Students enthusiastically role-play as lawyers to learn civics.

(Dan Tri Newspaper) - Ms. Ma Thi Thanh Xuan - a civics teacher at Olympia Inter-level School - observes that students are more enthusiastic about this subject when the mock trial model is applied.

Students become litigation lawyers, learning law through role-playing.

According to the 2018 general education curriculum, the subject of civics education at the high school level has a new name: economic and legal education.

Significant changes in the content of civic education also create an urgent need for new learning methods to help students acquire knowledge and skills in two distinct but closely related fields of life.

Teachers from the Economics and Law department at Olympia Inter-level School have introduced a mock trial model into their teaching with the support and professional advice of lecturers from Hanoi Law University.

Students participate in a mock trial as part of their economics and law education class at Olympia Inter-level High School (Photo: Quynh Trang).

Accordingly, students will practice IRAC legal thinking (an international model for analyzing and resolving legal situations) to analyze cases, write defense scripts, conduct litigation procedures in court, and participate in mock trials of a civil or criminal case.

Through this model, students have the opportunity to gain a deeper understanding of the law, hone their analytical, comparative, and synthesis skills, and apply legal thinking to real-life issues.

The mock trial continued to be held for 11th-grade students and was elevated to a competition, with the school's final round taking place on the morning of November 15th. Students played the roles of plaintiff, defendant, and lawyer in a civil lawsuit between two businesses. The roles of judge and people's juror were played by lawyers and law lecturers.

For two and a half hours, the students enthusiastically "role-played" in the debate. Prior to this, the teacher only provided the assignment; the students had to independently read relevant laws, cite legal sources, build evidence, identify the opponent's weaknesses, and defend their legitimate interests to the fullest extent before entering the simulated courtroom.

Pham Nguyen Minh Anh, a student in class 11SS1 and one of the lawyers in the mock trial, said that her group had to study more than 400 articles of the Civil Code and more than 300 articles of the Commercial Law to be able to solve the problem posed.

Pham Nguyen Minh Anh - a student in class 11SS1 - participated in the mock trial as the defendant's lawyer (Photo: Quynh Trang).

However, even after grasping the basic laws and thoroughly discussing what they would say in court, these "lawyers" still encountered many problems.

The real-life courtroom situation forces the students to think critically and analyze the law on the spot in order to apply it most accurately, thereby gaining an advantage or at least avoiding putting their client at a disadvantage.

Speaking to a reporter from Dan Tri newspaper , Mr. Le Dinh Quyet - Lecturer in the Department of International Commercial Law at Hanoi Law University - highly appreciated the inclusion of the mock trial model in teaching this subject.

"There are many methods for conveying knowledge, but this is a very effective method."

When faced with a real-world situation, students need to prepare a great deal of relevant knowledge. At the same time, they are compelled to hone and accumulate many skills such as analytical skills, reasoning skills, debating skills, communication skills, and legal thinking skills.

In addition, one of the competency objectives and values ​​of this subject is that students gain a multifaceted perspective on social issues.

"The mock trial format will greatly assist students in developing critical thinking and analytical skills, allowing them to explore all aspects and gain a multi-faceted perspective on events and phenomena in life," Mr. Quyet remarked.

Mr. Le Dinh Quyet - Lecturer in the Department of International Commercial Law, Hanoi Law University (Photo: Quynh Trang).

Pham Nguyen Minh Anh further shared that she decided to choose economics and law education as her elective subject in the high school graduation exam. Although there are many subjects she is better at and finds easier, Minh Anh still wants to challenge herself in this subject.

Minh Anh has also clearly decided to study economic law. "Along with guidance from my family, the subject has greatly inspired me to pursue economic law in the future," the female student shared.

Civics education will no longer be a subject used to boost grades in the high school graduation exam.

"With the 2006 civics education program, the knowledge is relatively accessible to the vast majority of students."

"As for the new 2018 high school curriculum, the content of the economics and law education subjects has undergone significant changes, not only in increasing the time allocated to the economics module to be equal to that of the law module, but also in providing clear career guidance," Ms. Ma Thi Thanh Xuan affirmed.

The sample exam for the 2025 high school graduation exam in economics and law clearly reflects this change.

Sample exam paper for the subject of economics and law education for the 2025 high school graduation exam (Screenshot).

Ms. Xuan stated that previously, the exam mainly focused on the 12th-grade curriculum, with law as the primary theme. Economic content, covered in the 11th-grade curriculum, only accounted for about 10%.

This year's exam has completely changed, encompassing knowledge from all three grades (10, 11, and 12) and evenly distributing economic and legal content.

The structure of the 2025 high school graduation exam in this subject has fundamentally changed compared to the old structure, with changes in the number of questions, question types, and a significant increase in difficulty compared to previous years' exams, requiring candidates to possess comprehensive abilities, knowledge, and skills.

These are the factors that suggest civics education may no longer be a subject that guarantees high scores in the 2025 high school graduation exam, according to predictions from many teachers.

Having taught civics under the 2006 general education curriculum for many years, Ms. Xuan observed that students are more interested in the subject under the 2018 curriculum.

"The subject matter is more up-to-date, more advanced, and more challenging for students. On occasions when the school organizes career guidance events related to economics, business administration, finance and banking, and law, many of my students, after attending, conclude: 'So, the hottest professions are all related to your subject?'"

"Economics and law are two fields where the deeper students' understanding, the greater their advantage and the more control they have over their lives, no matter what profession they pursue," Ms. Xuan shared.

Statistics from the Ministry of Education and Training's admissions results over the past three years also show that the business, management, and law fields have an average of 500,000 students enrolled each year, overwhelmingly surpassing most other fields of study.

Source: https://dantri.com.vn/giao-duc/hoc-sinh-hao-hung-nhap-vai-luat-su-de-hoc-giao-duc-cong-dan-20241115192458444.htm