Pupil Supervisor Package.

The pupil supervisor package includes two core elements:

1. An introduction to teaching course,

2. A bank of teaching aids, resources, classes and lessons that they can give out to their pupils. There are approximately 150 lessons available, covering a wide range of subjects and subjects, including numerous exercises, drafting exercises, case studies and role play activities that pupils can be given.

As part of the pupil supervisor package, there is a course for new Pupil Supervisors who may perhaps be new to teaching or pupil supervision, covering:

An introduction to teaching
Creating a positive learning environment
Identifying your pupils initial needs and learning styles
Hidden disabilities
Reasonable adjustments
How to give constructive feedback
Planning your teaching - ways in which you can use the resources detailed below.

Includes access to the Pupillage training - courses and materials

As part of the pupil supervisor fee, pupil supervisors have access to the full range of classes and materials found under the Pupillage Training - Courses and Materials section. These resources aim to cover sections 1-3 of the summary of the Professional Statement of Competences and include the following topics that pupils are required to cover over the course of pupillage:

The aim, with these classes and materials, is to provide pupil supervisors with a bank of classes that they can fall back on if they:;

a) Are unexpectedly called into Court and need to give their pupils something to get on with, at short notice.

b) Are looking for course materials to give their pupils, on specific topics, such as Building a trauma informed practice, critical thinking, cross examination or the materials covering bullying and harassment at the Bar and routes for redress.

c) Want to integrate these theory based materials as a ciomplement to the training programme that Chambers already provides.

There are approximately 150 lessons included in this package of courses and materials, including 43 videos and a free open source course textbook called "Introduction to Logic and Critical Thinking" by Matthew van Cleave. To give you an idea, if a pupil supervisor allocated the majority of these resources during their pupil's first six, their pupils could easily spend 3-4 hours per day, working through these materials.

Pupil supervisors therefore have full control over what they direct their pupils towards and these classes and resources can be used in multiple ways. A benefit of using these resources is that they are designed to be as inclusive as possible, so they are suitable for pupils with a wide range of disabilities and conditions, including autistic and neurodiverse pupils, pupils with hearing and visual impairments, and pupils with dyslexia.

Pupillage Training - courses and materials

For the cost of one pound per day per pupil we provide an extensive range of courses and training materials that pupil supervisors can use, to enable their pupils to meet the requirements specified in the Professional Statement of Competences.

With approximately 150 lessons, in a mixture of structured video presentations, text resources and exercises, the courses and materials should add value to the training that Chambers provide their pupils. By blending the theory of the subjects covered online with the practical and hands on teaching that Chambers provide, pupils should develop the requisite requirements specified in the Professional Statement of Competences.

All of our materials are inclusive by design, and all video have full transcripts available in a range of accessible formats, so pupils can use the materials in a format that works well for them, in terms of either learning styles or to cater for pupils with a range of disabilities and conditions. For example, video transcripts are available in a large font, written in black text on a white background. As well as being a good, general purpose transcript, autistic or neurodiverse pupils often find it more helpful to read transcripts written in a black text on a white background. Video transcripts are also available in a 'dyslexia friendly' format in that they are written in brown text on a yellow background. The transcripts are also available in a format that is readable by screen readers and those that are visually impaired.

The scope and design of the course materials have been designed to provide a full set of maintained and updated training resources for pupils with the aim of saving the time of pupil supervisors, and providing pupil supervisors with a bank of classes and resources that they can use in whatever ways work best for them, including:

1. Allocating some of the classes or materials to pupils to work through, if the pupil supervisor is unexpectedly called away, and needs to give their pupils something to get on with in the meantime.

2. To allocate certain specific classes or topics for pupils to work through, that Chambers currently don't cover as part of their training, such as building a trauma informed practice, or working through materials that cover the key principles of the Harman Independent Review of Bullying and Harassment at the Bar, and what pupils can do if they, or someone they know, finds themselves in that situation.

3. Integrating these materials with the training programme that Chambers already provide.

Available 24/7, pupils can work their way through the resources at their own pace or as directed by chambers and will receive certificates to confirm their completion of each topic.

Topics that pupils can work through include:

1. Developing your research and business development skills.
2. Building a trauma informed practice.
3. Critical thinking including being able to identify logical fallacies.
4. Hints and tips regarding key stages of a legal argument plus the importance of ethics to persuasive advocacy.
5. Ethics, including training for pupils on bullying, harassment and sexual harassment at the Bar, what that might involve, and what they can do if they or someone they know is in that situation. (as per recommendation 11 of the Harman Review). The focus of these materials is more on general principles of Bar ethics, rather than the Core Duties, as pupils are already required to complete a mandatory ethics course during pupillage.
6. Witness handling including a large section on cross-examination, which includes loads of historical case studies as well as detailed rules relating to examination in chief and cross examination. Pupils can draft cross examinations relating to famous cases and then compare what they have done with the cross examination that was actually given. Pupils also have the opportunity to role play famous cross examinations and also reverse engineer the points of each question being asked in famous cross examinations, so they can work out the underlying strategy that a historical KC actually used.
7. The elements of an argument and how to evaluate the arguments of others (argumentation) which includes a course textbook.
8. Introduction to legal rhetoric or the art of persuasion.

Pupillage Training - Courses and Materials

Detailed Lesson Programme

Get a detailed view of the scope of our pupillage training courses and materials that pupil supervisors can use. Approximately 150 lessons: videos, text based lessons, and exercises that cover all of the main aspects of the PSC

How our pupillage training courses and materials matches up with the Professional Statement of Competences.

Our pupillage training courses and materials have been designed to cover most of the principal topics required to achieve the Professional Statement of Competencies, including the topics raised by the Harman Report. These courses and materials do not cover substantive law, as these will vary with each practice, nor do they cover civil and/or criminal procedure.

Read on to see how our course aligns with the provisions of the PSC requirements:

About your course teacher

Claire Bradley BA, MSc, MA (European Law)

Claire Bradley Headshot This course has been designed and created by professional law lecturer and academic Claire Bradley, to help you complete the required modules to achieve the specifications of the Professional Statement of Competences, in support of, (but not as a replacement of) your practice supervisor.