| Research into the transformation of education generally includes an examination of how and what faculty teach. Discussions of the potential for change in legal education frequently focus on alternative pedagogies and feminist jurisprudence. For this study, faculty members at ten law schools were surveyed about their utilization of alternative teaching practices, knowledge of feminist jurisprudence, and integration of feminist jurisprudence into courses. CUNY, with its unique mission and model was included, along with nine "producer" law schools. Findings indicate that alternative pedagogies have been adopted to some extent, particularly in smaller classes and in second- and third-year courses. Core courses tend to be larger and, more structured, and thus less likely to use materials from other disciplines, and to be more Socratic in format. On the other hand, alternative techniques appear with great frequency in clinical courses. Faculty are at least moderately familiar with feminist jurisprudence. Law Reviews, colleagues at home institutions, books, and conferences are significant media for learning of this scholarship. Important too, are campus 'reading groups', which apparently also introduce alternative pedagogies and promote the integration of feminist jurisprudence into courses. While more than forty percent of faculty say that feminist jurisprudence is moderately integrated into their institution's law school curriculum, the extent of the integration depends greatly on the instructor and on the "relevance" of the material to courses they teach. |
