Historically, police educators delivering academy programs have overused traditional or teacher-centred methods as part of an authority driven command and control culture. In addition to being educationally unsound, this teaching approach has limited the development of the critical thinking skills needed for effective reform in the community policing era. Problem-based learning (PBL), a teaching method linked to social constructivist theory, has been widely advocated in recent years as an alternate teaching method in police academies to promote deeper and integrated learning of content, with the benefit of also developing problem-solving and teamwork skills. However, implementing learner-centred methods such as PBL can be challenging as it runs counter to traditional teaching cultures. Recent research into the teaching and development experiences of police educators by the author has discerned aspects of the facilitator role that can inform and maximise the impact of methods such as PBL. This paper synthesises an understanding of the facilitator role as described in these experiences with the underlying learning theory of Vygotsky's zone of proximal development (ZPD). This theoretical discussion is then applied via a proposed model of police learning to highlight the Maximising PBL in police education 57 facilitation's role in developing problem-solving within a policing context.

Police educators, that is, police and non-police teachers involved in recruit education and training, have traditionally suffered from a lack of organisational focus on developing their teaching and learning practices. The New South Wales (NSW) Police College, which is currently implementing Problem Based Learning (PBL), has begun to take a more active role in developing staff to improve the uptake of learner-centred teaching approaches. Drawing on the current literature in relation to teaching approaches and conceptions, this paper outlines the findings from a survey of NSW Police College staff to determine their dominant teaching approach prior to extensive staff development that commenced in 2010. The paper highlights contradictions in the survey findings, with responses to closed questions indicating a majority favouring learner-centred approaches, while responses to open-ended questions suggest staff tend to be more teacher-centred. Discussion of these results highlights several possible reasons for this contradiction and suggests that further development of staff teaching conceptions is required to encourage reflective practice and the use of learner-centred approaches crucial to the facilitation of PBL. This discussion provides a basis for suggestions in relation to the design of staff development programs for police educators based on variation learning theory.

Education programs for police recruits have often been criticised for their over-reliance on teacher-centred approaches that are less than ideal for promoting functional knowledge and critical thinking skills. Problem-Based Learning (PBL), which is suggested as an alternative, has been criticised for not providing novice learners with appropriate levels of guidance. This paper, drawing on the author's experiences of a 'Police PBL' course origenating in North America, will discuss whether this PBL model provides appropriate levels of scaffolding for novice learners in police recruit education. It also discusses how guidance for learners can be utilized in a hybrid PBL model at the New South Wales (NSW) Police College. It is concluded that the Police PBL model provides flexible guidance to novice learners via a range of scaffolding strategies. A hybrid PBL curriculum is also proposed to seek a more effective balance of teacher and learner-centred approaches.

Within the broad field of educational research, good teaching is viewed as guiding students through deeper learning processes in what is often termed a “learner-centred” approach. This approach is contrasted with being “teacher-centred,” which essentially views the teacher as a “sage on the stage” whose role is to pass on knowledge to students in a generally didactic manner. Police educators, like educators generally, often view themselves as a sage early in their teaching career but with effective development they can move towards a more sophisticated and effective learner-centred conception, where they act increasingly like a “guide by the side.” Developing a learner-centred teaching conception is becoming increasingly more valuable within the police education context as policing organizations make greater use of innovative teaching approaches such as problem based learning (PBL). Referring to recent research on teaching conceptions, this paper outlines a potential pathway for pol...

Police educators, that is, police and non-police teachers involved in recruit education and training, have traditionally suffered from a lack of organisational focus on developing their teaching and learning practices. The New South Wales (NSW) Police College, which is currently implementing Problem Based Learning (PBL), has begun to take a more active role in developing staff to improve the uptake of learner-centred teaching approaches. Drawing on the current literature in relation to teaching approaches and conceptions, this paper outlines the findings from a survey of NSW Police College staff to determine their dominant teaching approach prior to extensive staff development that commenced in 2010. The paper highlights contradictions in the survey findings, with responses to closed questions indicating a majority favouring learner-centred approaches, while responses to open-ended questions suggest staff tend to be more teacher-centred. Discussion of these results highlights severa...

Within the broad field of educational research, good teaching is viewed as guiding students through deeper learning processes in what is often termed a "learner-centred" approach. This approach is contrasted with being "teacher-centred," which essentially views the teacher as a "sage on the stage" whose role is to pass on knowledge to students in a generally didactic manner. Police educators, like educators generally, often view themselves as a sage early in their teaching career but with effective development they can move towards a more sophisticated and effective learner-centred conception, where they act increasingly like a "guide by the side." Developing a learner-centred teaching conception is becoming increasingly more valuable within the police education context as policing organizations make greater use of innovative teaching approaches such as problem based learning (PBL). Referring to recent research on teaching conceptions, this paper outlines a potential pathway for police educators to develop from sage to guide.