1. Good Morning Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all I want to thank the people of the Scottish institute for policing for inviting me to this conference and giving me the opportunity to talk about my experience with the police education system in Belgium. I assume a lot of people in this room don’t know me and have no idea about what I have been doing for 5 years in the Belgian education system. So I start with a little background information about myself and my relation with the Belgian police education.

2. Towards A European Police Education System: A View From Brussels
Prof. Dr. Sofie De Kimpe Free University of Brussels Research group “Crime and Society”

4. Police “a learning organization”
Project for change and innovation of the quality of the Belgian Police Education Sysytem

5. Belgian Project: “Police a learning organization”
Project = large programme with strategic and operational purposes
Different aspects of education
Basic training and education
Junior and senior rank
Management level
Training and education during career = HR!
Career management
Knowledge management

6. Purpose of this presentation
Belgian Project: “Police a learning organization”
Why radical change of police education system (in Belgium)?
The Belgian answer:
Increasing the quality of police training and education, so it acquires the same education level as public education (change of culture)
Open the windows of the police education system (change of structure)
Opportunities for police education in Europe

7. Why change?

8. Problems of the Belgian police education system
Necessary competences to do the job were not achieved (professional skills were insufficient)
“The police job is something you learn on the street, not in a police school”
Police schools = elephant yards
Police steering, no pedagogic steering
(does the competences of the recruit comply with the final professional competences)
Management problems (funding)
Structural problems
independency <> centralisation

9. Problems of the police education system in general
Competence development : it is a question of socialisation
Socialisation in the field (not during education)
Toolkit filled with tools (=knowledge) but not knowing how to use (=skills and attitude) to use it.
Confirmed in international literature

10. European Quality assurance System

11. The Belgian answer

12. Purpose of this presentation
Belgian Project: “Police a learning organization”
Why radical change of police education system (in Belgium)?
The Belgian answer:
Increasing the quality of police training and education, so it acquires the same education level as public education (change of culture)
Open the windows of the police education system (change of structure)
Opportunities for police education in Europe

13. European quality assurance system for education

14. European Quality assurance System: what?
Central idea = steering on comptence development of recruits
Necessary final competences (to do the police job) for police recruits are defined by the police
Education engages to develop these competences

15. European Quality assurance System: how does it work?
How does the institution and the program achieve the quality standards and guidelines?
Self-evaluation repport
Does the content of the self-evaluation report correspond with the actual school situation?
External peer review:
Visitation panel
Visitation of police school
Global evaluation and ranking of the audited institutions
Final evaluation of quality

16. European Quality assurance System: What?
High-Quality education should meet necessary standards and guidelines of good education
Define purposes of the education (witch competences to achieve with the recruits)
Define an education program that answers the necessary competence development
Education methods (corresponding with purpose)
Good evaluation methods and system (are competences reached by the recruit)
Content of course (up to date, peer reviewed, implementation of research knowledge)
Good manuals/books (peer reviewed?)

17. European Quality assurance System: What?
High-Quality education should meet necessary standards and guidelines of good education
Good education facilities (library, housing of students, sport facilities, ICT, electronic education platforms, …)
Staff:
Motivation and competences of staff (evaluation of staff, HR policy of staff, gender equality, …)
Professionalization of staff
Publication policy and research output of staff
Quality policy intern the school
Results
Evidence (measurement of quality criteria)

18. Increasing quality : the Belgian answer
State of the art of basic training and education
Quality measurement of 10 police schools
General report of basic training and education of French police schools
Report of Belgian police college (police management level)
Presentation in parliament

19. The Parlaiment

20. Increasing quality : the Belgian answer
Some mayor conclusions of the audit
Education level was disappointing
Teaching staff did answer professional education skills !!!
Conservative way of teaching (knowledge telling)
Inadequate teaching methods
Manuals and handbooks were of poor or even bad quality
Absence of quality steering
Education did not answer necessary competence development
Problems with evaluation of competences of recruits
Poor facilities
Absence of research en knowledge management

21. Purpose of this presentation
Belgian Project: “Police a learning organization”
Why radical change of police education system (in Belgium)?
The Belgian answer:
Increasing the quality of police training and education, so it acquires the same education level as public education (change of culture)
Open the windows of the police education system (change of structure)
Opportunities for police education in Europe

22. Diploma’s in stead of certificates

23. Diploma’s in stead of certificates
2nd Purposes of the Belgian project ‘police, a learning organization’:
Development of a new program based on bachelor and master guidelines
Basic vocational training and education program
Bachelor of police studies
Master of Police Science
Make police schools institutions of higher education (independency was necessary)

24. Interne-externe mobiliteit verhogen
Gelijkwaardigheid van diploma’s
Interne-externe mobiliteit verhogen
Betere aansluiting trajecten (diploma’s) regulier onderwijs
Credits – vrijstellingen
Schakelprogramma’s
Europese Uitwisseling
Samenwerking met hoger onderwijs
Evenwicht: Maatschappelijke inbedding - interne socialisatie

25. Diploma’s in stead of certificates
Stimulating labour/education market with the free traffic of police officers
Creating opportunities for career-switches (validation of degree on broader labour market)
Creating opportunities for retraining or further studying
Creating possibilities for installation of a (police) Erasmus
DIA MET FOTO DIPLOMA

26. Police “a learning organization”
Lessons to learn from Belgium?

27. Lessons to learn
The quality assurance system is very good policy tool
Let society in, drop of the police armour!
Engage police education in the higher education system
Need to let go the idea of equality (central steering)
Independency in exchange for accountability (link up with funding)
Important: police defines professional competences to achieve!

28. Opportunities for police education in Europe
Why not develop quality assurance system for police education in Europe
Standards and guidelines for quality of police education (on different levels)
Cfr. European Association for Public Administration Accreditation
Matrix of police competences?
Definition of skills, knowledge and attitude on different levels of general police functions/responsibilities

29. Don’t miss the train!