Postgraduate Research as a Gateway to University Law Teaching
Aysha Mazhar
My trajectory into university law teaching is a little unconventional. I was six years into my postgraduate research journey, when I had the opportunity to teach at a different law school. What prepared me for this sudden change from solely being a postgraduate researcher, to also being an associate lecturer, was through the doctoral research itself. To put it simply, my doctoral research became a gateway to university law teaching. My path into doctoral research is also best described as unconventional. Prior to my time as a postgraduate researcher, I studied law across two taught postgraduate programmes, the Graduate Diploma in Law and a Masters of Laws. Through my legal studies, I became deeply fascinated by classroom dynamics and with what law teachers do. This interest snowballed into a wider appreciation of legal academic work, which became the crux to my doctoral research.
To clarify, my research explores the manifestations of compassion in legal academia in the jurisdiction of England and Wales. This means that one of the fields of law that is integral to my doctoral research, happens to be legal education. By locating myself as a researcher of legal education for the most part of my doctoral degree has resulted in appreciating the possibilities in how legal education can be researched. Furthermore, legal education as a field, has also introduced me to different approaches to scholarship, and how to engage in activities that support teacher development. This has been possible due to joining academic legal societies such as the Association of Law Teachers, meeting and eventually collaborating with others who are also contributing to the field of legal education, and being involved in both intra- and inter-institutional communities of practice such as Connecting Legal Education (Langley et al, 2021).
What has also helped, was making the most of opportunities that were available to me prior to starting my teaching journey. For instance, I completed an introductory course into teaching, ran by the teaching institute at the same university where I was enrolled as a postgraduate researcher. Because of these experiences, once in the associate lecturer post, it was easier to make contact with the designated staff who were responsible in promoting teacher development, to further support my adjustment into higher education teaching. Furthermore, I also reached out to colleagues in the law school who I knew were also doing important work into legal education.
My responsibilities as an associate lecturer involved teaching preparation and the facilitating of the timetabled workshops for the modules taught. In addition, I had marking responsibilities which are vital to the “assessment life cycle” (Forsyth et al, 2015, 38), such as engaging in calibration, to ensure that the marking and feedback are consistent among the members of the module team. Additional responsibilities included taking on teaching and marking cover, for when that need arose.
How I navigated these responsibilities was meeting with the law librarian at the university who talked through the entire suite of resources available to support law teaching (and my legal research). I would contact the faculty link at the teaching institute for any queries that I had in terms of my own development as a teacher and to gain clarification on the wider university approaches to teaching. Furthermore, I attended and participated in webinars aimed at the teaching staff working at the university.
To help prepare for the teaching of the workshops on the modules, I gave myself the time to access the virtual learning environment page and looked at the structure of the module, before the start of the semester. I also watched the recorded lectures in advance of the taught workshops to ensure that I was able to answer student queries which were consistent with the rest of the module team. I would refer to the core textbook and other essential readings, to better understand how the students were using the material to answer the questions that were set. Additionally, I secured review copies of the latest textbooks in the teaching area, to help prepare for the workshops. Alongside the teaching of the module, I participated in the peer observation scheme and was paired with a colleague from the teaching team to enrich our understandings of legal pedagogy.
One of the other modules, that focused on critical legal thinking, project management and the writing skills of students, I did not teach on, but did the marking for. This offered a different set of expectations and approaches on how to navigate this responsibility. Similar to preparing for the timetabled workshops, I would access the virtual learning environment page and refer to the module handbook so that I was up to speed on the content that was taught. To fully understand the assignment that I was marking, I read through the brief that was set for the students with great care. I also met with the module lead, to further understand the module taught and the assignment set. Through this module, I had the opportunity to provide audio feedback on the submitted work (Knauf, 2016). Working alongside with collegial module teams has really helped me with navigating the different aspects of teaching and marking.
When starting a postgraduate research degree, or a teaching role at a university, be it graduate teaching assistant, sessional tutor, an associate lecturer or even a lectureship on an open-ended contract, find the university teaching institute and look at what events and courses they offer. Do get clarification on what pathways are available to support you in getting teacher recognition. Know the extent to which your law school supports your teacher development and get involved in opportunities such as peer observation schemes, or collaborating with colleagues who are also interested in contributing to the field of legal education.
