Fostering Professional Formation (professionalism): Lessons from the Carnegie Foundation's Five Studies on Educating Professionals

• Publication year: 2022
• Citation: Vol. 45

45 Creighton L. Rev. 763. FOSTERING PROFESSIONAL FORMATION (PROFESSIONALISM): LESSONS FROM THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION'S FIVE STUDIES ON EDUCATING PROFESSIONALS

FOSTERING PROFESSIONAL FORMATION (PROFESSIONALISM): LESSONS FROM THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION'S FIVE STUDIES ON EDUCATING PROFESSIONALS

Neil Hamilton(fn*)

I. INTRODUCTION ................................... 764

A. ADDRESSING LEGAL EDUCATORS' TRADITIONAL SKEPTICISM TOWARD PROFESSIONAL FORMATION ... 765

B. THE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE REBUTTING THE SKEPTICISM ...................................... 766

C. THE NEED TO FOSTER EACH STUDENT'S PROFESSIONAL FORMATION ....................... 767

D. LAW SCHOOLS MUST CLEARLY STATE THEIR EDUCATIONAL OBJECTIVES RELATED TO PROFESSIONAL FORMATION ....................... 769

E. TURNING TO THE CARNEGIE STUDIES FOR INSIGHT ......................................... 769

II. SYNONYMS FOR PROFESSIONAL FORMATION .. 771

III. THE ELEMENTS OF PROFESSIONAL FORMATION ....................................... 775

A. THE CARNEGIE FOUNDATION'S DEFINITION OF PROFESSIONAL FORMATION ....................... 775

B. ALL FIVE STUDIES IN AGREEMENT ON THE DEFINITION ...................................... 775

C. FOUR STUDIES IN AGREEMENT ON THE DEFINITION ...................................... 775

D. THREE STUDIES IN AGREEMENT ON THE DEFINITION ...................................... 776

E. TWO STUDIES IN AGREEMENT ON THE DEFINITION ...................................... 777

F. SINGLE STUDY ELEMENTS OF THE DEFINITION ..... 778

G. SYNTHESIS OF THE ELEMENTS OF PROFESSIONAL FORMATION ...................................... 779

IV. CURRICULUM AND PEDAGOGIES THAT PROMOTE PROFESSIONAL FORMATION ......... 781

A. PEDAGOGIES THAT FOSTER REFLECTIVE EXPLORATION OF MEANING ....................... 783

1. Five Studies in Agreement on Pedagogies That Promote Reflective Exploration of Meaning ..................................... 783

2. Four Studies in Agreement on Pedagogies That Promote Reflective Exploration of Meaning ..................................... 784

3. Two Studies in Agreement on Pedagogies That Promote Reflective Exploration of Meaning ..................................... 785

B. ADDITIONAL PEDAGOGIES THAT PROMOTE PROFESSIONAL FORMATION ....................... 786

1. All Five Studies in Agreement on Curriculum and Pedagogies .................. 787

2. Four Studies in Agreement on Curriculum and Pedagogies .............................. 788

3. Three Studies in Agreement on Curriculum and Pedagogies .............................. 789

4. Two Studies in Agreement on Curriculum and Pedagogies .............................. 790

5. Single Study Elements of Curriculum and Pedagogies .................................. 791

V. SYNTHESIS: APPLYING THE CARNEGIE FRAMEWORK TO LEGAL EDUCATION ............ 794

A. SUBSTITUTE "PROFESSIONAL FORMATION" FOR "PROFESSIONALISM" .............................. 794

B. DEFINE THE ELEMENTS OF PROFESSIONAL FORMATION CLEARLY AS LEARNING OUTCOMES ..... 795

C. ASSESS WHETHER THE PRESENT CURRICULUM OFFERS THE ARRAY OF PEDAGOGIES RECOMMENDED TO PROMOTE PROFESSIONAL FORMATION ...................................... 796

TABLE 1 .................................................. 773

TABLE 2 .................................................. 780

TABLE 3 .................................................. 786

TABLE 4 .................................................. 793

I. INTRODUCTION

The American Bar Association's Standards Review Committee is considering late-stage proposals to change the accreditation standards for law schools to require more emphasis on each student's professional formation. Professional formation refers to the fostering of students' formation of an ethical professional identity.(fn1) This change from a focus on educational inputs, like a course on professional responsibility, to a focus on clearly articulated learning outcomes relating to each student's ethical development that are assessable is a major paradigm shift in legal education.

