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  • 1.
    Haake, Ulrika
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Lindberg, Ola
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Doing gender and professional identity: inclusion and exclusion of female civilians in criminal investigations2023In: Policing & society, ISSN 1043-9463, E-ISSN 1477-2728, Vol. 33, no 8, p. 893-907Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    The number of civilian crime investigators (CIs) has been increasing among the police, a trend that is called civilianisation. However, conflicts have arisen from perceptions that civilian CIs undermine professional police efforts. The purpose of this study was to investigate the intersection of doing gender and professional identity in narratives on inclusion and/or exclusion in CIs' professional practices. Because professional background and gender composition change with the civilianisation of the police, this study included interviews with 48 female CIs from Sweden. The study showed that aspects of belongingness and uniqueness interact in complex ways and conclude that the intersection of being a civilian CI and a woman is at the core, especially in narratives on exclusion. Taken together, this means that civilian CIs' narratives are important to learn from and can help the police become aware of obstacles to and opportunities for civilian employees' full participation in the criminal investigation practice. Aspects of belongingness and uniqueness are discussed to contribute knowledge of how gender and professional identity can be redone in a way that helps reduce future barriers to full inclusion of female and civilian CIs in police work.

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  • 2.
    Haake, Ulrika
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Lindberg, Ola
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Unravelling Meritocracy: Inclusion and Exclusion in Recruiting Academics2018In: Abstracts: Inclusion and Exclusion, Resources for Educational Research?, EERA, European Educational Research Association , 2018Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Contribution: Few things in organizations are as clearly including or excluding as recruitment procedures. Through these often standardized methods of selection between candidates for a position, an employer chooses who is believed to be up for the task and who is not. Research on candidate selection is almost exclusively prescriptive. However, there is wide recognition that the labour market and selection of employees is biased towards, for instance, class, gender and race (Horverak, et al., 2013; Moss-Racusin, et al., 2012). Even applicants seem to be aware of such biases (Morrison, 2014). Theoretically, this has been explained in terms of similarity-attraction of recruiters and employers (Graves & Powell, 1995) or a social “organisation fit” between the individual and the organisation (Dafou, 2009). However, little research exists on how selection is actually done in practice (Bolander & Sandberg, 2013) and even less from critical perspectives on how these power relations work in the practical recruitment settings of the workplace.

    This paper reports a case study of the academic context and the selection of Swedish full professors in Education. In Sweden, government directions from 2017 stipulate that all HEIs need to gender mainstream their organisations. Especially recruitment and career development is focused in the directions since the number of female full professors still are perceived to be too low (27%) (UKÄ, 2017). Previous gender equality studies of Swedish HE has shown a complexity in understanding how gender inequality in academia works (Haake, 2011; Silander, Haake & Lindberg, 2013).

    We chose this case of academia partly for our familiarity of context, but even more on the basis that academic recruitment professes to be, if not completely, as objective and meritocratic as possible. In addition, as independent experts are required to give a detailed argument for preferring one candidate over the other, we have access to documents laying out the reasons a person is considered more or less suited for a position. Hence, in the paper we ask the following research question: How is academic competence argued for and what are the ideals (normative principles) that guide these arguments? In what way could these principles be seen to include or exclude academics according to diversity measures like gender and ethnicity?   

    We use the theory of practice developed by Schatzki (2001) and operationalized to recruitment procedures by Lindberg and Rantatalo (2015). In this case, competence is an “inferred potential for desirable activity in a given practice”. This potential is dependent on a number of qualities that involved parts in the recruitment believe that the applicant possesses. These qualities are inferred through a series of symbolic representations in the application procedure (or at the workplace).

    By analysis of ideals, qualities and symbols, we add to the knowledge of this phenomenon. As meritocracy is often seen as something intrinsically good, we wish to critically examine how a meritocratic system works in terms of exclusion and inclusion. For instance, there are previous studies suggesting that meritocratic systems might be more biased than other systems (Castilla & Benard, 2010). Thus, we pay particular attention to how qualities and symbols might lead to subtle and unintentional discrimination of women and ethnic minorities. While there are studies on recruitment in academia, previous efforts have mostly been studied with the aid of bibliometrics or large quantitative materials. These studies show that gender (e.g. Castilla & Benard, 2010), ethnicity (Alon & Tienda, 2007) and class (Bozionelos, 2014) works as discriminatory factors in academia’s recruitment procedures. However, there is little insight in how and why this happens, which stresses the importance of qualitative studies on the arguments for selection of candidates in a highly meritocratic system.

