Research and theory

Plenet sees research and evaluation as two of the essentials of better PLE. Only by improving research, both theoretical and empirical, and growing the body of researchers interested in the subject, will PLE develop as a unique discipline.

We hope to encourage inter-disciplinary learning and relationships, and encourage researchers and scholars to contribute to the PLE movement. Just looking at the title 'public legal education' gives us a hint of the diversity of theoretical underpinnings that might be of value to consider.

Have a look at some of the research that underpins PLE:

• evaluation
• legal theory
• development theory
• communications theory

Good evaluation is at the heart of the development of better PLE, and good research is at the core of better evaluation.

Until now, it has been hard to undertake rigorous independent evaluations of PLE projects. The many small scale evaluations that have been done might be helpful to others but are rarely shared, mostly due to a lack of resources to make this happen. Here we feature some aspects of evaluation from different jurisdictions.

Levels of Financial Capability: The Results of a Base-Line Survey
The Financial Services Authority commissioned an evaluation into financial capability in 2006, read the evaluation here...

Levels of financial capability in the UK: the results of a baseline survey (0.9 MB)

Evaluating Public Legal Education and Information
This major evaluation of Canadian resources completed in 2002 by Lindsey Cader provides a useful introduction into evaluation and Canadian public legal education initiatives...read it here...

Evaluating Public Legal Education and Information Canada (293 KB)

Why the "haves" come out ahead: Speculations on the limits of legal change
This paper by Marc Galanter (1973) attempts to look at the ways in which the legal system creates and limits the possibilities of using the system as a means of redistributive change.

Why the haves come out ahead: Speculations on the limits of legal change (463 KB)

(Un)covering identity in civil rights and poverty law (Alfieri)
The effective delivery of scarce legal goods to disadvantaged clients requires more than the provision of equal access, case-by-case representation, and zealous advocacy. Alfieri argues scarcity requires that effective legal change be measured not by the outcomes of individual cases, but rather by the progress of social change: specifically, by the degree to which individual clients are able to collaborate in local and national alliances to enlarge civil rights and to alleviate poverty. Collective action and the forming of links between theory and practice should be a principal goal of clinical and nonclinical legal education.

(Un)Covering identity in civil rights and poverty law (233 KB)

After Legal Consciousness Susan S Silby (2005)
Legal consciousness as a theoretical concept and topic of empirical research developed to address issues of legal hegemony, particularly how the law sustains its institutional power despite a persistent gap between the law on the books and the law in action. Susan Silby questions why people acquiesce to a legal system that, despite its promises of equal treatment, systematically reproduces inequality?

After Legal Consciousness (301 KB)

Capabilities as Fundamental Entitlements: Sen and Social Justice
Martha Nussbaum discusses economist Amarty Sen's approach to social justice, a good introduction to the Capabilities Approach, read the paper here...
Capabilities as Fundamental Entitlements: Sen and Social Justice (177 KB)

Applications for the internet of public legal education
Electronic telecommunications technology is transforming the nature of public legal education in Canada. It is expanding the reach of resources and services, improving the efficiency and effectiveness of agencies, and offering new possibilities for engaging the public in the process of achieving justice in Canada. This paper sketches some of the current and potential applications of the Internet for PLE.

Applications for the internet of public legal education (320 KB)

Developing capable citizens: the role of public legal education
You can find the PLEAS Task Force report here...

PLEAS Task Force report - Developing capable citizens: The role of public legal education (172 KB)

Education Implications from the English and Welsh Civil and Social Justice Survey
The survey is representative of the household population of England and Wales and provides detailed findings on educational implications in the realm of civil and social justice. You can read the findings of this annex to the Task Force report here...

Education Implications from the LSRC Survey (250 KB)

Public Legal Education - unfinished business? (2002)
This article by Nony Ardill for Legal Action Group considers characteristics of the different approaches to public legal education, broadly, provision of legal information, community legal education, and the development of wider 'legal literacy'. It also examines the value of this work in further various aspects of the Government's agenda.

Public legal education - unfinished business (84 KB)

Young peoples experience of law-related events: The role of public legal education (2008)
A research paper by Lisa Wintersteiger looking at young peoples need for public legal education, its value in tackling social exclusion and building the practical and emotional skills to improve life-chances, read it here...

Young people's experience of law-related events: The role of public legal education (2008) (123 KB)