Paradigm of reforming higher legal education in Ukraine in the context of training practising students

Abstract

The relevance of the study was explained by a special public demand for the quality of legal education, ensuring compliance of the content of legal education with modern requirements of the labour market and the tasks of professional activity of lawyers. The purpose of the study was to consider methodological, research and theoretical, legislative, educational, and methodological foundations regarding the practical orientation of the educational process of training lawyers as a paradigm for reforming higher legal education and determining the forms of organising the educational process aimed at improving the quality of legal education. The methodological framework of the study was formed considering philosophical, general scientific, and special scientific methods of scientific cognition. Conceptual approaches to the introduction of possible methodological forms of organising practical training of students into the educational process of higher legal educational institutions were proposed, considering the elements of the Bologna Process and the development of a unified educational space according to the European vector of development of Ukraine. The study considered methodological, scientific and theoretical, legal, and methodological foundations for a general understanding of the practical training of law students in the educational process, its functional purpose in the context of implementing the reform of legal education as a component of legal reform in Ukraine. The study emphasised the necessity of preserving and further developing fundamental higher legal education and combine it with the established national and foreign doctrines of law and the practical orientation of the educational process as a paradigm for reforming legal education in Ukraine. It was concluded that the development of practical skills and abilities of a legal education applicant occurs in the educational process due to various forms of methodological organisation of the educational process. In particular, the authors considered the features of conducting practical classes using case methods and solving incidents, as well as binary classes, practical training, working in a law clinic, performing dual education, taking part in court debates, etc. The practical value of this study lies in the fact that it proved the advisability of preserving the national traditions of higher legal education in the educational process and introducing new, progressive forms of the educational process aimed at improving the quality of higher legal education, which would meet the requirements of the labour market and the challenges facing a modern democratic society, global development trends and tasks of professional activity of lawyers in various fields