Reflexivity in Police Education

Abstract

This interview study of Swedish police field-training officers (FTOs) and their conceptions of the task of mentoring and assessing police probationers exemplifies how a field-training task can be understood as a learning incentive for professional development amongst the FTOs. In ten individual, in-depth, interviews, the FTOs illustrate how their educationalpractices generate new perspectives on their policing and mentoring roles due to the incen-tives for reflecting on the context related to the training task. Furthermore, the findingsdisclose the importance of proper prerequisites in understanding the pedagogies of thefield-training task, and thus creating an ethical and qualified learning environment. In thetradition of qualitative and exploratory studies, the article initiates a discussion about howa pedagogical and educational perspective on professional development can be applied toother vocations and professions.