Professional Policing
About this course
This course has alternative study modes. Contact the university to find out how the information below might vary.
According to the College of Policing (2018), modern policing is undergoing significant transformation; highly competent Police Constables (PC) are vital to the delivery of an enhanced service to the public.
Being a PC is a physically and intellectually demanding occupation, requiring high levels of emotional intelligence, strong behavioural interpretation skills and an ability to analyse and resolve rapidly evolving events.
The is a pre-join knowledge-based degree in professional policing, to be achieved prior to formal recruitment to the police service.
As an approved provider, forces will be able to recognise the degree as one that is fit for purpose and ensure that students are seen in a positive light on application.
The University works in collaboration with South Wales Police and Gwent Police forces. Historically, a number of our graduates have gone on to work with these forces due to the links that have been made. As a result of this collaboration, we have a number of police trainers that work with the team to deliver extra professional practice and provide HYDRA practical sessions for the students.
The volunteer police programme that has been run with UWTSD and South Wales Police since 2012 provides students with the opportunity to gain valuable practical policing experience which also enhances their progression opportunities.
Modules
Year One – Level 4 (CertHE, DipHE & BSc)
• Criminal Law (20 credits; component pass)
• Evidence-based Approaches to Policing Decisions (20 credits; component pass)
• Learning in the Digital Era (20 credits; component pass; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Legal Process (20 credits; component pass)
• Preparing for Professional Policing (20 credits; component pass)
• Response Policing (20 credits; component pass).
Year Two – Level 5 (DipHE & BSc)
• Changemakers: Creativity and Value Creation (20 credits; optional; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Contemporary Issues within the Police (20 credits; component pass)
• Operational Policing (20 credits; component pass)
• Policing Terrorism (20 credits; component pass)
• Policing the Public (20 credits; component pass)
• Understanding Crime, Justice and Punishment (20 credits; component pass)
• Welsh in the Workplace (20 credits; optional).
Year Three – Level 6 (BSc)
• Conducting Investigations (20 credits; component pass)
• Digital and Operational Policing (20 credits; component pass)
• Independent Project (40 credits; component pass; Graduate Attributes Framework module)
• Organisational Leadership within the Police: Theory into Practice (20 credits; component pass)
• Vulnerability, Welfare and Risk (20 credits; component pass).
Assessment methods
The assessments have been designed by the programme team collectively, to ensure they form a cohesive whole and meet the requirements of the College of Policing’s PEQF curriculum for the Pre-Join Professional Policing degree.
The key purpose of the assessment scheme is to enable students to demonstrate individually that they have met the aims of the programmes and achieved the learning outcomes at the standard required for the level of study. Assessment will also be used to provide feedback to students so as to assist in subsequent learning.
Each module will be assessed summatively through a range of individual assessment tasks but formative methods are also used. Formative assessment is carried out through practical exercises that are undertaken and discussed in class, role-plays, negotiations, presentations by students and the sessions devoted to reviewing exams after these have been marked.
A range of summative assessment methods will be employed. Exams are primarily (but not exclusively) used to test knowledge and understanding.
Coursework and practical assessments also test knowledge and understanding but tend to focus more on the development of cognitive, practical and key skills. Such methods are highly appropriate to the nature of the policing discipline as they facilitate authentic, workplace relevant assessment and practice. Coursework and practicals will be set in a variety of formats; these include:
• Essays
• Reports
• Portfolios
• Research projects
• Presentations.
Tuition fees
Select where you currently live to see what you'll pay:
The Uni
Swansea Business Campus
The Blue Light Academy
What students say
We've crunched the numbers to see if overall student satisfaction here is high, medium or low compared to students studying this subject(s) at other universities.
How do students rate their degree experience?
The stats below relate to the general subject area/s at this university, not this specific course. We show this where there isn’t enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Social policy
Teaching and learning
Assessment and feedback
Resources and organisation
Student voice
Who studies this subject and how do they get on?
Most popular A-Levels studied (and grade achieved)
After graduation
The stats in this section relate to the general subject area/s at this university – not this specific course. We show this where there isn't enough data about the course, or where this is the most detailed info available to us.
Social policy
What are graduates doing after six months?
This is what graduates told us they were doing (and earning), shortly after completing their course. We've crunched the numbers to show you if these immediate prospects are high, medium or low, compared to those studying this subject/s at other universities.
Top job areas of graduates
Just over 1,600 students graduated in social policy in 2015, which makes it one of the smaller social studies subjects. This is a popular subject at Masters level — 750 Masters in social policy were awarded last year - and so a lot of the more sought-after jobs in management and research tend to go to social policy graduates with postgraduate degrees. For those who leave university after their first degree, then jobs in social care (especially community and youth work) and education, the police, marketing and human resources and recruitment are popular — along with local government, although there are fewer of those jobs around than in the past. This degree is a bit less reliant on London for jobs than other similar subjects, so if you'd like to work outside the capital, it might be worth considering - although the jobs still tend to be in big cities.
What about your long term prospects?
Looking further ahead, below is a rough guide for what graduates went on to earn.
Social policy
The graph shows median earnings of graduates who achieved a degree in this subject area one, three and five years after graduating from here.
£14k
£20k
£22k
Note: this data only looks at employees (and not those who are self-employed or also studying) and covers a broad sample of graduates and the various paths they've taken, which might not always be a direct result of their degree.
Explore these similar courses...
This is what the university has told Ucas about the criteria they expect applicants to satisfy; some may be compulsory, others may be preferable.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is the percentage of applicants to this course who received an offer last year, through Ucas.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Course location and department:
This is what the university has told Ucas about the course. Use it to get a quick idea about what makes it unique compared to similar courses, elsewhere.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Teaching Excellence Framework (TEF):
We've received this information from the Department for Education, via Ucas. This is how the university as a whole has been rated for its quality of teaching: gold silver or bronze. Note, not all universities have taken part in the TEF.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This information comes from the National Student Survey, an annual student survey of final-year students. You can use this to see how satisfied students studying this subject area at this university, are (not the individual course).
This is the percentage of final-year students at this university who were "definitely" or "mostly" satisfied with their course. We've analysed this figure against other universities so you can see whether this is high, medium or low.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
This information is from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA), for undergraduate students only.
You can use this to get an idea of who you might share a lecture with and how they progressed in this subject, here. It's also worth comparing typical A-level subjects and grades students achieved with the current course entry requirements; similarities or differences here could indicate how flexible (or not) a university might be.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Post-six month graduation stats:
This is from the Destinations of Leavers from Higher Education Survey, based on responses from graduates who studied the same subject area here.
It offers a snapshot of what grads went on to do six months later, what they were earning on average, and whether they felt their degree helped them obtain a 'graduate role'. We calculate a mean rating to indicate if this is high, medium or low compared to other universities.
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
Graduate field commentary:
The Higher Education Careers Services Unit have provided some further context for all graduates in this subject area, including details that numbers alone might not show
Have a question about this info? Learn more here
The Longitudinal Educational Outcomes dataset combines HRMC earnings data with student records from the Higher Education Statistics Agency.
While there are lots of factors at play when it comes to your future earnings, use this as a rough timeline of what graduates in this subject area were earning on average one, three and five years later. Can you see a steady increase in salary, or did grads need some experience under their belt before seeing a nice bump up in their pay packet?
Have a question about this info? Learn more here