Re-Visioning Legal Education in South Africa: Harmonising the Aspirations of Transformative Constitutionalism with the Challenges of Our Educational Legacy

Abstract

A review of the history and current state of legal education in South Africa sets the context for a call to re-vision the teaching of law graduates. Imperatives to equip graduates to participate in the project of transformative constitutionalism since 1994 have had significant implications for curriculum reform and the training of lawyers. Perspectives on what the impact of transformative constitutionalism should be on legal education are drawn from the writing of Klare and Justices Langa and Moseneke. They focus attention on the need for a shift in legal culture and fundamental changes to the repertoire of legal reasoning skills that are required for all lawyers to work toward aligning the law with the values of the Constitution.

However, in light of the data available on the success rates of students in higher education, it is clear that these aspirational goals will have to be harmonised with the challenges resulting from a legacy of educational disadvantage that persists twenty years after the demise of apartheid. An approach that is responsive to, and inclusive of all who seek to pursue the promise of transformative constitutionalism, must be firmly rooted in and embody the values enshrined in the Constitution.

Keywords: legal education, South Africa, transformative constitutionalism