    Method: To study the recruitment of full Professors, our data collection includes document studies of 10 recruitment processes of full Professors within the field of Education at Swedish universities. More in detail, our selection targets ten recent recruitments processes in which there were more than two eligible candidates for a position. In relation to these processes, we analyse a ‘chain’ of policy documents that in different ways inform the procedure. Examples of documents include admission requirements from faculty, job advertisements furnished by HR, instructions to expert referee’s, and the written statements on each of the applicants based on the referees assessment of competencies. Due to a principle of public access in the public sector in Sweden, access to these documents is granted and each recruitment procedure involves a multitude of documents. Documents are analysed in two steps. In the first step, the concepts of symbols and qualities are used as a guiding analytical lens. We code the material based on applicants qualities, which we define as traits, abilities or dispositions of character that by expert referees are defined along the lines of being wanted (desirable) or less wanted/unwanted (undesirable). Furthermore, we analyse the associated symbols that relate to qualities. Symbols are, for the purpose of this study, defined as concrete manifestations of activities that exemplify qualities. For example, a trait such as being communicative (an often desirable quality for an applicant), can in a recruitment process be displayed by an applicant who can show participation in an extensive research community or who has many keynote presentations at scientific conferences (symbolisations of the quality). Working in this way, the objective of this analysis is to visualise how symbols relate to inferred qualities. In the second step of the analysis, the previously identified qualities and associated symbols are analysed in light of each other as constituents of practical ideals, which function to govern and socially differentiate applicants from each other in the given context. In sum, this study design gives insights into how subtle mechanisms of social differentiation lead to a potential inclusion or exclusion of applicants that displays certain competencies and dispositions of character. With this analysis as a basis, issues such as bias in the meritocratic recruitment process can be addressed.

    Expected Outcomes: This abstract reports on a study that is conducted during the spring of 2018 and from which a preliminary analysis will be presented during the 2018 ECER conference. Of interest is to see, among other things, how different skills relate to each other and how different dispositions of applicants’ character (qualities) are operationalized on a symbolic level. For instance, one question we aim to pursue is how “research skills” relate to “teaching skills” among applicants and how these skills are exemplified in applications. Both are described to be of equal importance for professorates (according to the document-chain until the expert reviews and rankings). Another interesting aspect is to see how concepts such as “quantity” and “quality” operate to differentiate applicants. Is the length of the publication list and productivity in form of most publications in shortest time (a symbol of competitiveness) favoured in relation to quality aspects of research? Furthermore, how are social dispositions among applicants valued as desirable/less desirable? For instance how are inferences made regarding what it means to be a good research leader or supervisor? From the results, a discussion of inclusion and exclusion of women and those of other ethnicity will be conducted.

  • 3.
    Haake, Ulrika
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Lindberg, Ola
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Grimm, Frida
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Siljebo, Josef
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Bäck, Thomas
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Leadership in swedish public organizations: a research review in education and care2023In: Nordic Journal of Working Life Studies, E-ISSN 2245-0157, Vol. 13, no 2, p. 63-85Article, review/survey (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This article is a review of recent Swedish leadership research in two large public-sector areas: education and care. By comparing and contrasting research in these areas, we unveil the specifics and commonalities of research in public-sector leadership. We reviewed research articles from 2018 to 2020 and analyzed theories used, data-gathering methods employed, and topics researched. The results show some fundamental differences between the two areas. Compared to research on education, research on care is to a larger extent non-theoretical and is often focused on change management, quality assurance, and leaders’ roles in employee health. Conversely, studies on education are theory driven and mostly focused on leaders’ roles in learning and shared leadership. We discuss the state of Swedish public leadership research and make suggestions for mutual learning and moving forward in this research field.

