Expansive learning in police firearms training: developing the interface between HE and professional learning

This paper examines the developing relationship between higher education practices and professional training for UK Firearms Officers. In particular, this paper’s analysis challenges some common assumptions about the role of higher education and the drive to professionalization in the context of police Firearms training. The potential for effective partnership in this setting is examined, focusing on how these partnerships might work better and how theories of expansive learning might support them. Its impact is explored through interviews with officers from three UK forces, focusing on the relations between academic and more professionally-oriented learning. Semi-structured interviews were used to gauge the views of 7 trainees, whose responses were analyzed to inform a discussion of workplace learning environments and conclusions about enhanced training and professional practices. The findings suggest that expansive learning environments are one way of developing training provision to meet the needs of increasingly complex firearms roles in the United Kingdom, especially the demand for greater responsibility and effectiveness. We suggest that both higher education and professional training organizations can and should play a part in developing such environments.