FEATURE: A new joint criminology and policing degree offered by Monash University and Victoria Police sees students complete two years of university-based study and a final year at the force’s Glen Waverley Academy, with the aim of equipping young officers with more skills and knowledge, improving recruitment diversity and retention, and providing longer-term career opportunities for recruits, as Policing Insight’s Sarah Gibbons reports.

ANALYSIS: The Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) is a key entry route into the UK police service; but Donna Eastham, Programme Lead for Professional Policing at Leeds Trinity University, warns that issues such as a lack of informed understanding or commitment to academic learning among employers, the impact of ‘war stories’, and the ‘inbetweenness’ degree apprenticeships create for policing students could all have damaging consequences for the success of the PCDA. 

INTERVIEW: The ‘degree-entry’ debate can often be too focused on England and Wales, but research from former police officer turned academic Dr Andy Tatnell doesn’t have that problem; his thesis looks at the interesting differences in how Scotland, Sweden and Finland handle the complex work of training up their new frontline cops, as Policing Insight’s James Sweetland reports.

ANALYSIS: One of the arguments put forward for the launch of new non-degree recruitment pathways in the UK is that the public want police officers on the streets rather than in classrooms; but research by former police officer Tom Andrews, now a University of Derby Policing Lecturer, suggests that the public are in favour of post-A Level qualifications for police officers – just don’t call them degrees.

OPINION: The decision to implement a third, non-degree entry route into UK policing may already have been made, but University of Central Lancashire Policing Lecturer David Marshall believes the move to bypass the current degree entry routes will negatively impact on efforts to professionalise policing, create a two-tier service, and do little to address falling levels of trusts and confidence in the police.

ANALYSIS: The requirement for a degree qualification as part of the professionalisation of UK policing is opposed by the Home Secretary and several chief constables, who argue that academic work is too far removed from operational policing; a study by the University of Portsmouth with student officers has found that problem-based learning has the potential to make academic policing more relevant to student police officers by linking theory with practice, as Lecturer in Policing David Knowles explains.

OPINION: One key area of discussion at the recent Liverpool John Moores University Police Education Conference was the decision to re-establish a non-degree entry route into UK policing; Tom Andrews, a Lecturer in Policing at the University of Derby who attended the conference, believes the statistics clearly demonstrate the benefits of the PEQF routes, and forces that struggled to realise the benefits were often those that were most reluctant to embrace the pathways.

OPINION: While full details are yet to be confirmed, some initial information is emerging about the latest ‘fourth route’ non-degree entry into UK policing; former officer and University of Derby Policing Lecturer Tom Andrews fears the new pathway could prompt concerns over validation, delivery, and additional costs for forces.

OPINION: While the debate continues around UK police education and the various entry routes for recruits into policing, former officer and now University of Central Lancashire Policing Lecturer Derek Flint argues that the ‘precious union’ between policing and academia needs to be maintained and strengthened to ensure the service has constables with a ‘professional curiosity’, and a desire and a determination to find out ‘why’ things are happening.

FEATURE: Hampshire Constabulary’s new Policing PLUS entry route – which enables officers to join without a degree, and those on degree routes to transfer – has been hailed a “game changer” by the chief constable, while the police and crime commissioner believes it could “shape national plans”; but those opposed to moving away from mandatory degrees say returning to traditional police training is both regressive and nonsensical, as Policing Insight’s Keith Potter reports.

FEATURE: As the discussion continues around the role of education and degrees within policing in the UK, the policing education qualifications framework (PEQF) has remained contentious; Dr Emma Williams and Jennifer Norman explore the current situation regarding the PEQF and police qualifications, and where the debate about professionalisation in policing goes from here.

LONG READ: The Home Secretary’s recent call for a review of entry methods into UK policing is the latest twist in the policing degree debate; Nottingham Trent University lecturers Georg Tangen and Phil Rudkin, both former police officers, argue that the consensus of evidence to date shows policing does benefit from a degree level of education, and that the ‘loudest dissenters’ of the degree programme may be representative of the most criticised policing cultures and attitudes.

