Being Casual About Our Teachers – Understanding More About Sessional Teachers in Law

27 Pages Posted: 4 Nov 2010 Last revised: 18 Dec 2011

See all articles by Jill Cowley

Jill Cowley

University of New South Wales (UNSW) - UNSW Law & Justice

Date Written: November 2, 2010

Abstract

The literature (and data from other sources) confirm that over the past few decades, there has been a significant growth in the numbers of sessional (casual) staff employed in universities in Australia and other parts of the world. The increased casualisation has been across all universities, faculties and schools. Despite this growth there has been very little research undertaken to find out more about sessional academics. This paper concentrates on sessional academics in law schools in Australia, New Zealand and the South Pacific and attempts provide a ‘snapshot’ of sessional law academics by asking, ‘Who are our sessional teachers in law (practitioners or postgraduate students)?’ and, ‘How do they contribute to the legal education of our students and how much teaching do they do?’. Understanding more about our sessional teachers is an important first step in a process by which we might devise more appropriate training and support to ensure the quality of our law schools’ teaching and our students’ learning.

Keywords: Sessional Teachers in Law, Australia

Suggested Citation

Cowley, Jill, Being Casual About Our Teachers – Understanding More About Sessional Teachers in Law (November 2, 2010). UNSW Law Research Paper No. 2010-48, Available at SSRN: https://ssrn.com/abstract=1702630

Jill Cowley (Contact Author)

University of New South Wales (UNSW) - UNSW Law & Justice ( email )

Kensington, New South Wales 2052
Australia

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