CALL FOR EXPRESSIONS OF INTEREST TO SERVE AS AN ACADEMY TRAINER IN THE ACADEMY’S TRAINING THE TEACHERS (TTT) ADVANCED COURSE

Wuhan, China, 28th February – 4th March 2011

The IUCN Academy of Environmental Law is pleased to extend an invitation to distinguished environmental law scholars within member institutions of the Academy to express their interest in serving as an Academy trainer in the first Training the Teachers Advanced Course at Wuhan University, China, to be delivered from 28th February to 4th March 2011.There are more than 640 Law schools in China in which environmental law is already a mandatory course or is likely to become so in the near future.  To assist in the effective development and delivery of an environmental law course in all or most of these Law Schools, the IUCN Academy, working in collaboration with the Research Institute for Environmental Law (RIEL) at Wuhan University and one of the Academy’s member institutions, Vermont Law School, will offer an Advanced Course to 20 senior Chinese environmental law scholars. These scholars, working with Academy trainers, will be expected to subsequently present a “Basic” Training the Teachers course to other Chinese legal scholars who are willing to develop and deliver an environmental law course within their Law school.

The selected trainer will be part of a team of three Academy trainers who will work with four distinguished and experienced Chinese environmental law scholars to present the Advanced TTT Course in Wuhan.  The other two members of the Academy team will be a scholar from Vermont Law School and Professor Rob Fowler who, as chair of the Steering Committee for the TTT project, will have the tasks to both train and assess this first TTT project.

The third member of the team, to be selected in response to this call for expressions of interest, will be expected to have at least ten years experience in teaching environmental law. In selecting this trainer, the Steering Committee will also consider the following, criteria:

– evidence of excellence in teaching

–  an interest in legal teaching methodology;

– some experience in teaching and/or research of environmental law in a jurisdiction other than that in which the nominating scholar normally teaches (preferably China); and

– if possible, proficiency in Chinese.

The Advanced Course will enable the Chinese environmental law scholars who participate to understand the various elements of the Basic Course that they will be expected to deliver subsequently by running through the components of the Basic Course during the training.  It will address key elements of environmental law from both a comparative and Chinese perspective, the role and influence of international environmental law, the relationship between environmental law and other disciplines (science, economics, philosophy and ethics) and will include a session on recent developments in international and comparative environmental law. Another important aspect of the course will be the demonstration of a wide range of methodologies and practices with respect to the teaching and assessment of environmental law.

The Academy trainers would need to be available to participate in a preliminary, planning meeting in Wuhan on December 9 – 10, 2010, as well as for the five day course from 28th February to 4th March 2010. In addition, the Academy trainers will be expected to perform a mentoring role (by email and Skype) with participants following the training to assist them in their follow-up activity involving the delivery of the Basic Course across various locations in China.

The Academy has prepared a Trainers’ Manual which is intended to assist its trainers to make all necessary preparations for the training course, in collaboration with their Chinese counterparts. It will also prepare sample presentations for the sessions of the course in which Academy trainers are expected to contribute, although the trainers will be free to adapt these as necessary.   These will help to reduce the time required for preparation by the Academy trainers.

The Academy trainers will be provided with relevant Academy materials concerning the course and will have their travel, accommodation and living expenses met by the Academy in relation to both the preliminary meeting in December 2010 and the training course in 2011. However, the Academy trainers will not be paid a fee for their services. The Academy seeks scholars from within its membership who are committed to the objectives of this project and willing to contribute their time and expertise on a pro bono basis.

Expressions of interest addressing the criteria outlined above should be submitted to the Director of the Academy, Professor Yves Le Bouthillier (ylebouth@uottawa.ca ) by email by October 25th 2010. The selection of the Academy trainer will be undertaken by the Steering Committee appointed by the Governing Board of the Academy to implement the TTT project and will be completed by the beginning of November 2010.  Although only one trainer is to be selected at this first stage, the Steering Committee will keep the names of interested parties on file to be considered when the Basic TTT Course is to be delivered in various locations across China in the future.

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