In a recent piece that I co-authored, we acknowledged the issue of whether the teacher identity of the postgraduate researcher who teaches, is in harmony with the doctoral research project (Mazhar and Fox, 2025). Referring to my own experience as an example of how complex that harmony can be, one of the modules that I teach on is contract law on the LLB programme. Due to the subject matter that is covered in this module, it may not appear to align well with the topics that I encounter and explore through my doctoral research. Nonetheless, because of surveying other legal academics about compassion in law teaching, legal research and other facets of legal academia, I have gained insights that support my teaching practice. To encourage student learning and their flourishing, my primary intention is to be a compassionate law teacher and to exercise what I have learnt through the doctoral study in the classroom. A core feature of compassion, as argued by Waddington and Bonaparte, is “attentiveness” (2024, 38). This tessellates well to the teaching of the principles of contract law to students, as they “demand careful explanation by the teacher” (Morgan, 2019, 23).
Another recent teaching experience, demonstrated how my research has directly shaped my teaching, but also how teaching has supported my research. I had the chance to discuss my work into doctoral legal education (which is a research interest that germinated alongside my doctoral journey), as part of an advanced methods module on an LLM degree. Here, I was able to discuss the state of legal education, the different approaches to research and scholarship, and to reflect openly upon some of my contributions to legal education. This opportunity offered four things: the chance to represent the field of legal education in a classroom setting; enhanced clarity on my doctoral project; insights into contemporaneous legal doctoral education for prospective postgraduate researchers; and the students with the realisation that different facets of legal education can be researched and studied.
These examples highlight variations in how my teaching and research are intertwined. When reflecting on your own academic work, consider the extent to which your research ties in with the modules that you teach on. It is also helpful to recognise how teaching opportunities can strengthen your research.
How postgraduate research can influence one’s law teaching will vary across the teaching of different modules, and this will vary from academic to academic. It can be formative or integral to your teaching philosophy; it can influence one’s ability to seek teaching development opportunities, and even offers the opportunity to teach directly from the research conducted.
Where Next?
If you are undertaking postgraduate study whilst teaching, you may have to balance multiple different commitments in what can become quite A Juggling Act.
Or
As you undertake further teaching alongside postgraduate research, you may have moments of inspiration for further research into teaching and students’ learning which could lead to you Starting your Pedagogical Research.
Where After?
Seek colleagues who are in a position to support your teaching practice, such as those who have taught on the modules for a longer period at the law school, or the module lead. This process is mutual as your colleagues do learn from you too.
Understand that each module that you teach on will offer a different experience, due to factors such as the wider law school environment, the teaching team, the areas of law covered, the module structure, and the assessments. Even the type of work contract that you are on, can shape your experience of teaching on a specific law module.
Reflect on your own teaching practice and the practice of other law teachers. Make a note of what pedagogic approaches work and what does not work. But remember, due to the diversity of the law student body and their respective learning needs, what may work in a given moment may not translate well in another pedagogic environment. Adaptation is also key.
Sources:
Rachel Forsyth and others, ‘Supporting the development of assessment literacy of staff through institutional process of change’ (2015) 13(3) London Review of Education 34.
Helen Knauf, ‘Reading, listening and feeling: audio feedback as a component of an inclusive learning culture at universities’ (2016) 41(3) Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education 442.
Katherine Langley and others, ‘A conversation with the Connecting Legal Education Community of Practice’ (2021) 55(4) The Law Teacher 544.
Aysha Mazhar and Rosie Fox, ‘Illuminating the law doctoral researcher’s web of mental and emotional support’ (2025) 59(1) The Law Teacher 112.
Jonathan Morgan, ‘Bargain’ in Warren Swain and David Campbell (eds), Reimagining Contract Law Pedagogy: A New Agenda for Teaching (Routledge 2019) 22.
Kathryn Waddington and Bryan Bonaparte, ‘Developing Compassionate Pedagogical Practice with Students as Co-researchers’ in Kathryn Waddington and Bryan Bonaparte (eds), Developing Pedagogies of Compassion in Higher Education: A Practice First Approach (Springer 2024) 37.
Further Reading:
Victoria Ball and Arwen Joyce, ‘A teaching best practice guide for early career academics in UK law schools grounded in the student voice’ (2022) 3(1) European Journal of Legal Education 69.
Helen Carr and Nick Dearden, ‘Research-led teaching, vehicular ideas and the Feminist Judgments Project’ (2012) 46(3) The Law Teacher 268. Namrata Rao and others, ‘Doctoral students navigating the borderlands of academic teaching in an era of precarity’ (2021) 26(3) Teaching in Higher Education 454.
Namrata Rao and others, ‘Doctoral students navigating the borderlands of academic teaching in an era of precarity’ (2021) 26(3) Teaching in Higher Education 454.
