Dr Jo Braithwaite is an Associate Professor of International Commercial Finance Law in the Department of Law at LSE.
Being a good teacher is about seeing a course from the students’ perspective, not your own.
It is about research-led teaching, but not just about teaching what you love. Our students are interested in lots of different issues, and you have to make sure your syllabus reflects that rather than just your view of the ‘greatest hits.’
During a one year masters course you have to get to know people quickly, so I encourage students to share their experiences of the different jurisdictions they have studied or worked in at the start of the course. Making the most of everyone’s insights in the classroom helps maintain motivation and enthusiasm whilst allowing us to look at topics creatively in collaboration.
As a teacher you’re not expected to know the answers to everything, but you’re expected to be meticulously prepared and able to take any question.
I’ve been at LSE for seven years, but when you’re new, you feel like you have to try and prepare for everything. It’s hard work, and can make you feel under pressure.
As you’re here a bit longer however, you realise that if the discussion generates new and challenging questions, it is going well. Sometimes the very best outcome is to provide the person who asked a novel question all the tools they need to find out what the answer is themselves. It might even inspire them to present back to the class the next week, or even go away and write up an article or a case note.
It’s a lightbulb moment as a teacher when you realise that. It’s also a lightbulb moment for students too – the realisation that participation in class is sometimes about taking a risk rather than knowing everything in advance.
There are definite synergies between teaching and research.
Research shapes teaching, and teaching inspires and helps refine research. Running through a piece of work or an idea with students really helps, as some of the questions you get back can help you think more clearly about your own research.
In that way, the two parts of an academic’s job work effectively alongside each other, although you have to be organised.
The main difference in my teaching since my first lecture is not my style, nor my priorities but what I’m trying to talk about with students.
The whole financial crisis has played out whilst I’ve been at LSE, which means the subject of financial law has transformed since I first started teaching here. As things change, there’s a temptation to build on topics each year, making reading lists and slides longer. However, every time I add something to my lecture I try to take something away as well. As the old joke almost put it: a good teacher is someone who could set a forty page reading list, but doesn’t.
I try to be consistent and predictable in terms of what I’m asking students - I’m clear at the beginning that we focus on the legal principles underneath current affairs, and that students are expected to use certain types of legal analysis to look at case studies.
Case studies might come and go, but the legal legwork you have to do before undertaking meaningful debate is the same. Sometimes, students of financial law are surprised when the most important cases are still from several hundred years ago.
I invited members of the School’s admissions team to come and watch me teach.
As the admissions team advises potential applicants, I thought it made sense to invite members of the team to sit in my class and see what a student here is expected to do – that way they can tell people who are interested in applying what it’s really like.
I’ve lectured on various of LSE’s Widening Participation schemes, and talked to student groups about what LSE and a law degree is like. You have to work hard to get here, so prospective students need a good idea of why they want to come and if LSE will suit them.
At postgraduate level, the dissertation is a really good way to explore what interests you the most.
Students on the LLM can pursue topics they are particularly interested in through their dissertation. This project involves in-depth, independent research, often building on courses that students have taken over the year. Other means of developing interests are presenting in class, writing for a publication or mooting.
There is also a wonderful programme of Law Department evening talks and LSE public seminars. By making the most of these opportunities, students can put their formal courses into context: LSE offers students the chance to learn both broadly and deeply during their time here.