The Non-Pracademic: Innovator or Imposter Associate Professor Neal Geach, University of Hertfordshire
Historically in legal education, the ‘traditional’, research-focused academic has been perceived to have more standing than those entering legal education following a career in practice. Recent years have seen a rise of the ‘pracademic’ and increased recognition of the value that they bring. This has coincided with the rise in importance of employability and the need to develop students for future legal practice. Students may appreciate the competition to enter the professions, but in an era of perceived high tuition fees they expect their degree to maximise their chances and so can question the vocational credentials of their teachers. Skilled employment is now also a key regulatory metric for the sector further requiring undergraduate programmes to adapt.
This has all allowed a variation of imposter syndrome to emerge whereby non-pracademics question their ability to meet the needs of this new age and risks stifling curriculum innovation.
The challenges of developing the curriculum to meet the needs and demands of students and the sector whilst also having to overcome the worries of a perceived lack of credibility due to an absence of being in legal practice will be highlighted, alongside ways to overcome them to reap the benefits of experiential learning.
Made with FlippingBook HTML5