Page 31 - Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century

Labour Law is a module that promotes the constitutional values of equality, human dignity and freedom and
has social justice as an objective. Class participation is encouraged by creating a comfortable and secure space where students have a voice and can address sensitive issues such as those mentioned above as well as bullying, discrimination and harassment. Consequently, a learning environment is created where important societal issues can be discussed. It promotes the recognition of the diverse social, cultural, economic and linguistic backgrounds of our students. In addition to encouraging empathy and problem solving, this approach empowers students to consider ways to collaborate and influence change through policies or laws.
Students are also provided with real-life problem situations during formal assessments. These activities provide opportunities for the students to examine tasks from different perspectives by using a variety of resources. ‘Learning to be’ tasks allow students to examine a problem from a variety of theoretical and practical perspectives.
For example, after lecturing on sexual harassment and providing students with knowledge of the substantive law, they were given a set of facts based on an actual labour law case. They were required to critically analyse the legal position of the survivor victim and advise her of any possible remedies that she may have under applicable labour legislation. Students were required to act out their future roles as litagators by utilising the substantive law (student’s existing knowledge), including the theory, and apply it to real-life situations (learning about and then learning to be). In this particular instance, there were two judgments the original from the Labour Court, which were overturned by the Labour Appeal Court. Students were also alerted to the fact that in the first judgment, a male judge found the incident not to be harassment and stated the male employee was only trying, ‘more in hope than in expectation’. The Labour Appeal Court judge,
who happened to be female, overturned the decision in stating that: ‘In its approach, the Court overlooked that in electing to make the unwelcomed sexual advances that he did, Mr Simmers’ conduct violated Ms Markides’ right to enjoy substantive equality in the workplace.’ This exercise provided an opportunity for students to analyse a scenario, identify key issues and generate responses to a legal issue by making critical judgments based on the merits of a particular argument.
When evaluated against the below check list by Herrington, Oliver & Reeves (2003), the exercise ehanced the learning experience in the following ways:
Teaching Innovation for the 21st Century | Showcasing UJ Teaching and Learning 2021
a.
b.
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c.
Real-world relevance provides students with real-life tasks that lawyers encounter on a daily basis. Students are required to apply the knowledge gained through research to solve a particular problem.
Authentic activities provide an opportunity for students to examine tasks from different perspectives, using a variety of resources. Tasks require students to examine problems from a variety of theoretical and practical perspectives, rather than just allowing for a single perspective that students must imitate to be successful; and
Reflection: ‘Learning to be’ opportunities allow students to reflect on their learning.
First-year students
It can be argued that first-year law students in South
Africa face many challenges. Internationally, law schools are recognised as the sites of a ‘stressful and rigorous tertiary education experience’ (Kelk 2009). Initially teaching practices did not have regard for the stressful nature of legal education, the extent of transition or the mental wellbeing of the students during their studies. Currently, at many universities in South Africa, emphasis is placed on the first-year experience through extended seminars, aimed at addressing the above.
Developmental interventions in the
first year
When teaching first-year students, the implementation of developmental interventions to promote student success and improve retention rates is of utmost importance. The implementation of these interventions contributes to a socially just agenda as it allows for the mitigation of certain external causes of educational inequality (Pantić & Florian 2015).