Editorial: Practitioner Research in Higher Education, 1 (1)

Welcome to Practitioner Research in Higher Education. The aim of the publication is to disseminate and debate practitioner research and evaluation in higher education. In the first paper Bloxham, Cerevkova and Waddelove describe and critically evaluate the development of an embedded personal development planning (PDP) process within a first year undergraduate module in Law. This useful case study demonstrates the benefits of fully integrating PDP within a taught module. It also highlights the need to develop understanding of reflective writing amongst staff and students and shows how modifying the use of their virtual learning environment is moving the programme towards an eportfolio approach

A Doctrine Adrift: Land Use Regulation and the Substantive Due Process of \u3ci\u3eLawton v. Steele\u3c/i\u3e in the Supreme Court of Washington

Although substantive due process theory has lost much of its force as a local policymaking tool in the federal courts, the doctrine has played a significant role in the land use policies of Washington State. Relying on an ancient U.S. Supreme Court case, Lawton v. Steele, the Supreme Court of Washington has declared that legislation permitting government to pass the social costs of low-income housing demolition on to individual developers through development impact fees is unduly oppressive on those individuals and thus violates substantive due process. This Comment argues that the substantive due process doctrine the Supreme Court of Washington has applied is irrelevant under the Federal Constitution and inconsistent with Washington constitutional jurisprudence. Moreover, the Comment asserts that the substantive due process theory of Lawton v. Steele inappropriately permits courts to delve into the policymaking role of legislators

Backlash and the Construction of Legal Knowledge: The Case of Child Custody Law

This article argues that legal knowledge is socially constructed rather than given and that law reform and legal change represent struggles over meaning and over desired norms. When struggles over legal norms arise between groups that have unequal power in society, analysis of the process must consider the relationship between knowledge creation and power. The article first reviews literature on \u27backlash\u27 or resistance to progressive social and legal change. It then explains why, as producers of legal knowledge, law schools must ensure that students understand that law is not a neutral set of norms, but rather a site of struggle over social meanings. A case study is then offered of how backlash discourse has influenced the construction of legal knowledge in child custody law reform. This part argues that gendered power relations influence both the ways in which statistics and social science studies are invoked in law reform processes and the direction of law reform itself

Can Law Challenge the Public/Private Divide? Women, Work, and Family

This article addresses the key elements of the public/private divide which predominates in western societies such as Canada. In particular, its ideological effects in constructing gendered divisions between state regulation and family relations, and between work and family are traced. The history of the divide is outlined, with attention to its differential operation according to race, class, and other social relations of power. Efforts to shift the divide through law are traced and its intransigence is demonstrated by reference to socio-economic studies. Case studies of feminist efforts to shift the divide through litigation and through legislative reform are used to illustrate both the pervasiveness of the divide, and the tension between short term and long term strategies to deal with its consequences. It is concluded that although law alone cannot shift the embedded nature of the public/private divide, and extra-legal strategies are required, neither can law be abandoned as a site of struggle

Career Reflections from Library Careers in Academic and Special Libraries

My guest speaker presentation covers my background, current career setting, major roles and responsibilities, what I love and find rewarding about my work, and advice for students getting started on their library degree. I also covered the contrast between my current position as an academic librarian and my previous position in the library of a high tech company

No Presumptions! Joint Custody in the British Columbia Court of Appeal

This paper examines the treatment of joint custody in the British Columbia Court of Appeal from 1996 through 2008, comparing to the “cautious” approach taken by the Ontario Court of Appeal. The B.C. Court of Appeal has taken a strong stance against the use of presumptions, either for or against joint custody. However, in a society and a legal system that increasingly favours shared parenting, the lack of a cautionary approach to joint custody can lead to complacency about its appropriateness in circumstances that either generate risk (to a parent or a child) or are not conducive to consensual decision-making. Moreover, the ability of B.C. judges to order joint guardianship (which usually connotes some form of joint decision-making) even when joint custody is deemed inappropriate suggests that the trend towards some form of joint award is quite strong. That said, judges often craft an award that preserves final decision-making for one parent