Learning and education

The Centre offers learning and educational opportunities in a variety of ways for the police and policing staff. These can be tailored to Force or individual requirements to improve local training needs and development.

Learning

We offer a range of informal, continuing professional development and bespoke course development opportunities.

Free and informal learning

The Open University offers over one thousand free online courses on its OpenLearn platform. The platform usually receives over 100,000 visits per day from learners who wish to improve their knowledge about relevant topics.

The Department for Policing and CPRL have provided a wide range of learning content about policing on the platform, included content from our Policing degree and courses co-created with our partner forces. 

You can access the courses from our Policing Practice and Leadership Hub on OpenLearn where you can easily search for relevant learning. The link to the Hub is Policing practice and leadership | OpenLearn - Open University. 

The courses on OpenLearn typically consist of between 4 and 10 hours of learning. There are also other resources, such as articles, that are included on the platform. Some forces integrate these courses into CPD plans for their own officers and staff.  

Course production

CPRL have the capacity and capability to assist you with the development of new learning and CPD. This can take three forms:

1. Online Learning - Using our OpenLearn Create platform we can rapidly and cost-effectively develop online learning for Forces and Agencies. Our key strength is our capability to co-create new learning in cooperation with Forces.
2. Face-to-Face teaching - Our Faculty and CPRL academic partners can provide a wide range of classroom-based learning options. In the past we have provided speakers at training events or developed stand-alone 1 or 2 day courses. These can be delivered at a location of your choosing or on campus in Milton Keynes or other OU facilities across the Four Nations & internationally.
3. Blended Learning - Some of our most successful learning provision combines our online learning design capabilities with classroom based activities on blended learning courses. This option usually starts with online pre-event activities before face-to-face teaching. There is also the option to combine this with in-force project-based work.

Training needs and learning consultancy

Our Faculty have considerable experience in policing practice, leadership and management and/or training needs analysis. We can therefore offer a highly customised consultancy service for the Forces. We recently completed a large piece of work for one Force where we thoroughly assessed their training needs for new officers and their supervisors.

This work made a wide-ranging set of recommendations for the integration of new officers into response and community policing roles.

Education

We offer 2 formal routes of qualifications listed below: apprenticeships and research-based postgraduate study.

Apprenticeships

The Centre offers 2 apprenticeship qualification opportunities: Police Community Support Officer and Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship. For more information about what apprenticeships are and how they can benefit you and your Force, please select this link: The Open University Apprenticeships webpage.

Research-based postgraduate study

The Centre offers PhD studentships to police officers and staff who are part of the member Forces. Please select this link for more information: Research-based postgraduate study.