Argentinean Public Legal Education:

a Contextualized Case Study

Silvina Pezzetta
UBA-CONICET-Argentina
 Section One

First Contextualization

University System: Representative Self-Government,

Autonomy and National Political Parties

• Massified university system

• No entry examinations
• Tuition free system
• Democratic elections of its authorities with participation of national
political parties
• Representative collegiate system of government (professors, students,
alumni and staff members)
 The Origin of Argentine Higher Education Features:
The University Reform

• The basis of the current system is the University Reform that took
place at Córdoba National University in 1918
• It was a students’ movement intended to change the organization of
Argentine universities
• The student’s leaders wanted to renew the faculty and to establish a
university self government including students’ representation
• Students promoted the modernization of teaching methods and
struggled to gain autonomy for the university from the government
and powerful groups
• This movement combined its academic goals with the struggle for
better social conditions
National Political Parties and its Influence in the
University System
National Political Parties and its Influence in the
University System
National Political Parties and its Influence in the
University System
 Second Contextualization

Research System: The Background of Legal Research

• Research is financed by the national government through the

National Board of Scientific Research (CONICET) and the National
Universities
• CONICET is independent from universities
• CONICET has undergone several financial and political difficulties
from 1966 to 2003
• Nowadays there is a strong policy to finance CONICET
• Only 900 students per year, out of 12.000, obtain a Ph.D. degree
 Third Contextualization
Legal Dogmatism: the Model of Legal Studies

• Dogmatic science is the pervasive model of legal studies

• This kind of study of the law is made in the loneliness of
scholars’ offices
• These kind of studies derives in papers with
recommendations about the correct interpretation of the
law or about the necessity of certain legal reforms
• Scholars who conduct this kind of research believe that by
studying the law this way they are doing science
• Scholars claim that the science of law is possible since
there is an autonomous juridical world, which has
meaning in itself, and can be interpreted without any
reference to society
 Second Section

Legal Education: a Case Study. Law School of the

National University of Rosario. Curriculum and
Pedagogy

• It is a case study, with no claim of representativeness

• The objectives were to establish the features of the three

messages that make up the educative code - curriculum,
pedagogy and evaluation- following Bernstein’s concepts

• In this presentation I will show two aspects of the

research: the official curriculum analysis and the class
observation materials assessment
 The Official Curriculum Analysis

The Importance of the Civil Doctrine in a Collection

Curriculum

• Non flexible curriculum make up of 33 courses (only 1 elective)

• Divided into two phases: Basic Phase (7 courses) and Upper Phase
courses (26 courses)
• The first program of the Law School (1960) has been modified 8 times
• Curriculum can be divided into “center” and “periphery” courses
(following Kennedy’s ideas)
• Despite several modifications, the 7 courses of Civil Doctrine remain
until today
 Class Observation Materials Assessment

Courses’ Selection Criteria and Method

• Class observation criteria: Basic Phase courses / Upper Phase

courses
• 2 Basic Phase courses
• 11 Upper Phase courses
• 6 Center courses - 7 Periphery courses
• 3 classes of each course
• No taping to avoid intromission
First Year Courses Curriculum in Action: Civil Law Concepts

1- Law is described as a natural and highly positive feature in all societies. Its
goal is to order coexistence and to accomplish justice
2- Law is divided into two strands: private law and public law
3- In the conceptualization of law there was no reference at all to its legislative
origin
4- Civil codification is defined as the most perfect level that law can reach
5- Two professors supported the idea that the Roman civil law is the basis of our
national law
7- Every time a student tried to relate their experience with the legal topic the
professor was explaining, they were asked to stop the argumentation under the
consideration that the “legal field” is different from the “social reality field”
 First Year Pedagogy: Learning to be a (Responsible)
University Student

• Pedagogy was aimed to teach students to be responsible university

students
• Professors defined the student role as a very significant one, which
required contradictory capacities: responsibility, commitment, self-
sacrifice and enjoyment
• Students talked only on call and to answer questions
• Professors behaved with vehemence, assertiveness and, in some
cases, histrionics
• Students learn to please professors and not to confront
• Except for one of the professors observed, the use of technical or
theoretical vocabulary was important but it was combined with a
more horizontal discourse
 Upper Phase Courses Curriculum in Action. Law Self-
Suficciency

Center and Periphery Courses Curriculum in Action

General Features:

• No reference to justice or pacific coexistence as law goals

• The legal system was presented as self-sufficient, clear and complete

• The word “justice” was never used by professors

• Politics and corruption are considered external, and pathological,

influences on the legal world
 Center Courses Curriculum in Action Features:

• Professors used a decidedly technical language that included the use of

Latin and the memory recitation of paragraphs from books and legal
sections
• Roman Civil law was mentioned as the basis of “all law”, including every
legal system
• When referring to legal scholars, professors never clarified the period
they belong to thus generating a sense of a-temporality in law discussions
and interpretations
• Velez Sarsfield, the author of the Civil Code, was profusely quoted using
the present tense as if he were still alive
• Strong isolation of these courses both from the other courses and from
reality beyond the Law School building
 Periphery Courses Curriculum in Action Features:

• Peripheral courses showed a connection with external political events

• The way issues were connected seemed a non-juridical discussion because
there was no relation between periphery and center courses
• When referring to authors, professors usually contextualized them and
mentioned their political orientation
• Even in the courses based on the Criminal Law Code, professors
emphasized doctrinarians’ theories. Their constructions were taught as
essentials elements to understand, and apply, law since the Code is not
clear enough
• There was no connection with other peripheral or center courses
Upper Phase Courses Pedagogy: Learning to Behave Like
a Lawyer

• Pedagogy is visible too

• Students are less willing to participate
• Students only talk on call to answer questions
• Professors do not use diminishing tone
• Professors provided tips of what students should learn to become good
lawyers: assertiveness, good oral expression, self-confidence,
punctuality
• The only role as lawyer is to have your own office
Thank you very much for your attention