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Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century | Showcasing UJ Teaching and Learning 2021
Personal identity formation and ‘learning to be’
The values and philosophies that law lecturers instil in students significantly contribute
to the legal order of the future, an order that ought to supports a changed South Africa (Langa 2006). In addition to developing an extensive knowledge of legal principles, critical thinking and research skills, law students should critically engage with our constitutional values (Langa 2006). This is a key notion in the UJ ‘learning to be’ philosophy. The effective formulation of professional legal identities is also critical. A professional identity is not a static concept and can be defined as a complex matrix of internalised expectations and behaviours that arise from a role or distinct network of relationships (Stryker & Burke
2000). Field, Duffy and Huggins state that by introducing law students to the concept of a positive professional identity, student engagement and intrinsic motivation will increase, because they are working towards a career goal that has meaning and purpose (Field, Duffy & Huggins 2014). The question remains, how do educators get first-year students to embrace this notion? At the University of Johannesburg, law students are introduced, in various modules, to a number of legal professionals during the first-year seminar. Judges, attorneys, prosecutors and advocates address classes on their future roles, the ethics of the profession and the role of the law to address various issues.
Justice Edwin Cameron addressing first-year students during the First-Year Seminar
When establishing an emergent professional legal identity, it is important for a law student to experience knowledge not only as the static product of information production and consumption, but also as a process and instrument of inquiry to solve problems. Activities informed by the ‘learning to be’ philosophy allow students to experience an authentic sense of who they will be as a lawyer. In support of ‘learning to be’ activities, students are provided with opportunities to engage with real-life problems and situations in class and during various assessments. They are often required to provide a client with advice and possible remedies. This approach allows for students to develop certain skills and attributes such
as critical thinking, ethics and integrity, research capabilities, problems solving, effective communication, literacy skills and the ability to transfer acquired knowledge (CHE 2014).