Developing Standards for Street Law Programs

1. Developing standards for Street Law programsDavid McQuoid-MasonProfessor of LawCentre for Socio-Legal StudiesUniversity of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

2. Introduction • During the period 1997 to 2001 there was a major initiative to develop Street Law programs in 17 Eastern and Central European and Central Asian countries, during which some suggested Standards were developed. • The suggested Standards for Eastern and Central European and Central Asian countries provide useful guidelines and covered the following : • The Street Law curriculum and lesson content; • The types of Street Law teachers and trainers required; • The Street Law teaching and supervision methods; • The types of law students that should participate in Street Law; • The student assessment methods to be used in Street Law; • The types of records to be maintained for Street Law programs; • The need for suitable internal and external environments for Street Law programs; and • The methods to be used for evaluating Street Law programs.

3. The Street Law curriculum and lesson content

4. The Street Law curriculum and lesson content:Suggested Street Law standards for Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia • The topics should be appropriate (i.e. relevant to the interest, culture, and mentality of the target groups). • The topics should be substantive and relate to important ideas. • The topics should be current. • The ordering of topics and lessons should be coherent and meaningful. • The teaching methods should be interactive, experiential, engaging and support the topics. • The curriculum should build skills and give practical advice. • The lessons and curriculum outlines should include references to the required human and materials resources.

5. The types of Street Law teachers and trainers required

6. The types of Street Law teachers and trainers required: Suggested Street Law standards for Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia • The teacher or trainer should have an understanding of the Street Law mission. • The teacher or trainer should understand and be able to use interactive teaching and learning methods. • Training materials should be available and the teacher or trainer should have experience in using them. • The teacher or trainer should have participated in trainings focusing on communication skills. • The teacher or trainer should have the necessary legal knowledge. • The teacher or trainer should have a psychological character appropriate for Street Law.

7. The Street Law teaching and supervision methods

8. The Street Law teaching and supervision methods : Suggested Street Law standards for Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia • Teaching methods should be all-inclusive, interactive and varied. • Teaching methods should be clear and understandable. • Teaching methods should be student-oriented and engage students in active work. • Teaching methods should be appropriate to the learner group. • Teaching methods should initiate interest in the topic. • Teaching methods should help to maintain an engaging pace of activities. • Teaching methods should foster both skills and knowledge development in learners. • Teaching methods should involve ongoing monitoring and feedback of learner experiences.

9. The types of law students that should participate in Street Law

10. The types of law students that should participate in Street Law: Suggested Street Law standards for Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia • Law school students participating in a Street Law-type clinic should at least be in their second year of law school. • Law students should be trained for a minimum of four hours in the use of interactive teaching methods before being sent to teach their first lessons. • Law students should organize mock trials and special events for learners. • Law students should be trained in the preparation of lesson plans. • Law students should participate in regular meetings and debriefings with their trainer or supervisor – recommended to be held at least once a week. • Law school seminars for law students should include a practical component. • Law students should teach a minimum of 10 lessons in a community setting over the course of the Street Law-type clinic - ideally a total of 20 lessons is recommended. • Law students should teach the same students in the respective community settings over the course of the clinic. • The work of law students should be observed in the relevant community setting at least twice during asemester. • Law students should participate in the evaluative process regarding their work.

11. The student assessment methods to be used in Street Law

12. The student assessment methods to be used in Street Law: Suggested Street Law standards for Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia • Assessments of the learning by the law students’ and their target audiences should be regular. • The assessment methods used for law students and their target audiences should be complementary and holistic. • The assessment of law student should include examining (a) their individual work; (b) their lesson preparation; (c) their participation in the law school interactive teaching seminars; and, (d) their performances while presenting lessons in the target community setting. • Assessment methods should be based on the knowledge, skill and attitudes of the law students and their target audiences.

13. The types of records to be maintained for Street Law programs

14. The types of records to be maintained for Street Law programs: Suggested Street Law standards for Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia • It is suggested that the following records should be kept and maintained in Street Law programs: • Street Law lesson plans and lessons undertaken by individual law students, together with such students’ reflections on them - preferably in a reflective journal. • Reports from participating community-based organizations, such as school teachers, prison officers and officials of other bodies – also to be included in a reflective journal. • Lists of participating community-based organizations, such as schools, prisons and other bodies. • Records of how participating law students have been supervised. • Letters or communication between the Street Law-type clinics and community-based organizations, donors and others. • Opinions and evaluations regarding the efficacy and usefulness of the Street Law program, by participants and stakeholders.

15. Suitable internal and external environments for Street Law programs

16. Suitable internal and external environments for Street Law programs: Suggested standards for Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia • Street law programs should be hosted by a law school, a law student association or an NGO that promotes public legal awareness. • Street Law trainers should be well-qualified to teach using interactive methods. • Street Law trainers should be teachers who are motivated in learning Street Law-type teaching methods. • Street Law target audiences should be community-based learners, such as secondary school students, prisoners or other members of a target community or organization. • Street Law trainers should have legal knowledge appropriate to the needs of the target audiences. • When Street Law students are hosted by community-based organizations the administrators in such organizations should be receptive to law students conducting public legal awareness education.

17. Conclusion • Although the idea of setting Standards for Street Law programs may seem controversial in some quarters, such Standards provide useful guidelines. • The participants that spent five years in establishing the Central and Eastern European and Central Asian Street Law programs found it useful to develop a set of Standards for their region. • Although the Standards were never formally adopted by these countries, they provided useful guidelines and bargaining tools for policy-makers and academics interested in establishing new Street Law programs in their regions. • It is left to the participants at this International Journal of Clinical Legal Education Conference, who are interested in Street Law, to decide for themselves whether the suggestions made by their Conference colleagues, and the Standards previously mentioned, will be of use to them as guidelines.