To Degree or not to Degree? An investigation into the impact of Police Culture on the implementation of the Police Education Qualification Framework

Abstract

The Police Education Qualification Framework was developed to provide a more structured route of entry into policing across England and Wales. It was designed to promote a culture of critical analysis and evaluation that would be valued by all ranks, alongside evidence-informed approaches. With it came three primary routes into policing: the ‘Pre-join’ Professional Policing Degree, the Degree Holders Entry Programme (DHEP) and the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA), all of which meant providing higher education learning for all officers joining policing. The College of Policing hoped officers would embrace higher education, using its methods to tackle the challenges of rising demand and diminishing public trust and confidence in law enforcement. However, the successful implementation of the PEQF has been held back by significant resistance offered by pre-existing attitudes towards higher education within many forces, reinforced by Chief Constables eager to appease a workforce suspicious of change.

McNarma (1967) suggested that newer officers adopt an authoritarian attitude from more experienced officers because they use their behaviour as a model for their own. By way of reducing authoritarianism in police culture, the PEQF was designed to provide officers with a more tolerant and diverse pattern of thinking. Telep (2011) shows that developing officers with these analytical skills helps develop a depth of experience, allowing them to challenge any pre-existing toxic attitudes that colleagues may have. In support of this, Scott (2022) found that degree-level graduates were less likely to have authoritarian attitudes compared to those who were not educated to this level.

However, it is the barriers within police culture which appear to be preventing these advantages from being realised. The most visible of the entry routes created by the PEQF is the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA), a programme of study that incorporates both operational practice and academic study. Andrews (2023) explored the experiences of PCDA students, noting that many felt their study, although personally beneficial, lacked the wider support of senior leaders and more experienced members of their teams. Most placed little value on academic study when carrying out frontline policing. It notes a culture which often resists change, viewing academic analysis as unwanted interference. As senior members influence the attitudes within their organisations, they set the standards of behaviour expected. Without their support, the benefits of PEQF programmes such as the PCDA will struggle to be seen in the police. The paper intends to explore the role of police culture in shaping the successful implementation of the PEQF, using an analysis of the PCDA. The paper will further examine what may be going wrong and provide recommendations for change to improve future practice.