Legal educators and the legal profession itself can learn a great deal from the five Carnegie Foundation studies of higher education in medicine, nursing, clergy, engineering, and law concerning professional formation.(fn2) From the turn of the century to 2010, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching conducted dozens of site visits to study how professional schools educate physicians, nurses, clergy, engineers, and lawyers. From these studies, the president of the Carnegie Foundation, Lee Shulman, found that "the most overlooked aspect of professional preparation was the formation of a professional identity with a moral and ethical core of service and responsibility,"(fn3) while the Carnegie Foundation's final study, Educating Physicians, found that "formation [is] the fundamental goal of the learning process," and "professional formation [is] the purpose that should guide medical education."(fn4) This Article provides an analysis of the five Carnegie Foundation studies that will guide law faculties in defining assessable learning outcomes for professional formation and selecting the pedagogies most effective to achieve the defined learning outcomes.

A. ADDRESSING LEGAL EDUCATORS' TRADITIONAL SKEPTICISM TOWARD PROFESSIONAL FORMATION

The initial challenge to learning about professional formation from other professions is the skepticism of many law professors about whether they "can have any impact on a student's ethical professional formation."(fn5) Law professors often argue that a student's moral character is established earlier in life and that it is too late to develop a student's values in law school.(fn6) Richard Posner, a judge on the United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit, goes so far as to state "as for the task of instilling legal ethics in law students . . . I can think of few things more futile than attempting to teach people to be good."(fn7) Because of these assumptions, Educating Lawyers found:

[I]n most law schools, the apprenticeship of professionalism and purpose is subordinated to the cognitive, academic apprenticeship. In fact, in the minds of many faculty, ethical and social values are subjective and indeterminate and, for that reason, can potentially even conflict with the all-important values of the academy-values that underlie the cognitive apprenticeship: rigor, skepticism, intellectual distance, and objectivity.(fn8)

B. THE EMPIRICAL EVIDENCE REBUTTING THE SKEPTICISM

This skepticism toward professional formation ignores considerable empirical evidence that an individual can develop moral capacities over his or her entire lifespan.(fn9) For example, Neil Hamilton and Verna Monson found:

[E]mpirical studies over the last thirty years on moral reasoning find that as we progress in our education and encounter challenging life experiences, our moral reasoning and judgment become more complex, moving from justifications based on self-interest to a fuller analysis of the implications of our conduct on others and society more broadly.(fn10)

Moreover, there is strong evidence that education significantly affects a student's moral reasoning, moral identity, and ethical capacity.(fn11) Educating Lawyers argues:

[H]igher education can promote development of more mature moral thinking, that specially designed courses in professional responsibility and legal ethics do support that development, but that unless they make an explicit effort to do so, law schools do not contribute to greater sophistication in the moral judgment of most students.(fn12)

Educating Lawyers further explains that "[l]aw school experiences, if they are powerfully engaging, have the potential to influence the place of moral values such as integrity and social contribution in students' sense of self. This is especially likely to take place in relation to the students' sense of professional identity."(fn13) Moreover, "[b]ecause law school represents a critical phase in the transition into the profession, it is inevitable that it will influence students' image of what kind of lawyers they want to be."(fn14)

C. THE NEED TO FOSTER EACH STUDENT'S PROFESSIONAL FORMATION

Higher education accrediting authorities for other professions have moved beyond skepticism to require more emphasis on professional formation.(fn15) It is likely that the American Bar Association will also amend the accreditation standards for law schools to place more emphasis on professional formation. For example, the Standards Review Committee proposed current draft changes to Accreditation Standard 302 on Learning Outcomes to require that accredited law schools have learning outcomes that include competency in "the professional skills of . . . the exercise of professional judgment consistent with the values of the legal profession and of the professional duties to society, including recognizing and resolving ethical and other professional dilemmas."(fn16) Additionally, the proposal requires learning outcomes that include "knowledge and understanding of the following values: . . . the legal profession's values of justice, fairness, candor, honesty, integrity, professionalism, respect for diversity and respect for the law."(fn17) In the Committee's draft changes, its emphasis on professional formation reflects Educating Lawyers' observation of "an increasing awareness...