CIPD: “Not all police officers need a degree”

THE Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has criticised proposals for policing to become a graduate profession.

The organisation – the professional body for human resources workers – said the average student now graduates with £44,000 of debt, with 45 per cent of their value not being expected to be recovered, making gaining the qualifications costly to the country.

The system is further undermined by professions hiring people with qualifications to jobs where they do not use the skills they have learned.

In a report, the CIPD examines the College of Policing’s proposals to make policing a graduate profession and says: “Many of these arguments are familiar from the changes within the nursing profession, but from our analysis here, it is even less clear that police officers perform work that requires university degrees.

“Police officers are, by all objective measures provided in this report, non-graduate jobs.”

According to PoliceOracle.com the CIPD notes that 43 per cent of police recruits have degrees, compared to 1979 when less than two per cent did.

The report also says: “If police officers are doing this work now, and it is highly demanding […] clearly it is possible to develop those high-level skills without a degree.”

Rachel Tuffin, from the College of Policing, said the body recognises highly trained and experienced people already work in policing but education and training “to meet future challenges” is not currently offered.

She told PoliceOracle.com: “As the professional body for policing, our priority is to create a system of recognition through a police education qualifications framework to support the education and professional development of officers and staff in the future.

“Officers and staff lack the opportunities to have their skills and experience formally recognised and developed. This report recognises the fact that current education routes in policing lack a formal qualification.

“A Level 6 qualification (degree level) will be accessible in a number of different ways – including higher level apprenticeships and degree-conversion routes, as part of the constable’s education process.”

See the full story here http://www.policeoracle.com/news/staff_association_news/2016/Oct/20/hr-body-says-it-is-wrong-to-require-new-police-officers-to-have-degrees_93234.html