work independently and to take responsibility for their own learning.
• Engage in critical reading of legal, academic, and policy texts.
• Identify relevant principles of law and analyse relevant case law.
• Apply knowledge to complex situations, recognise potential alternative conclusions for particular situations, and provide supporting reasons for them.
• Communicate complex ideas in writing or through other appropriate means, depending on the audience

Modes of Teaching, Learning and Assessment and how these contribute to the learning outcomes of the module

• The teaching will comprise two one-hour lectures and five two-hour seminars. An opening lecture will provide students with a background to law and social justice, indicating points of debate and tension. A concluding lecture will draw together the themes explored in the seminars.
• Seminars will allow students to develop their own ideas and perspectives through engagement in in-depth discussion of each topic.
• Seminar worksheets will be provided in advance of each seminar to encourage students to engage in pre-session preparation. Preparation would incorporate a variety of material, to reflect the module’s emphasis on diversity. Hence, it would include traditional materials such as academic articles, but also podcasts, films, and other media that explores issues relevant to the seminars.
• The assessment will take the form of one formative and two summative assessments.
• The summative assessments are intended to reflect the emphasis on diversity in the law, by providing the opportunity for students to work on a novel form of presenting legal analysis. For example, this might take the form of a podcast offering the legal perspective on a film or a commentary on a photograph related to a topic.
• The formative assessment will be aligned with the summatives, to ensure that students have adequate support and preparation for alternative modes of assessment.
• Both summative and formative assessments will require students to engage in a critical analysis of issues in public interest law
• The audio presentation will relate to one of the topics covered on the course. Students will be given several options about the format of their podcast (audio presentation) that reflects the value of diversity and offers students the opportunity to showcase their creativity.

Teaching Methods and Learning Hours

Summative Assessment

Formative Assessment:

Students will prepare a plan and outline of their audio presentation for review. This will be no more than 500 words.

■ Attendance at all activities marked with this symbol will be monitored. Students who fail to attend these activities, or to complete the summative or formative assessment specified above, will be subject to the procedures defined in the University's General Regulation V, and may be required to leave the University