Atelier pilot launched: new teaching format at Leiden Law School
It’s time to announce a major development within the teaching and education we provide at our faculty: the launch of the Atelier pilot! Atelier will be a new teaching format within the bachelor’s programme in Law. The pilot will be conducted in the 2024-2025 academic year during the third block of the first-year curriculum and is an important aspect of our innovation within the legal training we provide.
The Atelier pilot
Atelier (previously known as ‘integration groups’) is an innovative teaching format that focuses on small-scale, cross-curricular education and activating teaching methods. Workshop teaching takes place alongside regular teaching sessions and is organised in small groups of 18 students. The Atelier pilot will last six weeks and involves a weekly two-hour teaching session (from the second week of teaching onwards) in addition to regular teaching. These workshops are directly related to the education provided in the three courses within the third block and enhances the correlation between those courses. Atelier is not a separate course, learning track or pathway, which is why no extra credits are awarded upon completion.
The pilot will be run for full-time first-year tutor group students who are taking the monodisciplinary bachelor’s programme in Law. The pilot will be conducted within the following courses: Introduction to European Law (Inleiding Europees Recht), Introduction to Administrative Law (Inleiding Bestuursrecht) and Foundations of the Law (Grondslagen van het recht) and will focus on the theme of the environment.
What’s the goal of the Atelier pilot?
The pilot has multiple goals. In small groups of 18 students, Atelier will contribute to:
- establishing connections between courses and legal disciplines;
- promoting active study behaviour and skills development;
- critical reflection on study material.
These aspects are expected to contribute to higher study success and align with the future graduate profile of Leiden University’s modern bachelor’s student.
Background
The Atelier pilot was developed as part of the launch of the new Kernvisie curriculum. Within Kernvisie, we are working to facilitate more valuable lecturer-student contact, focusing on interdisciplinary education and a higher academic standard.
Atelier Coordinator
To ensure this innovation gets off to a good start, we are proud to announce the appointment of Kristof Gombeer as Atelier Coordinator. Kristof is responsible for coordinating and supervising Atelier teaching staff, organising Atelier sessions and monitoring the goals of Atelier teaching in collaboration with Course Coordinators. Kristof has an additional role as Course Coordinator for the participating block, meaning he is closely involved in this pilot.
Pioneering
Pioneering together within our faculty helps us enhance the education and teaching we provide. At the same time, we are aware that our staff have dedicated a lot of time and energy to this aspect of educational innovation. We therefore want to thank all those involved in developing Atelier teaching and the pilot for their collaboration, commitment and flexibility.
Questions or more information?
We are excited to introduce this innovative teaching format and look forward to observing its benefits for our students. After its completion, the pilot will be evaluated to identify any areas for improvement relating to practical matters or content. If you have questions or would like more information about the Atelier pilot, you can contact Kristof Gombeer (k.c.n.gombeer@law.leidenuniv.nl).