The small group discussion, which normally takes the form of a tutorial or seminar, is a primary method for teaching/training law students. While lectures and the reading of assigned materials are the essential means for communicating the relevant information to the student, it is the small group discussion which presents him with the opportunity for articulating his thoughts and fomenting his views. These attributes are highly prioritised by the Faculty because they lead to the student’s mental development and are essential to his future role as a lawyer.

The need for small group discussion assumes that the topic under consideration is sufficiently complex or uncertain to raise a variety of views or approaches to the problem. Law students learn, for example, that principles are often not straightforward; that their circumscription may limit them to particular circumstances or that their flexibility may call for the extension of their immediate scope of operation; that certain situations are devoid of governing rules and call out for new law; that the rulings of judges may be in conflict or inconsistent with each other; that statutory provisions may be ambiguous because of imprecise drafting or inappropriate because they are outdated; that there may be various means of interpreting the law to achieve different objectives; that policy or the wider public interest can play a crucial role even to the extent of overriding private rights; that certain ‘higher’ laws may override others. The student is expected to critically consider the problems or questions raised in the problem/question sheet, which is given to him well in advance of the tutorial or seminar to ensure adequate preparation for his participation in class. Ideally, the tutorial should encourage and motivate the student to engage in further personal study of the issues raised thereby enhancing his research skills and his understanding of the law. Thus, the student should receive adequate feedback on his performance in class (directly from the tutor and indirectly from the class discussion) so that he is able to re-evaluate his views and approach to the problem raised.

The achievement of these objectives depends largely on the student’s preparation and his attitude. In this respect, it is vital that the student understands what is expected of him and that his priorities are clear. The tutor must be able to encourage the student to think critically and originally, and to avoid the inertia which may result if students ‘pressurise’ the tutor to ‘spoon-feed’ them. ‘Spoon-feeding’ is likely to result when the tutor limits his teaching to testing the students’ absorption of knowledge and filling gaps in that knowledge. A tutor who merely repeats what was stated in the lectures would destroy the student’s inclination and opportunity to apply his analytical skills in class. Moreover, in such a situation, students would come to class without having adequately prepared their work in the hope that the tutor would supply the missing knowledge. It is the tutor who must control the class, not the students. The tutor may have to deal with ‘difficult’ students. These may be students who will not participate, who are unprepared, or who, being less able than the others, hold up the class. The tutor should pay special attention to such a student outside the class so that he is not left behind, and the progress of the class is not obstructed. The development of such a student through personal attention and supervision can be the most satisfying reward for a teacher.

The student’s priorities and the University’s modes of assessment are also crucial factors. If the student believes that his final grades will depend on his written examination, which consists of open-ended questions testing the amount of information the student has grasped in the course of the term or year, then the student will ensure that he has accummulated all that information, even at the expense of ignoring the higher goal of developing his analytical skills. In these circumstances, he would not be encouraged to exercise his critical faculties because the effort he would need to make to attain this level would not be necessary for the purpose of obtaining the desired examination results. The answer here is to ensure that examination questions do test the student’s critical thinking skills. This should be made clear to the student from the commencement of the course so that he is in no doubt about the standard he is expected to attain in the examination, and so that he can learn how to achieve and exercise those skills in his tutorials.

Although the development of analytical skills must be a vital priority, this objective must be viewed in the broader context. It is fundamental that the student has a clear perspective of the subject which he is studying and not merely the isolated principles about which he is asked to think critically. His understanding of the subject as a whole (such as its structure and the inter-linking of sub-topics) will enhance his ability to focus on the principles. Moreover, as the student is being prepared for professional life, it is crucial that he is shown how the subject relates to practice in the world beyond tertiary education. In the subject of law, for example, students would not only be required to think critically about the policies behind the disclosure of evidence or the availability of some procedure; they would also have to be aware of the practical realities of these matters in an actual court case.