Working with experiences: Teaching legal ethics using situated learning

Abstract

Where do law practitioners develop their ethical identity? In part, in their first interactions with the professional world. Depending on the curricula of each law school and the regulations of each country, these experiences may occur in parallel to the legal education within universities. In Peru, students must complete at least one year of preprofessional internships in order to qualify for a law degree. Research on students’ experiences in this first contact with the professional world shows the impact they have on aspects such as ethical reflexivity and agency. In many cases, this impact is problematic. In this paper, we describe and evaluate an innovative pedagogical practice: the pilot course «Learning in the preprofessional environment». The experience showed us that, through the pedagogical approach of situated learning, it is possible for students to narrate and formulate their experiences as preprofessional practitioners, in dialogue with other students and with relevant theoretical approaches. This process enables them to develop new ways of formulating their own experiences, strengthening their ethical reflexivity and agency.