What does it mean to have a degree?

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elfpint Dec 2016 1:35pm, 15 Dec 2016 21,843 posts	0 elfpint I presume it is not about how to bend your legs correctly and say 'ello, 'ello, 'ello ChrisHB. I would imagine they would want to introduce some psychology, how to be a part of the community, how to diffuse situations etc.
ChrisHB Dec 2016 1:45pm, 15 Dec 2016 14,259 posts	0 ChrisHB Well, I hope so. I must admit I want a degree to be a general sort of education, not focused on one job. For sure I want people to have the best training for any job, but I don't agree with making everything a "degree". I expect London taxi drivers have worked harder to gain the "knowledge" than I have ever worked, but I do not want them to get a BA for it. I expect they will, within the next few years if they're not replaced by computers.
Wobbling Dec 2016 1:55pm, 15 Dec 2016 4,296 posts	0 Wobbling But the degrees held up to be the pinnacle of education are vocational - medicine, law and theology. I would agree not all jobs require a degree but policing is a very complex realm and I think it right that cops are recognised for the skills they are expected to gain in order to do their job. It's a professional environment and codifying the professional requirements can only help displace some of the misconceptions that exist about policing. It's also worth noting some forces require their recruits to pay for training. If you're paying for a qualification, it's nice to have a bit of paper at the end of it.
Raptors Claws are coming to town Dec 2016 3:07pm, 15 Dec 2016 35,024 posts	0 Raptors Claws are coming to town Call it whatever you like, if this is going to be a step towards ensuring that the skills required for policing are accorded the respect they deserve, I'm very much in favour provided - and I believe this was an issue with nursing (and with pharmacy long before) - the careers of currently-serving, pre-degree officers are not hampered by the fact that their training was not called a degree.
ChrisHB Dec 2016 3:08pm, 15 Dec 2016 14,260 posts	0 ChrisHB Really. Well if they're paying for it... Perhaps if the officer whose words I first quoted (now removed from the BBC news story) had thought more carefully about what he said, I would have been more accepting of the notion. The story as it now stands is unexceptionable.
Sam Vimes Boots Dec 2016 3:15pm, 15 Dec 2016 609 posts	0 Sam Vimes Boots Don't remember careers in nursing being hampered by not having a degree. I was an itu charge nurse without one. The BBC article says: The new qualification rules will not impact on current officers, unless they apply for a promotion to assistant chief constable or above.
Wobbling Dec 2016 3:50pm, 15 Dec 2016 4,297 posts	0 Wobbling My aunt went into nursing when she was 19 and later on studied for a degree and a masters (bit of kudos to my aunt, who of three siblings didn't go to a grammar school and wasn't considered that bright, and is now the only one of the three with a degree) because she saw the direction of travel in nursing. I would think there are very few senior cops who don't have a degree of some kind or another. My current chief came into policing from university, but the chief before him studied while working as a cop to get an MBA. Of the seven officers in our senior management team, I know four of them have studied for masters in the past decade. Cambridge University runs a masters programme for police officers, as do several other very good universities. I think yesterday's announcement is pulling together work that is already underway in all forces to not only have a professional workforce, but to ensure the world they work in knows that they are too.
Barbara the Rev-Nosed Reindeer Dec 2016 3:51pm, 15 Dec 2016 3,205 posts	0 Barbara the Rev-Nosed Reindeer It's a bit like the comparison between now and "back in the day", when only 5% of people went to university. Does the fact that so many more earn degrees now mean they are devalued... or that the population on the whole is better educated? Whichever way you cut it, some of the benefit of a degree is the knowledge and skills you acquire by working for it... and some is in the scarcity value. Which is not a reason not to make them available to more people. My question would be - can this new policing degree be delivered and assessed in such a way as to make it accessible to those who are not in the least bit academically minded but would nevertheless make excellent police officers.
SteveC amid the winters snow Dec 2020 9:17pm, 11 Dec 2020 265 posts	0 SteveC amid the winters snow Today's degree is an inflation-adjusted ology. —Maureen Lipman.