Student Creative Responses

Welcome! On this page, you’ll find links to creative responses produced by some of the students who have worked with the Scottish Feminist Judgments Project teaching resource. The creative responses include found poems, paintings, diagrams, animations and even a cake. We are delighted to share the works these students have produced.

On this page, you will also find quotations from colleagues who have encouraged these creative outputs. We hope that this content will inspire you to consider using creative methods in your classrooms.

Further information on our Teaching Resources

Photo credit: Painting ‘Scottish Feminist Rewritten Judgment of Ruxton v Lang, From a Woman’s Perspective’ by Natalie Smith.

 

Introduction video:

 

View the Creative Responses:

 

Comments from colleagues who have encouraged these creative outputs:

” I thought the found poem exercise was especially powerful and I was genuinely moved by some of the poems produced by the students, and I could tell by the atmosphere in the room that the students were too…

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This really stood out to me as emotionally moved students isn’t something you experience very often as a teacher of law! I think the main value of the exercise lay in the fact that it permitted the students to capture the essence of what they personally viewed as problematic about the judgment, and to express their misgivings about it in a truly original and individual way. That students working with the same judgment produced radically different poems seems to me to be in line with the ethos of the SFJP as a whole: that there is more than one way of being a feminist and more than one way to re-write a judgment from a feminist perspective. I was also struck by how quickly students were able to do the exercise and think this serves to illustrate how easily similar exercises could be integrated into future classes.”

Dr Ilona Cairns, The University of Aberdeen

” …the submissions far exceeded my expectations: students engaged with the task wholeheartedly, producing work which was emotional, considered and humorous….

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“These submissions were made as part of a formative assignment set for an honours course in criminal law at the University of Glasgow. Some time ago, I had been in conversation with Professor Jane Mair (Head of School of Law) in which she discussed the concept of a ‘POW’ (piece of work). At that time, Jane had been working on ‘Legally Wed’- a board game to help people understand the law surrounding marriage. A POW, she told me, enables students to submit work in a variety of formats, allowing for ideas to be expressed creatively. Although hugely enthusiastic about the idea, I was uncertain how to this form of assessment would work in practice. During the summer of 2020, when staff were asked to redesign their courses for online delivery, I revisited my conversation with Jane. It was recognised that engagement would be a key issue for students working at home and I felt this might be a good way for students to express their ideas and ultimately feel connected to the course and their peers. Like many, I had been inspired by the work of the Scottish Feminist Judgments Project and was able to include their visual exhibition and writings on using creative methods in law in the resources offered to students. I also included work associated with the 100 Years of Women in Law project (Holly McKenna’s Sisters-in-Law poem and the blanket which had been produced by staff) and other examples of legal ideas being expressed creatively such as short stories and cartoons. Although excited about task, I did have reservations about how it would be received. However, the submissions far exceeded my expectations: students engaged with the task wholeheartedly, producing work which was emotional, considered and humorous. Amongst the work submitted, the influence of the Scottish Feminist Judgments Project was clear. I am privileged to introduce six of our submissions which specifically reference the work of the Scottish Feminist Judgments Project.”

Rachel McPherson, Glasgow

” The SFJP was excellent in getting students to consider the ways in which sex and gender play out within legal systems. The information was approachable and the issues were striking…

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Students were shocked by the lack of equality within the legal system, but through creating their own judgments were inspired to redress them. In terms of our own pedagogy we have since used the SJFP podcast and case materials on our Law and Society module. This is a core module for second years and we felt that SJFP let them approach the issues in an accessible and thought provoking way.”

Mitch Travis, Leeds

 

Additional links: