The mandatory delivery of ongoing training within the Police Service of England and Wales and its relationship to the andragogical principle of self-motivation

Abstract

Ongoing training of serving officers in the Police Service of England and Wales is an important function of the organisation. It is necessary to maintain competence of officers and prevent failures of the organisation for which it could be liable.
The Theory of Andragogy is the major theory of adult education and its principles include that organisations should encourage individual self-motivation to promote effective learning.
This thesis was intended to be a mixed methods empirical study combining a staff attitude survey and focus group data to examine the extent police ongoing training fulfils this principle. However due to participation issues the qualitative phase was unable to provide firm conclusions, but does provide us with potential hypotheses for further research.
The survey suggests that current training provision does not appear to take the andragogical principle of self-motivation into account and this is detrimental to the effectiveness of the training. Whilst we can show that making training mandatory does not promote (and may undermine self-motivation), there may also be other factors involved.
The research also suggests that this deficiency is exacerbated by the predominance of e-learning courses. Suggestions to improve motivation to train by embracing andragogical principles are made.

Date of Award	2016
Original language	English