Educating Police Officers in Sweden

All about Making Meaning

authors Bengt Bergman
  Staffan Karp
  Ulrika Widding
journal EJPS (ISSN: 2034-760X)
volume Online first
issue Online first
section Articles
date of publication Jan. 1, 1
language English
pagina 1
keywords police education, meaning-making, police educators, Reflexivity, professional development
abstract

This article discusses the rarely investigated learning processes of Swedish intra-professional police educators: police teachers, police supervisors and police field training officers. Through the interpretation of three interview studies conducted from a theoretical perspective of experiential learning, reflection and meaning-making, a new understanding of professional development as viewed through the eyes of an educator emerges. The findings exemplify how the empowerment of positive, reflexive and creative intentions amongst intra-professional police educators can be seen as an important component of preparing new police officers as well as developing the Swedish police force. Moreover, it will be implied that this particular process is driven by both intrinsic (the internal drive of the educators) and extrinsic (the educational context of the Swedish police) forces.