Law graduate attributes in Australia: Leadership and collaborative learning within communities of practice

Abstract

University outcomes are increasingly focused on generic skills, as well as ensuring students meet specific professional competencies and knowledge. Many academics have little educational background and training in planning curriculum including learning activities and assessment tasks aligned to explicit criteria in relation to outcomes such as teamwork, communication and ethics. Some research on successful professional development approaches for legal academics has occurred in specific universities (Kift et al., 2006; Kift, 2003), but there has been little research about shared learning across Australian university law schools. Learning within communities of practice involving ongoing joint activity has been shown to be effective in supporting professional learning and sustained change (Wenger, 1998). During 2008-2009, a national project included a focus on law academics building curriculum planning skills in relation to graduate attributes. This paper reports on some cross-institutional collaborative processes and the successful change strategies and materials development which occurred, considering these results within a community of practice framework context.