Using storytelling as a teaching model in a law school : the experience in an Australian context

The law school experience for both student and teacher can be both exciting and yet daunting. The law student may come from a family background where a university education is unknown. The law student may come from a cultural background where the challenges of gaining an education need to be balanced by family or work pressures. For many studying to obtain a law degree it is a time in their lives whereby education, work and family all collide. In essence the law school experience “lies sandwiched between a challenging welcome and an even more challenging farewell”. For the university teacher there is the challenge of teaching students how to think like lawyers, think critically and to provide a bridge between the learning environment of the law school and the practical reality of acting as lawyers upon entry into the legal profession. Underpinning this whole experience is the reality that “individual students learn in different ways”. Law teachers need to, and usually do, acknowledge that their students have different learning preferences. While some are auditory learners, others are visual. Today’s law teachers need to find ways to reach both groups of students