How Does it Feel to Think Like a Lawyer? Incorporating the Affective Domain in Legal Education

Posted: 10 Jun 2001

See all articles by Caroline Maughan

Caroline Maughan

University of the West of England (UWE) - Bristol Law School

Mike Maughan

Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education - Gloucestershire Business School

Chris Maguire

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Julian Webb

University of Melbourne - Melbourne Law School

Abstract

Legal (and other kinds of) education have been criticised for operating principally in the domain of knowledge and reasoning, and ignoring the effect of feelings, values and attitudes on the learning process. As teachers we tend to locate the content of our programmes in the cognitive domain and restrict ourselves to assessing the mastery of content and technique. Furthermore, we often assume that differences in attainment are due to differences in intellectual capacity only.

However, we may well find that the definitions we use of intellectual ability are artificially restricted by how and what we teach and how and what we assess. There is, moreover, often a reluctance to deal with the unpredictable and individualised issues of feelings, values and attitudes which have an equally important impact on our ability to learn and how we apply our learning.

This paper challenges law teachers to reflect on the importance of an approach to learning which incorporates a wider definition of cognitive abilities and pays attention to the part the affective domain plays in developing critical legal thinkers and proficient, creative practitioners. As a consequence, there are two issues to address: the first is the teaching and learning process itself; the second is the need to review the outcomes of learning, so that students, law schools and the professions are clear what capabilities a student possesses on obtaining a qualification.

Suggested Citation

Maughan, Caroline and Maughan, Mike and Maguire, Christopher William and Webb, Julian, How Does it Feel to Think Like a Lawyer? Incorporating the Affective Domain in Legal Education. Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=270590

Caroline Maughan (Contact Author)

University of the West of England (UWE) - Bristol Law School ( email )

Frenchay Campus
Coldharbour Lane
Bristol, BS16 1QY
United Kingdom

Mike Maughan

Cheltenham & Gloucester College of Higher Education - Gloucestershire Business School

PO Box 220
The Park Campus
Cheltenham, GL50 2QF
United Kingdom

Christopher William Maguire

affiliation not provided to SSRN

Julian Webb

University of Melbourne - Melbourne Law School ( email )

185 Pelham Street
Melbourne, VIC 3010
Australia

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