Professional Policing with Foundation Year

I look forward to meeting you during Welcome Week - Welcome Week is an important event for you to attend as you begin your academic journey at CCCU and particularly in your Professional Policing Degree.

We plan to have a host of activities to assist in your integration in the CCCU family. You will meet your Personal Academic Tutor (PAT) who will support you on your academic journey and there will be inductions in relation to your degree, including tours of the Hydra & Justice suite, as well as key central University services such as the Library and Sports Centre. There will also be a presentation from Kent Police on the Special Constable programme.

There will be the chance to attend Student Union welcome fair and we will have representatives from the Kent Police on hand to answer questions about joining the Special Constable programme. You will also have the chance to get to know new students on your course and within our School as we will hold a murder mystery exercise; and end the week with a public talk.

Your Course

​​The teaching and learning in your first semester will consist of two modules.

The module on Exploring Justice is designed to explore the meaning of justice from a range of disciplinary perspective.

The other module, titled The Big Picture, will help you discover where you fit into the big picture of both university life and the wider world, and in which you'll be introduced to the differences between university, school, and workplace training.

​In the second semester, you will be introduced to five modules of various credit sizes.

First, the module called Foundations of Crime and Forensic Investigation (30 credits) will enable you to understand the fundamental principles and techniques which underpin criminal investigations and the role of forensic science within these and their place within the criminal justice system.

Second, the module Interdisciplinary Communication Skills (15 credits) will equip you with the writing, digital, and communication skills essential for many careers that require innovative and interdisciplinary approaches to solving global challenges in a courageous way (e.g., climate change, human rights, population growth, emerging technologies, diseases, etc.).

Finally, you will undertake three bite-sized modules (each worth 5 credits) that are designed to help you settle in and develop core skills such as critical thinking and digital literacy, and where you'll explore ways you can take an active role in creating a more sustainable future. One of these modules, Your Journey to Success at CCCU, is compulsory, while the other two can be selected from a list of nine modules.

​Most modules are taught using a mixture of lectures and seminars where your physical presence in class is expected. While lectures are more didactic in nature, seminars involve more individual or group-based exercises.

Blackboard

​The ideal piece of equipment you need for the course is a laptop. All staff members utilise Blackboard as a Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) to upload learning material or information on assessments for example, or to hold virtual presentations as and when required. For their part, students need to use the Blackboard VLE to upload their assignments. Consequently, a laptop will become a necessary part of your learning experience.​

​​The best resource you should acquire is the latest edition of Blackstone’s Handbook for Policing Students available on most online platforms or CCCU’s bookstore and library.

It will serve you well for the remainder of your degree and beyond in your professional life in law enforcement. It is a resource like no other, covering nearly everything that a junior police constable/investigator should and needs to know about policing. ​

Below are some online resources that you may also wish to look at in preparation for your studies:

• College of Policing
• Police Oracle
• National Police Chiefs' Council - Policing Vision 2025
• Strategic Review of Policing (policingreview.org.uk)