FEATURE: The ongoing debate about degree requirements for UK policing recruits took a new turn recently, when Home Secretary Suella Braverman told forces to keep open a route into the profession that didn’t involve a degree; former officer turned policing lecturer Tom Andrews, and branch Federation Secretary Jon Carter-Lang – regular sparring partners in the degree debate – sat down together to consider a potential ‘best of both worlds’ alternative entry pathway.

OPINION: ‘Degree gate’ – the apparent controversy over the value of policing degrees – has been a topic of conversation in UK policing circles and on social media for months; but for former chief superintendent Owen West, now a policing lecturer, the quality and depth of training, exposure to practical skills and enthusiasm of students suggests that much of the opposition to pre-join policing degrees must be based either in ignorance or cynicism.

OPINION: The pre-join degree scheme seems to be the ‘forgotten’ recruitment route for UK policing, argues Nottingham Trent University Policing Lecturer Phil Rudkin, with only three forces currently ready to accept recruits from these programmes; but with up to 2,600 pre-join graduates likely to enter the police recruitment pool by 2025, it’s time for forces and higher-education institutions to work together to improve this entry pathway into policing.

OPINION: The requirement for UK police recruits to either be graduates or achieve a degree as part of their training is still a subject of much debate; but University of Sunderland lecturers Dr Jerry Pearson and Adrian Smiles – both former serving officers – believe one area of the PEQF that needs to be addressed is delivering a degree qualification which recognises the skills and experience of those serving officers who are currently non-graduates.

ANALYSIS: Recent events in the United States have led to calls for more training and credentialing to reduce the use of excessive force by police. Dr. Leana Bouffard of Iowa State University and Dr. Gaylene Armstrong of the University of Nebraska provide five reasons why police officers should be encouraged to pursue a college degree so they are better equipped to lead much-needed reform.

Opinion: Current and newly-retired officers will be able to gain a BSc (Hons) in Policing Studies after completing a one-year 'top-up course' at the University of East London. Director of Policing at the UEL's Centre of Professional Policing (CoPP) and former police officer Dr Sarah Jane Fox explains why it is important that, as the new degree entry scheme comes into being, 'no-one gets left behind'.

INSIGHT: In July, Policing Insight broke the story that Lincolnshire Chief Constable Bill Skelly had begun judicial review proceedings against the College of Policing’s degree entry scheme for new police officers. As the scheme has taken shape, Policing Insight has published many articles from different stakeholders on the proposals. Here is a selection of those articles.

ANALYSIS: With the announcement of 20,000 new police officers, the new PEQF entry routes are back in the news. However, Dr Emma Williams of Canterbury Christ Church University warns that organisational issues bring risks - to forces, to officers, and to the PEQF itself.

ANALYSIS: With Lincolnshire Police beginning a Judicial Review against the College of Policing, the controversy over the new police entry routes, the PEQF, shows no sign of abating. Dr Emma Williams and Jack Chapman (research assistant) of Canterbury Christ Church University examine the operational readiness of forces for the new qualification requirements.

News: EXCLUSIVE: Lincolnshire's Chief Constable Bill Skelly is mounting a legal challenge against the College of Policing over the new degree entry scheme that could reduce the force's frontline by 40 officers or 10 per cent of its deployable strength. Policing Insight reports.

Interview: Sheffield Hallam University has teamed up with South Yorkshire Police to offer three separate routes into policing. The University's Head of Policing Principal Lecturer Paul Berry explains the differences between the courses and why he would have leapt at the opportunity to do the police apprenticeship degree.

ANALYSIS: As universities and police forces move forward with the planned delivery of degree apprenticeships for new recruits, one area of focus is increasingly how those students are to be assessed. Rich Honess of Canterbury Christ Church University explains why universities love essays so much and what alternatives are possible.