University consortium win three-force apprenticeship contract
Surry, Sussex and Hampshire Constabulary trainees will be taught at police training centres not on campusFour universities have joined together as the Police Education Consortium to deliver degree apprenticeship training to three forces.
The consortium have won a contract to provide the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) programme to Surrey, Sussex and Hampshire Constabulary. The universities will alternate as the providers for each new cohort of PCDA students.
The four consortium members are Middlesex University, Canterbury Christ Church University, the University of Portsmouth and the University of Cumbria.
University of Cumbria’s first student police officers, who started on Monday (9 March), are based with Surrey Police and they are part of a wider scheme that will educate more than 1,000 new recruits over the next three years.
Recruits allocated to each university are full students of that university, with access to their programmes of learning and support, but are taught in a police training centre, not on campus.
University of Cumbria senior lecturer in police apprenticeships Stephen Wright, himself a retired police officer, said: “This is a new era for police education and training. This approach to developing officers being undertaken by the Police Education Consortium and force partners is innovative.
“Police trainers, coaches, supervisors and managers from our three partner forces –are working alongside university colleagues throughout the three-year programme and at all stages. Students will receive a learning experience which combines theory with the practice of being a serving front-line officer.”
Gary Slater, Principal Lecturer in Policing and Criminology within the university’s Institute of Business, Industry and Leadership, is a retired Cumbria Constabulary superintendent having served with the force for 30 years.
He said: “These innovative programmes sit well alongside our own undergraduate pre-join Professional Policing degree that is licenced by the College of Policing and which we run at our campuses in Carlisle, Lancaster and London.”
The PCDA takes three years and is a new entrance route to the police for non-graduates. As with traditional police entry routes, recruits will spend an initial period in the classroom lasting around nine weeks, before beginning police duties accompanied by experienced officers who will coach them through their development. After around 30 weeks, they will obtain Independent Patrol Status allowing them to go on duty alone.
By mid-October, University of Cumbria will have 201 PCDA and DHEP students across the forces of Surrey and Sussex.
News Archive
- December 2023 (3)
- November 2023 (5)
- October 2023 (4)
- September 2023 (5)
- August 2023 (4)
- July 2023 (3)
- June 2023 (5)
- May 2023 (2)
- April 2023 (5)
- March 2023 (3)
- February 2023 (7)
- January 2023 (11)
- December 2022 (6)
- November 2022 (5)
- October 2022 (5)
- September 2022 (6)
- August 2022 (2)
- July 2022 (11)
- June 2022 (8)
- May 2022 (11)
- April 2022 (8)
- March 2022 (3)
- February 2022 (5)
- January 2022 (12)
- December 2021 (1)
- November 2021 (9)
- October 2021 (4)
- September 2021 (10)
- August 2021 (9)
- July 2021 (12)
- June 2021 (4)
- May 2021 (11)
- April 2021 (14)
- March 2021 (14)
- February 2021 (19)
- January 2021 (18)
- December 2020 (6)
- November 2020 (12)
- October 2020 (14)
- September 2020 (15)
- August 2020 (16)
- July 2020 (16)
- June 2020 (18)
- May 2020 (22)
- April 2020 (18)
- March 2020 (23)
- February 2020 (20)
- January 2020 (4)
- December 2019 (5)
- November 2019 (6)
- October 2019 (5)
- September 2019 (6)
- August 2019 (8)
- July 2019 (6)
- June 2019 (8)
- May 2019 (8)
- April 2019 (8)
- March 2019 (10)
- February 2019 (9)
- January 2019 (9)
- December 2018 (9)
- November 2018 (12)
- October 2018 (8)
- September 2018 (7)
- August 2018 (11)
- July 2018 (7)
- June 2018 (9)
- May 2018 (9)
- April 2018 (12)
- March 2018 (10)
- February 2018 (8)
- January 2018 (5)
- December 2017 (6)
- November 2017 (4)
- October 2017 (3)
- September 2017 (10)
- August 2017 (5)
- July 2017 (5)
- June 2017 (6)
- May 2017 (6)
- April 2017 (2)
- March 2017 (3)
- February 2017 (4)
- January 2017 (1)
- December 2016 (3)
- November 2016 (4)
- October 2016 (1)
- September 2016 (4)
- August 2016 (4)
- July 2016 (1)
- June 2016 (5)
- May 2016 (3)
- April 2016 (1)
- March 2016 (3)
- February 2016 (3)
- January 2016 (3)
- December 2015 (3)
- November 2015 (3)
- October 2015 (3)
- September 2015 (2)
- August 2015 (1)
- July 2015 (11)
- June 2015 (1)