Supporting transition to law school and student well-being: The role of professional legal identity

Rachael Field,Anna Huggins,James Duffy

doi:10.5204/intjfyhe.v4i2.167

Rachael Field, Anna Huggins + Show 1 more

Open Access

https://doi.org/10.5204/intjfyhe.v4i2.167

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Abstract

The empirically established decline in law student well-being during the first year of law school is a red-flagged imprimatur for first year curriculum change. This article suggests that by engaging law students with the concept of a positive professional identity, student engagement and intrinsic motivation will increase because they are working towards a career goal that has meaning and purpose. Law school is a time of professional transformation and the legal academy can take steps to ensure that this transformation is inculcated with positive messages. Literature from the fields of law and psychology is analysed in this article, to explain how a positive conception of the legal profession (and a student’s future role within it) can increase a student’s psychological well-being – at law school and beyond.

Highlights

Law school is well recognised as a stressful and rigorous tertiary education experience for students (Kelk, Luscombe, Medlow & Hickie, 2009)
It is our contention that encouraging first year law students to develop an emergent professional legal identity is an important component of supporting their transition to law school
It promotes student engagement and intrinsically motivated learning. It contributes to addressing the high levels of psychological distress that we know law students experience in their first year of legal education (Kelk et al, 2009)

Summary

Introduction

Law school is well recognised as a stressful and rigorous tertiary education experience for students (Kelk, Luscombe, Medlow & Hickie, 2009). It is our contention that encouraging first year law students to develop an emergent professional legal identity is an important component of supporting their transition to law school It promotes student engagement and intrinsically motivated learning. In the context of the significance of a sense of professional identity in the first year law curriculum, this article considers two specific ways in which the development of an emergent professional identity can support students transition to law school and their psychological well-being: first, working to engage students with their learning; and second, harnessing their intrinsic motivations

Engaging students with an emergent professional identity

Findings

Conclusion