Parker, David (2007) Teaching Law to Chinese Students: Some Reflections. In: 62nd annual ALTA conference: Law and public policy: taming the unruly horse?, 23rd-26th September, 2007, University of Western Australia, Perth, Western Australia.

Abstract

There is a large, and possibly increasing, cohort of students arriving from China to study in Australian universities. While some of these students may actually study in a law degree, those who do commercial studies, either at an undergraduate or graduate level, quite often have to complete some form of law type studies as part of their course. The means by which law is actually taught and assessed appears to be a challenge for many of these students who may never have encountered a problem based style of teaching. This paper outlines some of the problems that Chinese students appear to have when encountering law studies for the first time. Similarly this paper attempts to consider the debate as to whether Chinese students might be characterised simplistically as surface rote learners, rather than reflective and independent scholars. The paper outlines some of the traditions of Confucian education and ponders on whether this impacts on particular student's mode of learning. The paper proposes some suggestions for consideration, particularly in utilising some aspects of Confucian learning, the main point being that there should be greater sensitivity and awareness for our Chinese students, and hopefully a greater discussion on how their needs might be addressed.

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