Diversity

Student and recent graduate comments

Diversity of backgrounds needs to be addressed:

I think in terms of diverse range of backgrounds I mean certainly it needs to be but the way the course is structured and the way that admissions is structured is you don’t really get a diverse range of backgrounds you get ... a private sort of club ... And I’m not from a private school and wow that was a difference you notice that one very quickly.

The program needs to be flexible, particularly given that demands on time are more pressing by final year. There is a need to recognise diverse learning styles:

Yeah but even I know with the subjects that I’m doing online … like I put my lecture notes, even just listen to it while I’m cleaning my room, getting ready and whatever and I’m like wow, I really understand that. And I have more time, I can multitask more.

Diversity generally

In the context of capstone experiences, diversity is concerned with enabling students to be inclusive of others in professional contexts, as well as ensuring that capstone experiences are designed to be inclusive of all students. While the word diversity may be interpreted to mean differences in program structures (for example, different capstone entry points due to subject sequencing, double degrees or graduate entry) or diversity in career destinations, in our view these matters, though relevant to the second dot point under this principle, are more closely aligned with the notion of transition. Under this design principle, diversity is concerned more with ensuring that students have the ability to engage with and respect diversity in professional contexts when dealing with the public, clients and colleagues (for example, cultural competence when dealing with persons from a range of social, economic and ethnic backgrounds (Stuckey et al 2007; Arkoudis et al 2010); diversity of opinion and perspective) and that the capstone experience is designed to be inclusive and enabling of all students.

Enhancing students’ capacity to engage with diversity in professional

contexts

A capstone experience should prepare law students to deal with the inevitable human diversity that they will face in their future professional lives. “A mark of a liberal learning is awareness of, and sensitivity toward, differences and similarities where race, gender, religion, disability, sexual orientation, ethnicity, culture, social class, and education are concerned” (Dunn and McCarthy 2010, 164).

Stuckey et al (2007, 66-67) argue that cultural competence is “a skill that can be taught”, and to this end recommend student acquisition of the five habits of cross-cultural practice developed by Bryant and Peters (Bryant 2001 cited in Stuckey et al 2007, 66-67). These are:

• Habit One: Degrees of Separation and Connection – where students list and explore the significance of similarities and differences between themselves and clients;

• Habit Two: The Three Rings – where students identify and analyse the possible effects of the similarities and differences on interactions between the client, the lawyer and legal decision-maker;

• Habit Three: Parallel Universes – where students consider alternative explanations for clients’ behaviour that may be based in cultural differences;

• Habit Four: Pitfalls, Red Flags and Remedies – where students identify potential cross- cultural issues that may impact the client relationship in terms of communication, understanding and rapport; and

• Habit Five: The Camel’s Back – where students explore themselves as cultural citizens. Frank and open discussions on diversity in legal practice and the profession should improve the quality of legal professionals, and should also contribute to improved conditions for under-represented practitioners (Maute 2007). Burgess (2010, 15) considers the impact that different ‘conversation styles’ have on the way people communicate, and suggests that when students are required to conform to a legal communication style, they are less able to communicate well with diverse clients. As a result, differences in communication styles may result in unintentional discrimination that extends beyond the classroom. Therefore, law schools have a responsibility to minimise the alienation that conversation styles may create between students and clients who have different needs due to their cultural, linguistic or educational backgrounds by introducing regular teaching on communicating with diverse clients as part of a professional readiness program (Burgess 2010, 16).

Being inclusive of all students

In addition to enhancing students’ capacity to engage sensitively and effectively with diversity, law schools can contribute to the cultural competence of students by acting as role models and promoting diversity in the law school community, for example, by employing and recruiting non-traditional staff and students (Stuckey et al 2007). Special support should be provided for students who are more likely to encounter discrimination in the workforce (Gardner 1999), including students with disabilities, and students of various ethnic backgrounds (Arkoudis et al 2010).

Catering to the needs of an increasingly diversified student population comes with a unique series of challenges, including the development of inclusive curricula that respond effectively and flexibly to the variety of student learning styles, preferences, objectives and expectations (Kamarul 1994; Arkoudis et al 2010) and that provide multiple other perspectives and examples so that inclusive practice and awareness is mainstreamed (Rose and Meyer 2002). For example, mature-age students often demonstrate higher levels of cognitive development in coursework, largely due to their personal and/or professional responsibilities outside university (Hettich 2000). An active, student-centred approach to learning should be adopted in a capstone experience, as this enables all learners to enhance their own development.