{"id":1715,"date":"2026-04-09T11:05:49","date_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:05:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/learning-matters\/?p=1715"},"modified":"2026-04-09T11:12:06","modified_gmt":"2026-04-09T10:12:06","slug":"building-an-enabling-environment-reflections-on-the-inaugural-year-of-the-professional-skills-law-in-action-module","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.sussex.ac.uk\/learning-matters\/2026\/04\/09\/building-an-enabling-environment-reflections-on-the-inaugural-year-of-the-professional-skills-law-in-action-module\/","title":{"rendered":"Building an enabling environment: reflections on the inaugural year of the professional skills: law in action module"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Jeanette Ashton & Dr Verona N\u00ed Drisceoil<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Jeanette Ashton<\/a> is an Associate Professor in Law (Education and Scholarship) and a non-practising solicitor. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), leads on Employability for Sussex Law School, and was an Oxford University Press (OUP) Law Teacher of the Year finalist in 2025.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dr Verona Ni Drisceoil<\/a> is a Reader in Legal Education and a member of the Education Team at Sussex Law School. She is currently leading on Assessment Policy. She is a Senior Fellow of the Higher Education Academy (SFHEA), Co-Convenor of the International Connecting Legal Education Network and a Judge of the Oxford University Press (OUP) Law Teacher of the Year Award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Introduction<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

In a higher education access and equity context, Thomas (2012; 2024<\/a>) has long spoken about the importance of building an \u2018enabling environment\u2019 and a \u2018whole provider\u2019 approach for belonging, academic growth and retention. In this blog post, we draw on Thomas\u2019 concept of building an enabling environment at modular level. Through deliberate design, thoughtful delivery and sustainable assessment we share how we have sought to build an enabling and empowering environment in a new Level 5 Professional Skills: Law in Action module (\u201cthe module\u201d) at the University of Sussex. Informed by initial findings from a mixed methods study [C-REC Ref No: 2025-0205] exploring the impact of the module after a year, we consider three emerging themes: relationality, human flourishing, and sustainability. We do this to illustrate what can be achieved in a skills-based module of this kind specifically from a widening opportunity and employability standpoint but also to demonstrate what can be achieved in more traditional content focused modules. Ultimately, we argue that, in a world of generative AI, we must cultivate spaces and time for relationality, human flourishing, and more active and experiential learning. In essence, we must make the time we have with our students, in the classroom, count.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why introduce a Professional Skills module?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Facilitating professional skills development in a legal education context is not new and has been a priority for some time. It was, for example, a key strand of the UK Legal Education and Training Review in 2013<\/a>. At Sussex Law School, we run a suite of co-curricular activities including client interviewing, negotiation, mooting (arguing a case in a court-like setting), and mediation. These are all designed to give students exposure to a range of professional legal skills. Participating students benefit greatly, not only from the specific skills development aspect, but from the opportunity to network with local practitioners, who support the activities. Additionally, our final year Clinical Legal Education module (\u201cCLE\u201d) offers approximately 130 students the opportunity to work in an advisory capacity alongside practitioners in \u2018Clinics<\/a>\u2019, providing free legal advice and public legal education to the local community. Again, the benefit to students is significant and includes gaining experience of practical legal work and the opportunity to work with practitioners, enhancing their employability.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, with an average of 350 students per year group on the undergraduate law LLB programme, most students do not participate in either the co-curricular skills programmes or CLE. As Ashton and Basuita (in Millmore 2024; 262<\/a>) note, a limitation of co-curricular skills programmes is that, unsurprisingly, it is often the most privileged students that put themselves forward. Those that already have significant social capital find it easier to navigate these opportunities. Students with caring responsibilities, those needing to work to support their studies, or commuting students may not be able to take part and therefore prioritise credit-bearing learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our broad aim then was to develop a credit bearing module for students to develop a range of key professional and transferable skills, particularly those skills identified by our Employer Advisory Board<\/a>. It was important for us to attract, and support, students unable to partake in our co-curricular offerings. In 2025\/26, 55 students enrolled in this new second year optional module.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

How did we design the module?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

With skills development, active learning<\/a> and widening opportunity as drivers, we took an innovative approach to the module design. Eschewing the traditional lecture\/seminar format in law in favour of weekly two-hour workshops to allow for more experiential learning, the module included several innovative design features:<\/p>\n\n\n\n