Law Teaching for Sale: Legal Shadow Education in Denmark from Historical and Current Perspectives

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    Abstract

    This study examines the use of supplementary private teaching (‘shadow
    education’) within the field of legal education in Denmark from historical and
    current perspectives. The aim is to estimate the extent of this phenomenon in a
    Danish context and understand why law students chose to pay for private
    teaching services. The study documents that practices presently labelled as
    shadow education are as old as the University of Copenhagen (1479) and the
    formal legal education (1736). During a period of around 150 years (1780-
    1930), the exam-oriented private teaching (manuduction) was, in fact, the
    backbone of legal education. Sources show that the poor state of the university
    education, including archaic teaching methods, was the primary reason for this:
    private teaching was the market’s solution to a broken public education.
    Educational reforms during the first half of the 20th century challenged the
    raison d'être of the private manuduction industry, and the Danish welfare state
    provided the fatal blow in 1960: free university manuduction. However, the
    private teaching industry was resurrected in the 21st century in a more
    corporate, professional, and aggressive form. The study indicates that currently
    around 60 percent of law students have paid for private teaching services during
    their legal education. Moreover, the study shows that it is no longer the quality
    of university teaching that is the main catalyst, but rather the appeal of very
    exam-oriented courses and the students’ insecurities, especially the first-years.
    The study links this development to the emergence of the competition state.
    Finally, the study recommends that the findings are taken into account in future
    reform endeavours and suggests directions for further research into shadow
    education in law, including through comparative analysis.
    OriginalsprogEngelsk
    TidsskriftEuropean Journal of Legal Education
    Vol/bind4
    Udgave nummer1
    Sider (fra-til)71-105
    Antal sider35
    ISSN1684-1360
    StatusUdgivet - 2023

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