The Virtual Churchill Fellowship
This post outlines the ‘virtual’ Churchill fellowship ‘trip’ as conducted by Jackie Charles, researching, best practice in court education for school students. To learn more about court education, read our previous post here.
A traditional Churchill fellowship research trip requires travelling overseas and visiting colleagues in places that, due to the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on international travel, are no longer accessible.
The Court Education Project will now be conducted ‘virtually’ from the 4th of January to the 7th of February 2021.
The Journey
To create a sense of a journey for the ‘virtual’ Churchill, the below interactive map is provided to allow interested readers. The Kumu Map outlines the relationships between the organisations that are contributing to the project.
To learn more about each organisation that will be contributing to the research click on the pins. As the research progresses, more pins will be added and photos and other details will be included.
Newcastle
Most of the virtual research will be done from a small cottage in Newcastle NSW.
University of California - Fullerton
I will be working with Dr Stacy Mallicoat, Professor of Criminal Justice, to investigate the experience of university students who have engaged with a court education program in Australia.
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom
The Supreme Court of the United Kingdom are leaders in the area of court education for school students. I will be meeting with their team to discuss their programs,
Royal Courts of Justice
I will be meeting with court educators at the Royal Courts of Justice.
Young Citizens
Justice for All: Courts and the Community
Chief Judge Robert A. Katzmann of the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit launched the circuit-wide civic education initiative — Justice For All: Courts and the Community — to increase public understanding of the role and operations of the courts and bring courts closer to the community
I will be working with the educators and judges who participate in their programs to learn more about this very successful initiative.
iCivics
iCivics is a national organsation, originally started by retired Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor. It delivers online programs and resources predominantly through the medium of online games to teach students about civic institutions including courts.
Discovering Justice
Discovering Justice is an innovative organisation working to develop resources and run court education programs for school students from Kindergarten to High School.
American Bar Association - Public Education Division
The American Bar Association Public Education Division support teachers and their students across the USA with resources and programs about the law. I will be discussing some of these programs with their educators to learn how to better support Australian teachers.
Justice Education Society
The Justice Education Society runs extensive court education programs across British Columbia and is viewed as the world leader in providing wide scale court and public legal education programs.
Conference of Court Public Information Officers
The Conference of Court Public Information Officers is a international body that supports court information officers in their important work. Their membership includes court education officers and others involved in providing face to face programs in courts,
United States Courts
Rebecca Fanning and her team oversee the education programs of the United States Federal Courts from Washington DC.
The research for the Virtual Churchill was conducted over a number of months with the bulk of the in-person interviews conducted over a 5 week period in January and Early February 2021.
October 2020: Executive Office of the Nova Scotia Judiciary – Halifax ,Nova Scotia Canada – Jennifer Stairs
Provincial Court of British Columbia – Vancouver, British Columbia Canada – Judge Ann Rounthwaite (ret)
November 2020: Courts of All: Courts and the Community – New York, New York USA – Debra Lesser
December 2020: National Council of Social Studies 2020 Conference, Washington D.C.
January 2021: University of California Fullerton – Orange County, California USA – Stacy Mallicoat
Court of Queens Bench and the Court of the Appeal – Edmonton, Alberta Canada – Tony Blais
iCivics – Madison, Wisconsin USA – Carrie Ray Hill
Young Citizens- London, UK – Yvonne Richards
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom- London ,UK – Natasha Bennett
National Justice Museum – Nottingham, UK – Gill Brailey
Royal Courts of Justice – London UK – Tom Jewkes
iCivics – St Simon Island, Georgia USA – Emma Humphries
American Bar Association – Chicago, Illinois USA – Frank Valadez
American Bar Association – Chicago, Illinois USA – Catherine Hawke
Discovering Justice – Boston, Massachusetts USA – Matt Wilson
Justice Education Society – Vancouver, British Columbia Canada – Lali Pawa
US Courts – Washington D.C., USA – Rebecca Fanning
University of California Fullerton – Orange County, California USA – Nataly Raskin
Supreme Court of the United Kingdom – London, UK – Simon Josiffe
The Judd School – Tonbridge UK – Students participating in a court program
February 2021: Marshall-Brennan Constitutional Literacy Project – Washington D.C. USA – Camille Thompson