Legal Studies (2U)
Board Developed Course (240 hours)
Available in Years 11 and 12
This course is designed to develop students’ knowledge, understanding and skills in relation to the legal system and its effectiveness in promoting a just and fair society, with a view to empowering students to participate effectively as citizens at the local, national and international level. Legal Studies consists of a Preliminary Course and a HSC Course.
Course Structure
Preliminary Course (120 indicative hours)
The Preliminary Course focuses on The Legal System; The Individual and the Law; Law in Practice. In this part of the course, students learn to understand the nature and social functions of law and examine law-making processes and the institutions that administer and enforce the law in modern society. Students also learn to understand the role of law at the national and international level in protecting the individual and the reciprocal obligations on individuals and governments to meet their own duties. The student is taught to investigate and understand the nature of the struggle for legal justice by individuals belonging to particular minority groups through two option studies. Topics covered in this course include basic legal notions, the operation of the legal system, constitutional system in Australian rights, power and authority, duties, legal controls on State power, status under the law, mechanisms for achieving justice and responsiveness of the legal system and two option studies.
HSC Course (120 indicative hours)
The HSC Course builds upon the work-studies in the Preliminary Course. All students study Crime and Human Rights, plus two additional focus options chosen from a selection of topics such as consumers; family; global environment; indigenous peoples; shelter; workplace and world order. In this part of the course students learn the nature of law and justice, the place of law in society and the values that are embodied in the legal system. Students learn the notion of individual and collective human rights and the extent to which the law embodies such human rights and promotes them in practice. Students learn legal processes between community interests and individual rights and freedom. With the additional focus studies, students learn about the rights of two chosen groups and the effectiveness of the law in achieving justice for consumers.