Moot Court Programme – UCD Pathways to the Professions

Main idea

UCD Moot Court Programme introduces primary school students to the legal profession and to UCD as a university and helps to plant the seed for their future progression. It also prepares UCD undergraduate law students to act as role models and active participants in demystifying the law and the legal profession for primary school children.

Outline

The Moot Court Programme is a Pathways to the Professions outreach project strand initiative.

It is a collaboration between UCD Sutherland School of Law and UCD Access & Lifelong Learning supported by Mason Hayes & Curran and Rethink Ireland in which UCD partners with primary schools in the community as part of the Law in the Classroom Module led by Dr Suzanne Egan.

As part of this Law in the Classroom elective curriculum Module, UCD undergraduate law students design and run a series of 4 workshops for primary school children (aged 11-12). These classroom workshops utilise roleplay and participatory learning to capture the imagination and enthusiasm of the young learners. Young people are introduced to a wide range of legal concepts: truth, evidence, fairness, and justice. Through games and group activities they develop their legal knowledge on children’s rights and amass an impressive legal vocabulary whilst preparing to conduct a mock trial (‘Moot Court’).

At the end of the 4 weeks, the primary school pupils are invited to UCD to participate in a moot court trial. They have roleplayed and practised case scenarios with Law students as part of the workshops. UCD law students facilitate the Moot Court on campus. 

The pupils participate in workshops on ‘Life as a UCD student’ and a campus tour, both of which are facilitated by student Access Leaders from Access and LIfelong Learning.

Parents are also invited to observe the moot court, take a campus tour and learn more about the different pathways to higher education through information sessions organised by UCD Access and Lifelong Learning.

This initiative introduces primary school students to the legal profession and the pathways into and allows them to be exposed to UCD as a university and helps to plant the seed for their future progression.

Length: curriculum Module: 1 trimester

School visit/moot court element: 5-6 weeks

Goals

• To introduce primary school students to the legal profession and to UCD as a university and help to plant the seed for their future progression. 
• To prepare UCD undergraduate law students to act as role models and active participants in demystifying the law and the legal profession for primary school children.

Target group

Students experiencing socioeconomic obstacles

Obstacles targetted:

• Economic obstacles
• Social obstacles

Students involvement

Law students are involved in the design and delivery of the programme. As part of the module they design and deliver the workshops for primary school students.

Student Access Leaders design and deliver the Access workshops on ‘Life as a University student’ and the campus tours.

The primary school children are involved in the selection and content of the mock trial script and they each assume a role in the mock trial itself.

Inspiration and evidence

Several studies point to the lack of diversity in law as a discipline and profession in the Irish context.  Further evidence suggests that there is a positive correlation between raising awareness at early years of education and early career. This calls for the need for early learning interventions to empower and inspire students from underrepresented groups to study law. This pilot study aims to test the extent to which innovative learning interventions can impact students’ aspirations.

Success criteria

• Fun, engaging and interactive for students. 
• Experiential learning for law student and for primary school student 
• Early exposure 

Points of attention

• Administratively demanding – group and visit logistics and procedures and permissions, garda vetting, consents, Child Protection requirements etc
• Requires specific funding

Effectiveness

Will form part of ongoing research.

Do you feel you can effectively provide the support that students require?

We strongly agree.

Evaluation

• Yes via questionnaires and/or focus groups with primary school staff and pupils (before and after), UCD undergraduate law student module participants.
• Course format and content, any change in awareness of legal concepts and of inclination to undertake third level studies in the future in law or in another discipline, any wider benefits of programme.
• Feedback informs future iterations eg. length, duration, format and content of classroom workshops and UCD visit. Addition of graduate Module assistants to support workshop sessions. Use of student Access Leadrs to design and deliver UCD Access workshops and tour.
• Research responses form part of ongoing research by Module coordinator.

Communication

• Social Media
• Direct emails/communication to DEIS Primary School’s 
• Direct emails to students 
• Flyer 
• Webpage 
• Communication to relevant faculty and industry.

Timing

This initiative is run in trimester 2 of an academic year.

Resources

• Dedicated budget 
• Project Coordinator to drive project and foster stakeholder engagement. 
• Promotional material – flyers, posters, social media 
• Resources for e.g. dedicated space to run events.
• Administrative costs including food and transport costs for events

Extra information

• Pathways to the Professions Moot Court Programme webpage

Literature:

Kearney, M. S., & Levine, P. B. (2020). Role models, mentors, and media influences. The Future of Children, 30(1), 83-106.

Lundy, L., & Sainz, G. M. (2018). The role of law and legal knowledge for a transformative human rights education: addressing violations of children’s rights in formal education. Human Rights Education Review, 1(2), 04-24.

Rooney, J., (2023). Judges, Education and Class in Ireland. Irish Judicial Studies Journal,  2023 Vol 7(3), 92.

Watkins, D., Law, E. L. C., Barwick, J., & Kirk, E. (2018). Exploring children’s understanding of law in their everyday lives. Legal studies, 38(1), 59-78.

Transferability

We think it is somewhat transferable to other contexts or groups.

The initiative is informed by a universal design approach.