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  • 4.
    Haake, Ulrika
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Lindberg, Ola
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Police leaders make poor change agents: leadership practice in the face of a major organisational reform2017In: Policing & society, ISSN 1043-9463, E-ISSN 1477-2728, Vol. 27, no 7, p. 764-778Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    The present article examines expectations on police leaders during major organisational change pressures. Based on policy analysis and interviews with 28 police leaders, the paper seeks to answer the following question: How do police leaders' accounts of leadership practice relate to expectations from higher ranks (above), subordinates (below) and police policies concerning leadership? The results of the paper indicate that police leaders are squeezed into a position between demands from above (top  management) and demands from below (lower organisational tiers). Some of the perceived expectations and practiced leadership actions are also gendered. For example, women feel the need to prove their credibility as leaders and to act in both a caring and daring manner, something that is not evident for male police leaders. Furthermore, the material indicates a considerable mismatch between the different sets of demands expressed in interviews and expectations regarding leadership expressed in police policy discourse, wherein core values and leadership criteria are articulated. In conclusion, the findings indicate a discrepancy between official rhetoric and practice, where the leadership constructed at a policy level deviates from leadership constructed in practice. This discrepancy is argued to represent an effective barrier for change initiatives, and hence the idea that police leaders will be able to function as agents of change promoting organisational reform is highly uncertain.

  • 5.
    Haake, Ulrika
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Lindberg, Ola
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Reality strikes back: discrepancies between police leadership policy and practice in times of uncertainty and organizational turmoil2014Conference paper (Refereed)
  • 6.
    Hällgren, Markus
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE), Business Administration. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Lindberg, Ola
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Sensemaking in detective work: the social nature of crime investigation2021In: International Journal of Police Science and Management, ISSN 1461-3557, E-ISSN 1478-1603, Vol. 23, no 2, p. 119-132Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    In this article, we contribute to the knowledge on police detectives' work practices, and report how police detectives make sense of casework in a social manner. As our research question, we address the ways in which detective work can be understood as a social process. To target this question, we conducted an ethnographic study that examines how detectives who work with domestic violence and high-volume crimes strive to frame and understand events in everyday investigative practice. The data consist of approximately 200 hours of ethnographic data and interviews from two departments in a Swedish police station. The results indicate that detectives' sensemaking of casework took place through two principal practices: a concluding practice and a supporting practice. Furthermore, the findings show that detectives' work is highly social and procedural. This suggests that detectives' work practice is of a social nature and that contacts between investigators are important to take into account in the organization of an investigative department.

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  • 7.
    Karp, Staffan
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Kohlström, Kirsi
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Padyab, Mojgan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Centre for Demographic and Ageing Research (CEDAR).
    Police students' values of enduring and emerging competence areas in police education2020In: The Making of a Police Officer: Comparative Perspectives on Police Education and Recruitment / [ed] Tore Bjorgo and Marie-Louise Damen, Routledge, 2020, 1, p. 143-169Chapter in book (Refereed)
  • 8.
    Karp, Staffan
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Berättelser från polispraktiken: hur studenters upplevelser och erfarenheter kan bidra till utvecklingen av professionellt kunnande2020In: Reflektion som professionsverktyg inom polisen / [ed] Staffan Karp och Oscar Rantatalo, Umeå: Enheten för polisutbildning, Umeå universitet , 2020, p. 100-110Chapter in book (Other academic)
  • 9.
    Karp, Staffan
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Rantatalo, OscarUmeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Reflektion som professionsverktyg inom polisen2020Collection (editor) (Other academic)
    Abstract [sv]

    Syftet med denna antologi är att bidra med kunskap om hur reflektion kan användas som ett verktyg för professionell utveckling och lärande inom polisens verksamhet. Antologin är från början sprungen ur ett forskningsprojekt finansierat av forskningsrådet FORTE om reflektion inom polisen. I antologin beskrivs forskning om reflektion inom polisen och hur reflektion kan införlivas i lärande och yrkespraktik. Således är den användbar i polisens grundutbildning, för utbildningsanordnare, för lärare vid polisutbildningar och för dem inom polisen som arbetar med vidareutbildning i olika former. Även om boken i första hand riktar sig till ovanstående grupper kan den också vara intressant för polisforskare, inte minst då många av kapitelförfattarna är engagerade i polisforskning och då ett antal av kapitlen beskriver forskningsprojekt av olika slag. Genom att antologin är rik på exempel kan den också användas i utbildningssammanhang utanför polisens område.

