Learning the 'wrong' things: a case study of police recruits trained at a university.

It can be argued that most of the theorising around work and learning is premised on the idea that the learning is a positive process whereby actors learn socially useful (the right) things. Whilst it is and they do, as researchers it might sometimes be more relevant to focus on processes and situations where people learn the ‘wrong’ things. In this paper I offer empirical evidence to support this from my research into new programme to train police recruits. Pierre Bourdieu’s related concepts of field, capital, habitus and symbolic violence are deployed to suggest how aspects of the programme operate to reproduce facets of police culture

'They didn't treat us like professionals': a case study of police recruits trained at a university.

This paper challenges widely-held views about university education and it benefits for ‘professionalising’ policing. A collaborative initiative to train police recruits at a local university is shown to be producing ‘unintended consequences’. The social theory of Pierre Bourdieu is employed to examine how the pedagogic practices of the tutors and other aspects of the university programme operated to undermine the development of professional habitus

A comparison of police pre-employment training and education in the UK and USA

In recent years, in England and Wales, there has been a growing interest in police pre-employment training and education programmes. The shift from the traditional post-employment training model to a pre-join approach is being driven by economic imperatives as well as by an aim to professionalise the police. Yet when examined from broader and international perspectives self-funded pre-entry training for other professions is nothing new and in other countries, such as the U.S.A., mandatory pre-employment training for policing has existed for decades. Although the subject of police pre-employment training featured significantly in two recent and influential reports into policing in England and Wales (Neyroud 2011, Winsor 2012), there has been relatively few academic articles about police pre-employment training in the police studies scholarly literature. This paper adds to the extant literature and compares emerging approaches to police pre-employment training in the U.K. with the more established system of police pre-join training in the U.S.A. The paper is informed by a review of key literature relating to police entry-level training in both countries and empirical research conducted by the author in the U.S.A. The research finds that a mixed-market model of police entry-level training has evolved in America which reflects its diverse and radically decentralised system of policing, whereby nearly half of all basic training takes place in police academies operated by academic institutions. The paper concludes that there are lessons to be learnt from the American approach which may help inform the development of pre-join training in the U.K

Them and us: emerging findings from a case study of police recruits trained at a university.

A new partnership initiative to train police recruits at a local university is shown to be producing unintended consequences. The concept of ‘hidden curriculum’ is employed to examine how aspects of the new programme operate to undermine professional identity and reproduce facets of ‘police culture’

What is the attraction of nurse training as a model for professional education? An analysis of field and habitus in the construction of curricula for nurse, teacher and police officer training.

‘Nurse training’ looks like the new ‘gold standard’ for educating public service professionals. The Education Secretary, Michael Gove, cites it for the restructuring of teacher training in the Education Bill now before Parliament; and the Home Office commissioned Neyroud Report (2011) is similarly motivated in recommending a new police training approach. With consultation on the latter now underway, legislation is expected in the next Parliament. This paper questions the rush to uniformity in professional education. ‘Uniformity’ assumes quality control through ownership of the relevant competences by an agency which then validates a syllabus for delivery by approved HE/ profession partners. The partnership implies a value-free, technical delivery-vehicle, independent of the historical and cultural forces structuring professional fields. Our research was based on a pilot study of interviews with nurse, teacher and police educators. The aim was to understand the part lecturers play in the construction of professional curricula. We use the concept of ‘field’ to model the interplay of academy and profession influences; and the concept of ‘habitus’ to understand lecturers’ participation within it. We suggest HE partnerships are characterised by field structures constituted by idiosyncratic professional demands for education and training, and the specific historical and cultural influences of the contributing institutions. Professional curricula are the product of lecturers positioning themselves within those institutional fields. There is little precision in any formulation for training, i.e. its ability to produce intended outcomes. It is not the form per se which produces the practitioner, thus policy makers cannot anticipate how a nursing approach will work for teaching or policing. The curriculum is produced by complex and unpredictable interactions between habitus and field; tinkering with it may have unexpected consequences – and this includes the loss of what we already think is good

Are UK universities more ethical than police organisations?

University academics have long been at the forefront of important work researching and critiquing some of the more unethical dimensions of policing. However, in recent years an increasing number of UK academics, universities and students have faced scrutiny and censure, in relation to a range of unethical behaviours and practices. This paper draws upon relevant literature to examine if UK universities are more ethical than the police. The comparison is justified by reference to a number of recent concerns and developments in higher education and policing in the UK and these will be explored. Of particular significance to this paper has been the development by the College of Policing of the Policing Education Qualifications Framework (PEQF), which provides universities with a prominent role in police education. The PEQF has been developed to professionalise the police and to reform problematic aspects of police occupational culture and improve ethical standards. Transferring the site of education from a police academy to a university campus is regarded as a way to weaken police culture socialisation processes. However, this paper contends that university campuses are also problematic sites, where, for example: racism, sexual misconduct, bullying and other unethical practices occur. The paper contributes to a body of literature which cautions against assumptions that involving universities in police education will lead to improvements in the practices of the public police

The contribution of David H. Bayley, policing research pioneer

This essay chronicles the contribution of leading international policing scholar – David H. Bayley. Although he may first and foremost be regarded as a political scientist, it is in the field of international policing studies where he became preeminent. The article makes the case that Professor Bayley is a policing research pioneer and it draws upon interviews and correspondence with him, and those who know him, as well as a review of his extensive body of scholarship spanning seven decades

Police recruit training and 'community engagement' : unintended consequences

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