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In many educational programmes preparing students for professions where human interaction is central, the development of empathic ability is of importance. The aim of this study was to explore attitudes towards the importance of empathy in police work among police students. The intention was also to investigate if attitudes would change over time during education, and whether gender differences could be observed. A modified version of the Jefferson Scale of Physician Empathy was administered to 355 Swedish police students in a mixed method design, including both between- and within-groups comparisons. Attitudes toward the importance of empathy were measured before and after a practical internship. The result showed that the students in general found empathic ability important, but also that they did not change their attitudes over time .The results were conflicting when it came to gender differences. There was no significant result for the between-group sample, but female students reported significantly higher compared to male students in the between-within group. This research is valuable in the discussion on how “soft skills” such as empathic ability can be assessed and developed in students in preparation for professional practice, and can also be useful in educational evaluation and planning.

Since international student achievement surveys were introduced in the 1960s, Sweden has participated in a large number of them. These surveys initially revealed unexpectedly low achievement levels in Sweden relative to other participating countries; however, there were some more positive findings and interpretations in the 1970s and 1980s. The results from the 1990s onwards have been more discouraging for Swedish educational policy and practice. In recent years,some improvements have been seen, although there is some controversy surrounding these interpretations. In Sweden ,international achievement surveys play an important role inframing political discussions about educational outcomes, and they are used for education policy monitoring. Nevertheless, it is hard to establish causal links between particular reforms and such uses of international achievement data. Moreover, the Swedish case illustrates how selective national uptake of these international measures is embedded in and contingent on contextual and historical national circumstances and reform trajectories.

Purpose: Empathy has been widely theorized as an important ability in professions such as policing, in which to perform well individuals require multiple and interacting abilities, not least when resolving conflict situations. Even so, there are few studies investigating how subconstructs of empathy relate to other constructs such as general cognitive ability. The purpose of this paper is to establish, after evaluating psychometric properties, relationships among measures of empathy and cognitive ability in a sample of Swedish police students (n = 157).

Design/methodology/approach: Multiple latent variable models of how the different measures work to predict tasks that can be seen as proxies for the ability to understand another person’s situation and intentions are evaluated to determine the most robust relationship(s) within the data.

Findings: We find support for the psychometric properties reported in previous studies with the used instruments. We also find support for perspective-taking, a cognitive empathy subconstruct predicting the ability to recognize emotions, and also the affective part of empathy, predicting general cognitive ability. These findings are discussed at length in the paper.

Originality/value: This research adds more knowledge to the issue of how general cognitive ability relates to cognitive empathy and other subconstructs of empathy or Theory of Mind.

Högskoleprovet är ett urvalsinstrument i antagningen till universitets- och högskolestudier i Sverige. Tanken med provet är att det ska fungera som ett alternativ för den som är behörig till högre utbildning men som inte har tillräckligt konkurrenskraftiga gymnasiebetyg, och därigenom fungera somen andra chans till högre utbildning när det är konkurrens om studieplatserna. Provet är frivilligt och öppet för alla, och det finns ingen gräns för hur många gånger provet kan tas. Ett provresultat är giltigt i fem åroch om en person har tagit provet flera gånger räknas det bästa resultatet. Provets popularitet varierar, och påverkas av vad som händer inom gymnasieskolan, hur det ser ut på arbetsmarknaden och söktrycket till högre utbildning. Detta gör att antal provtagare och vilka som tar provet skiljer sig åt mellan provtillfällen. Syftet med denna rapport är att beskriva provtagargrupperna våren och hösten 2019 med avseende på sammansättning och resultat. Resultaten presenteras för provtagarna, även uppdelat utifrån kön, ålder och utbildning. I rapporten beskrivs också normeringen av provresultaten och utfallet av normeringen, samt i vilken mån provtagare väljer att ta provet flera gånger och presterar vid upprepade tillfällen.

