FE Section of the ALT

Welcome to the FE section of the website which is aimed at those teaching law in schools and colleges. It is intended to be an open forum and you are cordially invited to share your thoughts and ideas. It would be useful for example, to hear of any tips on how to deliver lessons on particular topics and exercises that can be used to start a new area of a specification or to reflect back on a previous lesson’s work. Advice on how to survive an Ofsted inspection and observations on the process would also be gratefully received.

Another possible area for comment is delivering higher education in a further education establishment. A recent poll by Ipsos Mori found that whilst student satisfaction with such courses was high in some colleges such as City College Birmingham, there were also some very low ratings. What needs to be done to ensure that students have a rewarding experience, what are the difficulties and challenges faced by staff? If you are involved in teaching or managing higher education courses your views and experiences would be appreciated. The start of the academic year has seen the introduction of the new ‘A’ level specifications.

The three boards offering ‘A’ level law, AQA, OCR and WJEC have incorporated the changes required by QCA, namely reducing the number of units studied from six to four, (two for AS and two for A2) and adapting A2 assessment to include stretch and challenge style questions. Despite the changes, all the boards have managed to retain their distinctive features and it is unlikely that many centres will be tempted to consider moving to a new specification.

Again, any comments on how teachers are adapting their practices to manage the changes would be interesting to hear. Those of you who made use of John Deft’s law website at Saint Brendan’s college will have been saddened to hear of his untimely death. The site was easy to use and his copious case summaries and links to other relevant sites have proved of great use to both teachers and students. John was a good friend to the ALT and his contribution will be sorely missed.

If you wish to make a contribution to this section please send material either to me pam.d.carter@googlemail.com or steven.murray@central-glasgow.ac.uk