Supporting the psychological
well-being of our first year
students and reducing stress
for ourselves
Rachael Field
Associate Professor, QUT Law School
ALTC Fellow 2010
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Queensland University of Technology
Introduction
• In 2010 I received an ALTC Fellowship to work on
strategic change in the legal curriculum to promote
psychological well-being in law students.
• The Fellowship responded to recent Australian research
identifying that the psychological health of law students is
a critical issue for Australian legal education.
• A study of the Brain and Mind Research Institute released
in 2009 was one of the first empirical Australian studies to
establish that more than one third of Australian law
students suffer from psychological distress (BMRI, 2009).
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Psychological Health of Tertiary
Students in other Disciplines
• The research of Helen Stallman and others
indicates that concern about the psychological
well-being of students is a tertiary sector issue
(not limited to specific disciplines such as law).
• See, for example, materials available at the
National Mental Health in Tertiary Education
Forum website from 2011.
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Outline of Today’s Forum
• Discussion about the First Year in Higher
Education Conference and its special interest
group on the psychological well-being of
students.
• Presentation of the findings of my ALTC
Teaching Fellowship.
• Small group discussion about different
curriculum strategies to support the
psychological well-being of our students and to
reduce our stress levels as well.
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FYHE Special Interest Group on the
Psychological Well-Being of Students
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Established in 2012.
Co-convened by Dr Helen Stallman of UniSA.
Keynote speaker in 2012: Dr Helen Stallman.
Keynote speaker in 2013: Associate Prof Jacky
Cranney of UNSW.
• A Forum to share good practice and innovations.
• Also a Forum to share experience and mutual
commitment to student well-being.
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Psychological Health of Law Students
• Academics have anecdotally acknowledged that law school is a place
where students experience high levels of psychological distress.
• The US the literature has acknowledged this for some time. See
Watson, 1968; Beck & Burns, 1979, Benjamin et al, 1986, Daikoff, 1994.
• In 2009, the Brain and Mind Research Institute of the University of
Sydney (BMRI, 2009) empirically established that Australian law
students suffer disproportionately high levels of psychological distress.
• This research has been affirmed by:
• Leahy et al - 2010
• Hall, Townes O’Brien and Tang – 2011
• Larcombe, Nicholson and Malkin – 2011
• Lester, England and Antolak-Saper - 2011
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In what ways does student psychological
distress manifest itself?
• The symptoms of psychological distress identified in the
literature include:
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feelings of inadequacy and inferiority,
anxiety,
hostility,
paranoia,
social alienation
isolation
obsessive compulsive behaviour, and
depression,
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What are the possible causes?
• The are a range of possible contributing factors. For
example:
• The personality type of students who choose to study law (Daikoff,
1994).
• The competitive and adversarial nature of both legal education and
legal culture (BMRI).
• Law students are often extrinsically motivated (Vines et al - UNSW)
• Students’ thinking skills shift to a linear/rational approach at law
school and students lack a sense of professional identity (Hall et al –
ANU).
• Australasian Survey of Student Engagement Report (AUSSE) - a
lack of engagement in law students?
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Psychological Health of Legal
Practitioners
• The issue is a significant one for the profession also
(Thomson, 2007).
• The BMRI Report indicated that one in three solicitors
experiences high to very high levels of psychological
distress, although barristers’ levels are lower at one in
five.
• The Legal Services Commissioner for Queensland says
that emotional distress features in 30% of the disciplinary
matters dealt with by his Commission (Britton, 2009).
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The Problems Begin in the
First Year of Legal Education
• The literature suggests that psychological distress is experienced as
a direct result of the way the law and legal culture are taught
(Britton, 2009; Stuckey et al., 2007; Hall et al 2011).
• Benjamin et al. found in 1986 that symptoms of psychological
distress rose significantly for students in their first year of law
(compared to levels in the general population at that time), and
persisted throughout the degree to post-graduation.
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• Iijima (1998) also asserts that the problems ‘begin during the first
semester of law school’.
• This has been affirmed in Australia by recent research at the ANU
College of Law, Melbourne University and Monash University.
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An Imperative for Action.
• The BMRI note that ‘mental illness and psychological
distress are often portrayed in the popular media as
issues relating to individuals’ (2009).
• The psychological health of law students is ‘a problem for
communities’ (2009).
• Discussions with Law Schools centred on awareness
raising and our ethical duty to our students.
