Page 5 - Manual on Teaching Methods of Law 2023

INTRODUCTION

Teaching Law can be challenging and exciting. As a skill, it may be intuitive to many but
for some, it can be acquired by training. Like any other skill, it can be learned, unlearned,
and relearned. Therefore, approaches used to teach the law discipline need to be studied,
analysed, and explored. That can be a complex but enjoyable process. Building such a
system that applies best practices, methods, instruments, and techniques requires
affirmative action and a willingness to learn on the part of teachers and scholars. This can
be initiated by an in-depth study of multi-dimensional methods and techniques for
teaching and learning law.

Generally most law teachers begin a new semester by focusing on updating the content
and assimilating as many references in their classroom teaching. In their zeal, the
relevance of pedagogy is lost to them. But for those who realize its relevance it gets
integrated into whatever courses they choose to teach. This leads to substantial variations
in the assessment of teachers' performance by students. Some get poorly graded as they
have little or no formal training in the suitable pedagogy for their discipline. A good legal
pedagogy will inform the students what is law and how it evolved and is made. Further it
inculcates the skills to extract the ruling principle of law from an adjudicated case. And
how to apply known principles of law to new cases as they arise.

The content and the delivery method both have relevance in achieving the desired learning
outcome of a course. As pedagogical innovations are essential to achieve excellence in
teaching and learning we need to have a nuanced understanding of the contemporary
pedagogical models of teaching law. This manual is a handbook for compiling the current
pedagogies in existence to teach law in India.