Polisutbildningens arbete med att förena teori och praktik : Studenternas perspektiv på lärande

Sammanfattning: In recent decades, police training has undergone a professionalization process in which the training has been increasingly incorporated within the academy. The professionalization process has led to the content of police training being changed by theoretical subjects replacing practical elements. The study examines how the shift between theoretical and practical knowledge has affected police training and how police students view their training today. The theoretical framework for the study's is based on the theory of knowledge, situated learning and communities of practice. Aristotle's theory of knowledge describes the view of knowledge and explains that theoretical knowledge, episteme, must be combined with practical knowledge, techné, in order to achieve a complete understanding and wisdom, fronesis, (Sohlberg & Sohlberg 2019, p. 93). Within the police, learning largely takes place in social contexts together with other colleagues, situated learning, and the practical knowledge, techné, is in focus. Within the academy, theoretical knowledge is central and the police trainings job to unite the academic and police world lays the foundation for the theory of communities of practice. Previous research shows a complexity of training police officers and professional police officers have considered police training to be too poorly anchored in practical professional practice and experienced that police students do not learn relevant knowledge and skills during training (Ekman 1999). The study was conducted through qualitative interviews with students from the police education to examine the students' own experience of the education. The interviews were analyzed according to the study's questions and theoretical framework. The results showed that the students consider both the theoretical and practical knowledge to be important for the police work and that an interdisciplinary approach that unites these forms of knowledge during the education is needed. However, the students considered it important that the theoretical knowledge was not too abstract but linked to the practical action in everyday police life. In the compilation of results, there was a consensus among the students which form of teaching they valued most in connection with combining theoretical and practical knowledge during police training, scenario training. These training opportunities should therefore be increased during police training. An interdiscip- linary approach should permeate the structure of police training and greater efforts should be made to combine theoretical and practical knowledge during the training.