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An Imperative for Action
• It is an ethical responsibility of tertiary educators to work
to ameliorate the high levels of distress experienced by
our students.
• We might also consider it to be an issue related to our
duty of care to the students, or to the fact that there are
elements of a fiduciary relationship with them.
• Kath Hall (2009) notes that the legal academy must
overcome its cognitive dissonance, as well its
rationalisation tendencies, on this issue.
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An Imperative for Action
• The psychological well-being of academic and
professional staff.
• Our own well-being will be supported if our
students are less anxious and stressed, and if
they develop better coping skills and resilience.
• For example, students who are well can engage
better, manage their own independent learning,
manage their time, process feedback more
constructively.
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Aim of the Fellowship
To stimulate advancement in the
legal curriculum, its pedagogy,
and assessment practice to better
engage, motivate and support
student learning of law, focussing
on the potential of non-adversarial
legal practice.
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ALTC Fellowship
• The Fellowship’s program of activities included
approaches aimed at:
• 1. Raising awareness in the legal academy of the
importance of law student psychological health.
• 2. Persuading the legal academy to accept the need for
strategic change in legal education, and the efficacy of
the proposed approaches for achieving that change.
• 3. Modeling good curriculum and assessment practice
that engages, motivates and supports students.
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A Focus on the Curriculum
• A broad definition of curriculum is necessary to
acknowledge the range of activities currently in place at
different law schools.
• My ALTC Fellowship focused on a narrower definition of
‘curriculum’ – what we teach, how we teach it and how
we assess it.
• Hess notes that legal academics have not capitalised on
the opportunities presented by the legal curriculum (in
the narrower sense) to address psychological distress.
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Australian Law School Activities
• A range of diverse activity in response to the BMRI and
other research is taking place at law schools around
Australia.
– Peer Mentoring
– Assistant Dean Student Well-Being
– Resilience Workshops
– Empirical Research
• Links with Threshold Learning Outcomes for Law –
especially TLO 6 on self-management.
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Key themes for law curriculum reform arising
from research for the Fellowship:
• Student psychological well-being can be
supported through the curriculum by promoting:
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Engagement
Collaboration
Autonomy
Motivation (intrinsic as opposed to extrinsic)
Threshold concepts and skills
Reflective practice
The development of a positive professional identity
Resilience, hope and optimism
Including ethics and ADR in the first year curriculum.
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Self-determination theory and positive
psychology
• Autonomy
• Competence
• Relatedness
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LWB150 – Lawyering and Dispute
Resolution
• First year elective.
• Enrolments of 200-300 every year it has been
offered since 2011.
• In 2014 a new core compulsory first year uniton
dispute resolution will replace it.
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Engagement strategies
• Support the autonomy and relatedness
components of SDT.
• Harness Laurillard’s conversational framework in
the class-room.
• Co-lecturing model: active, responsive, models
engagement, models academic robust analysis,
debate and interaction, models appropriate and
safe methods of questioning and interrogation.
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Threshold concepts and skills
• Support the competence element of SDT.
• Students pass through a portal of understanding
with a foundational base for knowledge, skills
and attitude development in a discipline.
• For law these include: Advocacy, dispute
resolution, and thinking like a lawyer – legal
reasoning and critical thinking.
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Development of a positive
professional identity
• Relates to competence and autonomy elements
of SDT theory.
• Harnesses intrinsic motivation for learning.
• Supports engagement.
• In law this can involve a focus on upholding the
rule of law, dispute resolution and nonadversarial advocacy and ethics.
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Reflective Practice
• Supports autonomy, competence and
relatedness elements of SDT.
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• 4Rs model of reflective practice.
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Reporting
Relating
Reasoning
Reconstructing.
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Discussion of the Practical Application of
these Strategies to your Discipline Area
in Small Groups
• Student engagement through a conversational
framework approach in the classroom.
• Teaching of threshold concepts in your
discipline.
• Promotion of a positive professional identity in
your discipline.
• Use of reflective practice in your assessment
methods.
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Wellness Network for Law
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Wellness for Law Network
See: www.adrforum2012.com and
http://wellnessforlaw.com/forums/forum_201
3/program/
• Also wellnessforlaw.com.
• Resources on TJMF site: www.tjmf.org.au
• And Twitter: @WellnessForLaw
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Thank you!
• Questions and discussion.
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