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  • 10.
    Karp, Staffan
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Reflektion som professionsverktyg inom polisen: var står vi och vart är vi på väg2020In: Reflektion som professionsverktyg inom polisen / [ed] Staffan Karp och Oscar Rantatalo, Umeå: Enheten för polisutbildning, Umeå universitet , 2020, p. 174-183Chapter in book (Other academic)
  • 11.
    Karp, Staffan
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Varför en antologi om reflektion?2020In: Reflektion som professionsverktyg inom polisen / [ed] Staffan Karp och Oscar Rantatalo, Umeå: Enheten för polisutbildning, Umeå universitet , 2020, p. 12-14Chapter in book (Other academic)
  • 12.
    Kihlberg, Robert
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE), Business Administration.
    Lindberg, Ola
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Näsholm, Malin
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE), Business Administration.
    Moderators as change agents in the Swedish Police reform: a sensemaking perspective on employee-driven developmentManuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
  • 13.
    Kihlberg, Robert
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE).
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Motivating Police Reform Through Multimodal Sensegiving How Change Was Promoted Through Videos in the Swedish Police Reorganisation2022In: Nordic Journal of Studies in Policing, E-ISSN 2703-7045, Vol. 9, no 1, p. 1-18Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    In this paper, we contribute to understanding of how video films were used by change management as a communication strategy to portray and promote the organisational reform of the Swedish police in 2015. Based on a multimodal analysis of 44 video films, we theorise how the Swedish police change management “gave sense” to the transformation and future state of the police service. The findings show how change was motivated through descriptions of contexts, the problematisation of the present situation, prescriptions of the change process, and forecasts of an ideal future status for the Swedish police. These messages were reinforced visually using stereotypical images and by layering multiple modes of communication. The paper contributes to the literature on organisational change and police reform by describing how change can be motivated and legitimised through persuasive portrayals of the present and the future. We conclude that multimodal communication through video is a powerful technique for sensegiving, with the potential to construct credible, but not necessarily accurate, accounts of organisational change.

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  • 14.
    Kohlström, Kirsi
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Karp, Staffan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Padyab, Mojgan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work.
    Policy ideals for a reformed education: How police students value new and enduring content in a time of change2017In: Journal of Workplace Learning, ISSN 1366-5626, E-ISSN 1758-7859, Vol. 29, no 7/8, p. 524-536Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Purpose This study aims to examine how subgroups within a cohort of Swedish police students value different types of curricula content (i.e. new competencies versus enduring ones) in the context of the currently transforming landscape of basic police training.

    Design/methodology/approach Drawing on a Swedish national survey (N = 369), the study examined variations in how students value new versus enduring police curricula content based on sociodemographic factors. Specifically, factors such as student age and gender and the institutional arrangements of education were tested using an independent t test.

    Findings The study identified differences in values based on gender. Female students valued competencies such as communication, flexibility, diversity and decisiveness as more important in an educational setting than did males. Fewer differences were found in relation to institutional arrangement, and in-house students valued flexibility and communication skill as more important for educational curricula compared to university-based students. No differences were found in relation to age.

    Originality/value This study adds knowledge to the question of how changes in occupational education policy develop in practice. More specifically, the study explored how students in educational programmes value new versus enduring competencies and whether differences can be identified based on sociodemographic factors. These questions are important because they expose sociodemographic conditions that influence how students value policy-driven skills versus enduring ones.

