The underpinning of my philosophy of teaching was best expressed ...

Alastair HudsonQMULtrusts, and company law. As course leader I am responsible for the review of parttimeteachers and their CPD through mentoring.At this time I also chaired the Undergraduate Affairs Committee and the Staff-StudentLiaison Committee, as well as being responsible for the Department’s response toQAA Teaching Quality Assessment. I was responsible for the Internal Review of Lawin 2001 and for Law’s participation in the 2004 QAA Institutional Audit. Currently Iserve on the Law School Teaching and Learning Committee in my role as AcademicTutor. It is in this role that I participate most obviously with colleagues in consideringacademic policy relating to the delivery of teaching and the relationship betweenacademic staff and students. I also serve on the Law and Social Sciences FacultyBoard, which is responsible for teaching quality matters.MentoringI undertake a lot of mentoring on an informal ad hoc basis. One, long-standingexample may illustrate this: I mentored R.H. during her undergraduate studies atQueen Mary and then continued in that role informally when she studied for an LLMat King’s College, before she returned here to begin a PhD under my supervision. Onbeginning her doctoral studies she also began teaching land law as part of my QMULteam. I have thus known R. through all stages of her university career.The mentoring I provide entails frequent discussion of teaching strategy, especiallythe enhancement of optimal learning and formative assessment methods for ourcourses. We speak at least once a week about our teaching and this serves as anear-constant process of monitoring individual student performance on the differentcourses we teach. Importantly, it also helps scrutiny of our own in-class performance.We are contracted to write a textbook together for Routledge-Cavendish called TheLaw of Property, which will open a new chapter in our professional development andco-operation.R. is by no means the only ‘student-into-colleague’ I have helped and encouraged. Asimilar mentoring process has supported five other former students through theirtransition to university teachers and colleagues.ConclusionWorking at Queen Mary has provided me with a fertile and challenging environmentin which to develop my practice, reflect on what I do and contribute to theenhancement of student learning. I hope this application reflects both mycommitment to an effective pedagogy for law and my enthusiasm to deploy researchledactivities for the professional formation of intending and practising lawyers. Bothare clearly linked. When engaged with either my approach can be summarised as: Icommunicate. I connect. I care.* 4894 wordsPage 10 of 10