The SweSAT, or Swedish Scholastic Assessment Test (in Swedish:Högskoleprovet) is a test used in admissions to higher education in Sweden. The test serves as an alternative to high school GPA to give students who donot have a competitive high school GPA, or simply want to maximize their possibility to compete for attractive study positions, a second chance. The testis optional, open for all and can be taken unlimited number of times. This means that the number of test takers and composition of test takers varies between administrations; the popularity of the test to some degree depends on external circumstances such as the situation on the job market, school reforms, etc, that will affect the interest in higher education studies. The aim of this report is to describe the population of test-takers in the spring and autumn of 2019 when it comes to composition and test scores. Results are presented for test-takers of different gender, age and previous education. Additionally, the norming and equating procedure and the outcome of the standardization of the test is described. Test taker performance and repeated test taking is also examined and discussed. 

This chapter gives an account of the admissions system to higher education in Sweden with special focus on the criteria used in the selection process: upper secondary school grades and scores from the Swedish Scholastic Aptitude Test (SweSAT). The Swedish educational system in general and the admissions system specifically have some unique features that may interest the reader. Primarily, the educational system, from preschool to higher education, has a comparatively high degree of centralization. Most higher education institutions are governed and funded by the state. This reflects on both the admissions process and the education that is provided by the universities. Other typical characteristics are strong beliefs in equal opportunities, lifelong learning, and second chances, all which influence the educational system in numerous ways. Higher education selection regulations are pervaded by meritocratic principles, but there are also expectations and demands for diversity in the student body.

As societies are becoming more heterogeneous and complex, the role of the police is becoming more demanding. To fulfil this role, police officers need several widely recognised skills and personal qualities, but less is known about how they are valued by police recruits. Thus, we have examined views of police recruits in six European countries on three competencies or characteristics of known importance for police work: knowledge, leadership, and the ability to form good relations with citizens. We have also explored variations in views of recruits in different organisations and changes in their views during their training. For these purposes, we used survey data collected in the RECPOL project. Since the data were collected from different populations and at different times, the analysis is based on measurement invariance methodology, and one of the aims was to highlight the importance of rigorous appraisal of the quality and comparability of similar survey data using such methods. The results reveal both differences and similarities in views of recruits in the surveyed countries and changes during training. Police culture appears to be a significant factor, as more items in the applied instrument could be validly used in comparisons of recruits in organisations with similar police traditions. The results also showed interesting contrasts, e.g. new recruits in Sweden rated good relations with citizens more highly than recruits in organisations with a more military history, but this pattern changed during training, presumably due to influences of the recruitment process, training and culture within the organisations.

In higher education admissions systems, different principles guide how students are selected when there is competition for study positions or when there is a limit on the number of students that can be admitted. The merit-based approach is very common in which the candidate with the best qualifications, or merits, is accepted. The way merit is defined and measured is, however, a complicated matter and reflects various views on validity and fairness. This chapter describes and discusses principles for the allocation of study positions, focusing on admissions practices where individuals are promoted or selected on the basis of their merits. Applications and challenges of such models, and the consequences for individuals, universities or colleges, and society at large are also discussed.

Purpose

Perspective taking (PT), as part of the empathy concept, is an important ability in the police profession. It is important to understand how PT can be measured, but also whether it changes over time. The purpose of this paper is to compare the outcomes of three different measures of PT, and to see whether police students’ PT changes at different stages of their education.

Design/methodology/approach

Three measures, one self-reported and two objective tests, were administered to Swedish National Police recruits at three distinct stages of their police training. The outcomes of the measures were psychometrically analyzed, after which associations between measures and between-group differences were assessed.

Findings

The result showed that the measures provided results that were in line with what had been reported in earlier studies. There were no significant correlations between the total scores of the three measures, yet students who graded their abilities higher on the subjective instrument did perform better on one of the objective tests. The findings also showed that recruits in later parts of their training self-reported significantly lower PT values than recruits at the beginning of their training.

Originality/value

This study adds knowledge on the ability of different types of instruments to measure PT and how this construct may develop over time among police recruits.