Bwriad yr efrydiaeth hon ydyw ymateb i ddau brif gwestiwn. Yn gyntaf, ffurfir dadleuon er gwarantu fod gan fyfyrwyr Cymru’r hawl i addysg uwch cyfrwng Cymraeg, yn benodol o safbwynt addysg gyfreithiol. Yn ail, ystyrir pu’n a’i ydyw strwythur darpariaeth bresennol y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol yn ddigonol wrth ystyried darpariaeth addysg uwch, ac yn benodol addysg gyfreithiol ddwyieithog o fewn systemau addysg uwch Gwlad y Basg, y Ffindir a Brunswick Newydd, Canada. The aim of this thesis is to respond to two central questions. Firstly, whether it is possible to justify that students in Wales possess a right to study within higher education through the medium of Welsh. Secondly, the thesis will evaluate current Welsh medium legal education following the creation of Y Coleg Cymraeg Cenedlaethol, and will critically assess whether this provision is adequate in light of bilingual legal education within the Basque Region, Finland and New Brunswick, Canada.

The Law Society of Ireland is currently the sole provider of legal professional training in Ireland leading to qualification as a solicitor. Its educational policy provides that it must ensure students are prepared for professional practice and instil in them a lifelong commitment to high professional standards and behaviour. Yet, there is concern that professionalism is losing its value. In this context, and following an earlier small scale study which studied the perceptions of the legal education teachers (tutors and training solicitors) only, this thesis explores the teaching of legal professionalism in Ireland using interview data from the principal stakeholders in the legal profession education system including students (the trainee solicitors). The data was analysed phenomenographically in order to determine the extent to which there was variation in perceptions among these stakeholders as to how professionalism is understood and how best to teach or instil the notion. The findings indicate diverse perceptions among stakeholders that reflect a lack of shared understanding of both professionalism and how to teach it. The study critically discusses the findings in light of relevant literature. It explores questions about how any variance might affect the quality of teaching of professionalism, what social and cultural factors are at play and how, if necessary, variations in perception might be addressed. The study concludes that a co-ordinated approach to understanding and fostering professionalism will help bridge this gap in perceptions. This should raise professional standards and could, potentially, address the concerns of the profession. The study outlines recommendations for professional education and suggestions for future studies.

In order to investigate students’ success and experience at university, this thesis compared students’ access to knowledge through the curriculum, teaching and learning (pedagogy) in Law undergraduate degrees at two UK universities of different status: a higher status ‘pre-1992’ Russell Group University (‘Global’) and a lower status ‘post-1992’ university, which is a member of the Million + Group (‘Local’). Lower-status universities recruit more students from unrepresented groups: students from ethnic minorities; those with disabilities; those who have been in local authority care; mature students; and, students from lower socio-economic groups. These students are often judged to be at a further disadvantage because their universities’ positions in higher education league tables gives the impression that the universities they are attending offer a lower standard of education than the higher status universities. This research focuses upon students’ experiences, at different universities, during their degree and, as such, contributes to the limited body of research about factors which affect student retention and success in higher education. This research built on a three-year ESRC-funded research project entitled ‘Pedagogic Quality and Inequality in University First Degrees’ (2008-2012) which used a theoretical framework drawn from the sociologist Basil Bernstein to analyse curriculum and pedagogy in sociology-related social science disciplines in four universities in different positions in higher education league tables. This study employed the same broad conceptual framework and some of the methods of the ESRC project for a smaller-scale study exploring how access to knowledge plays out in the discipline of law in two different status universities. The research presented here was a longitudinal comparative case study of an undergraduate Law degree. At each university, curriculum documents for seven core modules were analysed to highlight the similarities and differences in curriculum content and pedagogical processes; two tutorial sessions were observed in consecutive years and tutors (4) interviewed before and after the tutorial; six students (12 students) were recruited and interviewed during each year of their degree course (three times altogether). A biographical life grid was completed during the first year of the students’ course to provide a biography of each student. Despite the Law Society dictating a core curriculum for a qualifying law degree, the degrees were differently classified and framed. The main differences that emerged are expressed as three dichotomies (1) vocational/academic: Local offered ‘practical insights’ by including in the curriculum practical, work-based modules and learner centred teaching and has strong links with the legal profession. It offered a greater variety in assessment methods and more contact time (2) formal/informal relations: relationships between staff and students at Local were more informal and friendly than at Global where a clear, formal hierarchy between staff and students exists (3) independence/dependence: Global expected more independence of its students than Local where they were guided through material. Students at Local appeared to have higher levels of confidence when contributing to taught sessions and when using their legal knowledge in a professional environment, and project a sense of belonging within their departments and with other legal scholars. Students and staff at Local projected an identity as ‘future lawyers’ and vocational education, placements and acceptance onto professional legal training courses were highly regarded. In contrast to this, students, and particularly staff, at Global projected an identity as ‘academic, critical thinkers’ which does not relate to actual practice- vocational training and placements are extra-curricular, post-graduate concerns. Only one of the students at Global chose to pursue a career in law. In conclusion, I argued that students at Global and Local were being advantaged and disadvantaged by different elements of the pedagogy and curriculum.

This thesis examines the social mediation of a transnational educational programme, namely the University of London’s International (External) Undergraduate Laws Programme. The thesis explores the lived experiences of a variety of stakeholders – university academics, frontline teaching staff and students - in the context of historical legacy and current development. The University of London’s International (External) programmes is one of the oldest forms of distance education, and the Undergraduate Laws Programme is the second largest subscribed programme and represent the fundamental academic legal education for the legal profession in numerous countries. With the separation of teaching, assessment and award as the distinguishing feature consequential to the origins of the University of London its legacy results in multitude stakeholders with vested interests in each aspect. The thesis seeks to understand the motivations behind and implications resulting from the various stakeholders’ experiences through an analysis of their narratives gleaned from interviews and data recorded from observations. Is there a distinct identity and culture within each group of stakeholders which has developed through the evolution of the programme? Can a pattern or theory of teaching and learning unique to the programme be identified and if so, what kind of impact has that had on legal education? The possibility of identifying existing and/or emerging communities of practice within and across each group of stakeholders is a recurring theme discussed on the basis that the theory of situated learning within a community of practice is a form of active learning; an objective which the University of London has sought to actively achieve since 2005. By building an ethnography of the various stakeholders, the thesis explores a formerly under researched aspect of undergraduate legal education and acts as a prompt for future areas of research in the areas of legal and distance education.