Learning in Police Recruit Training: Findings from the Finnish Police Recruit Training Evaluation Project

Abstract

Traditional classroom learning and problem-based learning (PBL) are often depicted as polar opposite forms of knowledge acquisition. However, they do share certain weaknesses, really that can be avoided by means of other kinds of teaching arrangements. The article is based on the outcomes of a project on the Evaluation of the Effectiveness of Police Recruit Training in Finland (EEPRT). It was unanticipated in the sense that the grounds for the insight were provided by the police officer respondents in their answers to one of the open-ended questions in our survey. They were asked about the strengths and weaknesses of the program, mainly in view of the contents of police training, but they gave their opinion on the best practices of learning and teaching within the program, mainly in view of the methods of instruction. Brief introduction of the EEPRT project (its aims, data and methodology) and the focal pedagogical finding mentioned above can be found in the article.