The Clinical Legal Education Association (CLEA) Best Practices for Legal Education (2007: 165, note that the page numbers of individual online chapters differ from the full publication) defines experiential programmes as those “rely on experiential education as a significant or primary method of instruction”. The experiences of students in the roles of lawyers, in simulations, as well as “their observations of practicing lawyers and judges” play an important role. The integration of theory and practice through “combining academic inquiry with actual experience” is regarded as experiential education.
Learning is not education, because learning happens as part of life through experiences, observations and eavesdropping. Education comprises learning opportunities that were designed; are managed; and may involve guided experience. Although law students may derive valuable learning experiences from part-time work experiences in legal settings, the CLEA Best Practices for Legal Education (2007: 165) argues cannot be regarded “experiential education because the learning in such environments is not necessarily accompanied by academic inquiry”.
Stuckey, R & Others. 2007. Best Practices for Legal Education. United States: Clinical Legal Education Association. Retrieved 2 November 2011 from: http://www.cleaweb.org/best-practices
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