  • 15.
    Kohlström, Kirsi
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Karp, Staffan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Padyab, Mojgan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work.
    Policy Ideals for a Reformed Education: Police Students' Occupational Attitudes in a Time of Change2015In: 9th International Conference on Researching Work and Learning: 9-11 December 2015, School of the Arts Singapore, 2015, p. 1-15Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This paper examines discrepancies between educational objectives expressed in police vocational education policy and police recruits' views on knowledge and anticipatory occupational expectations. From a global perspective, police institutions in many countries are currently undergoing substantial professional reorientations in light of societal developments such as transforming demographics, increased societal diversity, changing public demands on police service delivery and crime patterns that are increasingly transnational and globalised. In sum, these developments have been suggested to be leading to increased complexity in the police's fulfilment of their professional obligations and new demands on police professional knowledge. In the context of police education, these shifts are visible on a policy level wherein experiential approaches to policing are increasingly substituted for problem-oriented and evidence-based policing which builds on theory, evaluation and utilisation of research. On the level of police educational curricula, traditional subjects, such as law enforcement, investigation and crime control, are increasingly complemented with subjects such as cultural awareness, communication and gender and diversity training. Given these broad developments, the present study investigates how the uptake of new educational ideas and practices is perceived by students undergoing police education. Previous research has put forth that educational content at variance with the occupational practices and culture of the police runs a considerable risk of being disapproved by police recruits and by extension has little or no impact on student learning. Drawing on a Swedish national survey (n=369) targeting Swedish police students in their fourth term of police education, the present paper investigates discrepancies between policy objectives and students attitudes towards 'new' subjects. The survey measures students values and attitudes towards different areas of police educational content. The results indicate that skill areas such as communication, flexibility and diversity are considered more important to emphasise in education by female students than male students. Based on the results, the authors discuss how ideas regarding policing which are promoted on a policy level may influence the development of new kinds of skills in police practice. Discrepancies between official rhetoric and police educational practice are discussed in terms of how such gaps may counteract the development of new kinds of expertise and knowledge within the occupational community of the police.

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  • 16.
    Lindberg, Ola
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Competence in professional practice: a practice theory analysis of police and doctors2015In: Human Relations, ISSN 0018-7267, E-ISSN 1741-282X, Vol. 68, no 4, p. 561-582Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This article outlines a theoretical understanding of competence as the inferred potential for desirable activity within a professional practice. By employing the concept of ‘teleoaffective structure’ as developed in Schatzki’s practice theory, our study investigates how notions of competent and excellent professionals are defined in two separate practices in which highly qualified professionals share formal qualifications. The study is comparative and based on a total of 39 interviews carried out in the Swedish National Police Counter-Terrorist Unit (police) and with recruiters of medical interns (doctors) in Swedish healthcare. Results indicate that, despite obvious differences between the professional groups in the study, some remarkable similarities are apparent in what are regarded as high levels of competence. Surprisingly, technical expertise was downplayed as an indicator of high levels of competence in both practices. The professional groups emphasized flexibility, drive/ambition and social competence, as well as the ability to balance between being highly capable and being humble before others, including other groups of professionals as characteristics of excellence. Based on the results, the authors discuss a ‘logic of excellence’ that can be used to describe mechanisms of competence differentiation in professional practices from a practice theory perspective.

  • 17.
    Lindberg, Ola
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Graduate employability as social suitability: professional competence from a practice theory perspective2017In: Graduate Employability in Context: Theory, Research and Debate  / [ed] Michael Tomlinson & Leonard Holmes, London: Palgrave Macmillan, 2017, 1, p. 255-272Chapter in book (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    What makes an employer decide in a graduate’s favour when applying for a new job? This question is urgent and important for many graduates who are hoping to get the upper hand in competing for their first job, yet research can tell us little about how to answer it. In an effort to inquire into this question, the following chapter outlines an understanding of graduate employability based in workplace practices. Practice theory is an umbrella term for a number of theories and concepts focusing on the importance of activity for understanding the social world. ‘The practice turn’ in social science seeks to bridge some problematic dualisms (such as actor-structure) in other theories. In the version of practice theory that will be presented below, we draw upon the theorisation presented by Theodore Schatzki (2001, 2005) and our previous work within this framework (Lindberg and Rantatalo 2015), in an effort to translate practice-theory concepts into research tools for examining graduate employability.

