Dr Isa Bartkowiak-théron1
1Tasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies, UTAS, Hobart, Australia
The early critics of police education agree on one topic: in its first inception, police university education was too theoretical or ‘bookish’, and was very disconnected from the field. In unpacking the results of an in-depth longitudinal program evaluation (funded 2016-2017), the data mining of 7 years of police recruit evaluations (qualitative and quantitative), enriched with the views of police coordinators and educators, provides an overview of the impact of curriculum on officers, as well as the receptivity of students towards different teaching styles. This presentation will analyse the various dynamics at stake in making police/academia partnerships work and the perspectives of students on police higher education, debunking some of the long-standing myths that have been documented in literature to date.
Biography:
Isabelle Bartkowiak-Théron is a senior lecturer and senior researcher in theTasmanian Institute of Law Enforcement Studies (TILES) at the University of Tasmania. As the head of police recruit training, she specialises in policing interactions with vulnerable people, police education and the nexus between law enforcement and public health. She is a member of several policing research governance bodies, and is the Australian Crime Prevention Council executive member for Tasmania.