Pedagogy and ideology: teaching law as if it matters

Abstract

Considering whether law students receive a legal education that is meaningful and relevant to them raises interesting questions about what education is, what it's for, how we teach, how we learn and, essentially, how we know what we know. This article examines ideology and the law lecturer and student, and how these intersect, interact and conflict to inform the teaching, learning and understanding of law. These are not inconsequential questions considering the range of diversity among students now studying law. These issues are explored by examining the purposes of legal education in light of the overall objectives of higher education. The article then looks at the impact of ideology on our understanding of the world in general and of law in particular, and how ideology influences how we learn and what we learn. The manner in which ideology influences a particular interpretation of information, and especially legal information, is explored, as are the consequences to those outside that ideological and interpretive commonality. Thus, it is argued that some groups of students are excluded from a legal education that is meaningful and relevant to them. Lastly, the article considers ways in which law may be understood and taught otherwise to reflect both our students' reality and the social context in which law operates.

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