All Is Well on Paper

Critical and reflecting perspectives are present at all basic courses of the Law Programme. At least if you believe a new report from the faculty.

A lack of critical perspectives at Lund University’s Law Programme has been discussed several times during the last years.

However, in a new report made on behalf of the Educational Committee of the Law Faculty Board, Nuga, the situation is not that serious.

“We could see that all syllabi hade some form of thought for there to be critical and reflecting perspectives on the course”, Jacob Rosell Svensson says.

Interviews with teachers
Together with his colleague, Martin Andersén, he conducted a stock-taking of all syllabi at the basic course during autumn where they, aside from critical and reflecting perspectives, also examined to what extent the syllabi take progression and proficiency training into consideration.

“To complement our material, we also interviewed all course coordinators at the basic programme. Everyone was very positive and thought that the report was a fine initiative”, Jacob Rosell Svensson says.

They could, however, see that there were various definitions of what critical perspectives are.

“It became clear that there are different approaches to what a critical perspective contains. Some courses, for example, have a specific perspective, such as gender, while others push towards a critical approach to the court at general.” 

Students not approached
Finding out how the students, who should be seen as the central characters at the programme, perceive the presence of critical and reflecting perspectives in their education, was not part of the mission. According to Rasmus Ringström, chairperson at the Law Students’ Union, there can therefore be no direct conclusions made from the report.

“It is a very good report seen to how it looks on paper, but it needs to be supplemented with a student perspective to paint the whole picture of the situation”, he says.

The Law Students’ Union has raised the issue with the faculty board, and there is currently work being made to create a survey to reach all students.

“Our goal is to finalise the survey during spring and, if possible, also to take it to the students during the spring term. However, the most important thing is that the survey is made and reaches as many students as possible”, Rasmus Ringström says.

The syllabi are the steering documents
Per Nilsén, who up until New Year was chairperson at Nuga, believes that it was well-justified for the report to start off from the way it looks on paper.

“The syllabi are the steering documents we have to determine how the programme should look. It clearly describes the contents of the course and which the grading criteria are.”

Like Rasmus Ringström, however, he also sees reasons to collect the students’ opinions in the future.

“It’s a problem that there are sometimes thoughts in an education that then might not be made conscious by the students”, Per Nilsén says.

He also thinks that the report shows how the syllabi need a much clearer progression plan.

“Progression could be made much clearer when it comes to oral and written proficiency training. I believe that that, in turn, would also strengthen the critical and reflecting perspectives”, Per Nilsén says.

• READ MORE: They Want to Make a Change in Practice

This has happened

Historically, the Law Programme has only focused on existing law. Since 1999, however, it is written in the degree ordinance for the Law Programme that there is to be a gender perspective in all courses. How well that has been fulfilled has been debated for years.

• 2004: An obligation to follow the law
  Three law students send a missive to the faculty where they urge it to start following the Higher Education Ordinance, which states that all law students shall have “gained knowledge on such society and family circumstances that affect the life conditions of women and men”.
  “There is no critical discussion whatsoever. We are never given an opportunity to look at the purposes, backgrounds or possible consequences of various decisions”, says Anna Karlsson Wede, one of the protesters.
• 2011: Stereotypical course literature
  On behalf of the board of equality and equal treatment at the Faculty of Law, a survey of the literature at the Law Programme in Lund is made. The result shows that almost all course literature lack a gender perspective. Women appear in literature mostly in passive roles, such as mothers, girlfriends, or victims.
• 2012: Critique from the National Agency for Higher Education
  The Law Programme is evaluated by the National Agency for Higher Education (today the Swedish Higher Education Authority). The overall assessment of the programme is that it is of very high quality. The only critique put forth is that some students show a lacking ability to use critical and reflecting perspectives.
• 2013: Censored report
  Through deep interviews with course coordinators, teachers and students, a stock-taking of gender issues at the programme is conducted. When the report is finalised, the faculty set an ultimatum – censor the sensitive parts or forget publishing. That students testified to teachers showing class contempt was seen as harmful to the reputation of the faculty. After this was made public, the report was published digitally.
• 2015: All is well on paper
  A report with similar approach as the previous one is conducted. What is evaluated now is to what extent critical perspectives and written and oral proficiency elements are present in the syllabi goals and grading criteria. Interviews are being held with teachers, but this time, no students are approached. The result shows that all syllabi contain critical and reflecting perspectives.

Text: Annika Skogar
Translation: Carl-William Ersgård