(Faculty of Law, University of the Free State, 2009) Du Plessis, M. A.
English: The assessment of students’ performance in the clinical legal education course presents
a challenge for a variety of reasons. Factors to be considered are large student numbers,
language barriers, a large and diverse client pool, students working in pairs, specialised
units within the clinic, education and experience variances amongst students, different
levels in students’ knowledge of substantive and procedural law, different levels of
experience in clinical supervision and assessment, student expectations and prescribed
exit-level outcomes for the course. The setting of parameters for assessment and mark
allocation, as well as further methods of assessment, not currently used, are discussed.