Appraisal as an effective means of assessing student performance in clinical legal education at the University of Portsmouth

The aim of this paper is to advance the notion that using the workplace model of appraisal is an effective method of assessing students who undertake clinical legal education (CLE). It is the belief of the team working in the law clinics at the University of Portsmouth that appraisal provides students with both praise and constructive criticism and the necessary information to enable them to improve their performance while working in the University of Portsmouth clinics. Giving feedback on a regular basis via the appraisal system motivates the students to strive for improvement and helps them to meet the challenges of achieving excellence. At the University of Portsmouth, staff, students and, in some cases, the representatives of our partner organisations work together in our appraisal system to tackle any barriers to student success within our CLE progammes.