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Unit Summary

Unit type

UG Coursework Unit

Credit points

12

AQF level

7

Level of learning

Intermediate

Former School/College

Former School of Law and Justice

Pre-requisites

96 credit points in any SCU units

Unit aim

Analyses selected legal issues relating to schools and universities, their students and their staff; including management issues, student issues relating to the obligation of the school to educate in a safe environment, discrimination and inclusiveness, employment issues and academic freedom. Education Law is emerging as a major area of practice for lawyers, and knowledge of its intricacies is also very important for teachers and school and university administrators.

Unit content

Introduction and context
Historical: The nature of schools and universities
Legal: The Australian legal system and constitution and the law governing schools and universities
Legal structures: Schools, public and private
The federal system, the state system, governance, obligations to educate Legal structures: Universities, public and private
The federal system, the state system, governance, funding and finance issues, and obligations to educate
- The student
Rights and obligations of educators, the right to education and to a safe educational environment
Rights and obligations of the parents in relation to school education, home schooling
Discrimination and inclusiveness
Student marketing
Student organisations
Fees and contract law issues, domestic and foreign students
- The staff member
Employment law, industrial relations systems and enterprise bargaining
Participation and academic freedom within schools and universities
Discrimination and inclusiveness

Learning outcomes

Unit Learning Outcomes express learning achievement in terms of what a student should know, understand and be able to do on completion of a unit. These outcomes are aligned with the graduate attributes. The unit learning outcomes and graduate attributes are also the basis of evaluating prior learning.

GA1: , GA2: , GA3: , GA4: , GA5: , GA6: , GA7:
On completion of this unit, students should be able to: GA1 GA2 GA3 GA4 GA5 GA6 GA7
1 express themselves in well-written, clear and logical language;
2 make legal arguments with full referencing;
3 apply high levels of analytical skill to the reading of cases, statutes and secondary materials, and determine the main legal issues and themes in education and the law;
4 identify the legal and non-legal issues in complex education and the law fact situations, and apply relevant legal principles to the resolution of these issues;
5 demonstrate skills in conducting legal research in the field of education and the law;
6 critically evaluate the need for law reform where the law is deficient in any of its economic, political, social or cultural contexts.

On completion of this unit, students should be able to:

  1. express themselves in well-written, clear and logical language;
    • GA6:
  2. make legal arguments with full referencing;
    • GA1:
  3. apply high levels of analytical skill to the reading of cases, statutes and secondary materials, and determine the main legal issues and themes in education and the law;
    • GA1:
  4. identify the legal and non-legal issues in complex education and the law fact situations, and apply relevant legal principles to the resolution of these issues;
    • GA4:
  5. demonstrate skills in conducting legal research in the field of education and the law;
    • GA4:
  6. critically evaluate the need for law reform where the law is deficient in any of its economic, political, social or cultural contexts.
    • GA1: