To stimulate the academic interest of students and develop knowledge and skills in a complex area of law.

To enhance general legal and transferable skills in the context of the subject area.

To apply theoretical knowledge within a practical context , via student-led debate and group tasks.

To develop materials and undertake tasks within a practical context.

(LO1) Demonstrate knowledge and understanding of concepts of the law related to charities.

(LO2) Research the relevant laws and policy and present an effective argument based in critical analysis of the law in its social and policy context.

(LO3) Demonstrate understanding of the practical implications of charity law for organisations.

(LO4) Use and interpret complex legal statutory material, case law and academic writing.

(S1) Problem solving skills

(S2) Teamwork

(S3) Adaptability

(S4) Communication skills

(S5) Be able to complete specified tasks independently of input from formal instruction

This is an indicative syllabus. The Module Handbook will contain all information and scheduling for any particular semester.

2 x  2 - 3 hours of lecture on the fundamentals of charity law.

8 x  2 hour seminars/ workshops on a charity law topic or controversy. In any one semester, sample topics could include:

- Must charities advance human rights?

- Can charities discriminate?

- Public benefit controversies: religion

- Public benefit controversies: schools

- Terrorist financing

- Should charities be able to campaign?

- Debates around donor restrictions

- Is charity and business incompatible?

- Charities and access to justice

- Is the history of charity law also its destiny?

- Controversies around differing treatment of organisations internationally

- Beyond the bounds of charity: alternative structures, crowd funding

- Governance controversies and trustees

- Regulators and re gulatory controversies

A reading list for each week will be available and students will be expected to prepare independently in advance of each workshop.

1 x 3 hour sessions for small group presentations of advice given to a hypothetical charity client in a problem-based assessment. The assessment will present a hypothetical client who needs advice on a topic related to charity law. You will work in small groups to write a short summary piece of advice for the proposed charity (1,000 words or less), and to prepare a presentation on why this is the appropriate advice . Presentations will take place near the end of the semester, timetabling TBC. The 10-15 minute presentation will be followed by questions from the module leaders. You will be assessed as a group. There will be an opportunity to raise claims of non-participation.

1 x  2 hour wrapping up lecture: what is the point of all this?

Module content: library resources will be accessible through the modul e reading list, other key learning resources will accessible through VITAL.

Teaching Method 1 - Lecture
Description: Lectures on fundamentals of charity law and a final lecture
Attendance Recorded: Yes

Teaching Method 2 - Seminar
Description: Interactive seminars on charity law topics and controversies.
Attendance Recorded: Yes
Notes: The first hour of each workshop will be a presentation and the second hour will involve 20 minutes of preparation in small groups, assisted by the module leaders, and then 30 minutes of discussion and debate of the topic of the week. A reading list for each week will be available and students will be expected to prepare independently in advance of each workshop.

Teaching Method 3 - Group Project
Description: Students will prepare a problem-based project in small groups and present their work in Week 11.
Attendance Recorded: Yes
Notes: Small group presentations of advice given to a hypothetical charity client in a problem-based assessment. The assessment will present a hypothetical cl ient who needs advice on a topic related to charity law. You will be given the problem in week 6. You will work in small groups to prepare a short summary piece of advice (1,000 words or less), and to prepare a presentation on why this is the appropriate advice. Groups are expected to meet independently twice to work on the project. It is expected that groups will present in Week 11, however the exact timing will depend on the module enrolment numbers and timetabling, and will be specified more exactly in the module handbook. Groups will present for 10-15 minutes, followed by questions from module leaders. Students will be assessed as a group. There will be an opportunity to raise claims of non-contribution by group members with the module leaders.
Unscheduled Directed Student Hours (time spent away from the timetabled sessions but directed by the teaching staff): 4

Teaching and Learning Method 4 – Attendance Mark in Substantive Seminars
Law 377 is a ‘Debate s-led’ module in which students are asked to prepare for and participate in team debates on the module. For this reason, attendance at the substantive seminar sessions is an essential element of the course. Low attendance undermines this core aspect of the course. This came through strongly in student feedback (e.g. ‘not everyone participated’; ‘debates are difficult when not everyone turns up’; ‘members not showing up is stressful’).
The attendance mark is a way to proactively encourage participation in the seminar debates. The pedagogical underpinning for the attendance is ‘Time on Task’ (e.g. P Anderson, U Hoadley, J Kincheloe) – i.e. engagement in the debates, which are themselves an important ‘building block’ for learning outcomes within the course, will lead to augmented student learning for the entire group.
Marking attendance is pedagogically superior to the assessment of individual ac hievement within the specific seminars because student comments have identified that the debate sessions, while valuable, are also stressful and assessment of individual performance is likely to add unnecessarily to that pressure. Also, while the debates concept is essential to the course, individual skills in debating are not themselves being assessed.
This attendance mark has been introduced following a meeting of the teaching team, where it was unanimously agreed that poor attendance in the debates undermines learning outcomes.

Skill/Other Attribute 1:
"
Problem solving skills
"
How this is developed:
"Seminars, academic supervision, group work"

Skill/Other Attribute 2:
"
Teamwork
"
How this is developed:
"Seminars, group work"

Skill/Other Attribute 3:
"
Adaptability
"
How this is developed:
"Seminars, group work"

Skill/Other Attrib ute 4:
"
Communication skills
"
How this is developed:
"Seminars, academic supervisions, group work"

Skill/Other Attribute 5:
"Be able to complete specified tasks independently of input from formal instruction "
How this is developed:
"Seminars, group work"