Constitutional Law in Context: Extensions and Developments

Course Overview

This course enables students to undertake extensive written coursework to complement the constitutional law course. Students will be given a topic and guided in researching this with a degree of independence. This will extend and deepen the learning from the lecture course via directed study.

Learning Outcomes

On successful completion of the course, students will be able to:

Knowledge and Understanding

Subject Specific Skills

Transferable and Employability Skills

Teaching and Learning

This course is designed to be taken in the context of the Constitutional Law course which has a dedicated Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) page with a syllabus and range of additional resources (e.g., readings, question prompts, tasks) to orientate and engage students in their studies. The scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course are:

Directed study

4-12 scheduled hours, the exact number varying according to the balance of 1:1s, 2:1s, or small groups. The plan will be confirmed by the start of the course, taking into account student numbers and the proposed topics, readings, and specific tasks.

Faculty hold regular ‘office hours’, which are opportunities for students to drop in or sign up to explore ideas, raise questions, or seek targeted guidance or feedback, individually or in small groups. 

Students are to attend and participate in all the scheduled teaching and learning activities for this course and to manage their directed learning and independent study.

Indicative total learning hours for this course: 150

Assessment

Both formative and summative assessment are used as part of this course, with purely formative opportunities typically embedded within interactive teaching sessions, office hours, and/or the VLE.

Summative Assessments

Feedback

Students will receive formative and summative feedback in a variety of ways, written (e.g. marked up on assignments, through email or the VLE) or oral (e.g. as part of interactive teaching sessions or in office hours). Summative feedback is typically provided through the VLE.

Indicative Reading

Note 1: Comprehensive and current reading lists are produced annually in the Constitutional Law Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative reading list provided below is for a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

Note 2: Each student will focus on readings relevant to just one Constitutional Law topic, which they will agree with the instructor by the start of the course.

• Bradley, Ewing & Knight, Constitutional and Administrative Law (Pearson, 17^th ed. 2018).
• Journals: Modern Law Review, Cambridge Law Review, Quarterly Review; sometimes, continental, Commonwealth and U.S. journals are referred to, guided by the needs of the topic.
• Westlaw, Lexis, and Bailii provide access to the main cases.

Indicative Topics

Note 1: Comprehensive and current topics for courses are produced annually in the Constitutional Law Course Syllabus or other documentation provided to students; the indicative topics provided below are used as a general guide and part of the approval/modification process only.

Note 2: Coursework titles will draw on the main Constitutional Law syllabus and are designed to provide students with the opportunity to deepen their knowledge of particular aspects of it.