  • 18.
    Lindberg, Ola
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Haake, Ulrika
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Police leadership practice in times of uncertainty and organisational turmoil2015In: Working and learning in times of uncertainty: challenges to adult, professional and vocational education / [ed] Sandra Bohlinger, Ulrika Haake, Christian Helms Jørgensen, Hanna Toiviainen, Andreas Wallo, Rotterdam: Sense Publishers , 2015, p. 103-116Chapter in book (Refereed)
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  • 19.
    Lindberg, Ola
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Haake, Ulrika
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Workplace learning, power, and practice: modes of participation for civilian criminal investigators2023In: Vocations and Learning, ISSN 1874-785X, E-ISSN 1874-7868Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This article aims to contribute to the theorization of power in workplace learning. We examined the ways in which civilian investigators participate in criminal investigation practice, and how these modes related to the social ordering in the police organization. Civilians, mostly women and well educated, are being hired in large numbers to help with the shortage of staff within the Swedish police organization. We analysed 71 interviews with both civilians and police officers, covering views on the nature of investigative work, the introduction of civilians, and their competence. The interviews were analysed in an abductive process using a practice theory outlook on power and participation. The results show four different modes of participation for civilians that have vastly different consequences for their integration into the police. These modes are dependent on how civilian competence is viewed, whether civilians are viewed as different or similar, and whether they are considered competent at investigating crimes. We conclude that the struggle to define competent practice is at the core of understanding the relationship between learning and power.

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  • 20.
    Lindberg, Ola
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Hällgren, Markus
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE), Business Administration.
    Making sense through false syntheses: Working with paradoxes in the reorganization of the Swedish police2017In: Scandinavian Journal of Management, ISSN 0956-5221, E-ISSN 1873-3387, Vol. 33, no 3, p. 175-184Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This article analyses how a working group in the Swedish police made sense of their task in the wake of reorganization. It aims to describe how inputs from top management prompted processes of sensemaking within the group, and their subsequent results in responding to latent paradoxes. The police group’s work was studied through participant observation, interviews and documents. The findings illustrate how the group made latent paradoxes salient and how they worked with these paradoxes to ultimately make them latent again by what we call “false syntheses”. Through this process, the group achieved its task, but the paradoxes were reproduced, made latent and pushed away to another part of the organization. Thus, sensemaking transforms paradoxes from latent to salient, from macro to micro levels of the organization.

  • 21.
    Lindberg, Ola
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Stenling, Cecilia
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Police bodies and police minds: professional learning through bodily practices of sport participation2017In: Studies in Continuing Education, ISSN 0158-037X, E-ISSN 1470-126X, Vol. 39, no 3, p. 371-387Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    The purpose of this paper is to contribute to the literature concerned with bodily perspectives on professional learning by reporting on a study of Swedish police officers’ sport participation as a form of occupational learning. The study seeks to answer how ideals of work practice and sport participation intersect, how professional learning is channelled through sport participation, and how such bodily practices might have excluding effects on professional participation. Using a practice theory framework, the Schatzkian concept of teleoaffective structure guides the analysis. Sixteen interviews were conducted with police officers who practice police sports. The analysis targeted symbolic manifestations of teleoaffectivity, and the findings indicate five overlapping ideals between sport and police practice. In addition, one police specific ideal was constructed. Based on these findings, we discuss how professionals learn by participation in practices not directly related to the work in question, and how such learning includes and excludes from participation.

  • 22.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    A framework for analyzing incident command in the Swedish police organization: Methodological concepts and suggestions on method2009In: Nordic Police Research Seminar, Oslo Politihögskola. Norway, September, 2009, Oslo: Oslo Politihögskola , 2009Conference paper (Refereed)
  • 23.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    A framework for team-level reliability through a lens of collaboration2012In: International Journal of Emergency Management, ISSN 1471-4825, E-ISSN 1741-5071, Vol. 8, no 3, p. 264-279Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    The aim of this paper is to develop a behavioural framework for team-level reliability assessment in which different forms of collaboration are used as measures. The paper draws on current theorising on collaboration wherein the concept is divided into a regulatory and a social dimension. This definition of collaboration is further related to research on team-level reliability, and principles and conditions for reliable collaboration are proposed. The framework is tested empirically in an explorative observation study conducted in the context of a police operational command centre during large-scale critical incident management. In the study, frequencies and variance in interpersonal collaboration are examined. Further, an assessment of team-level reliability is conducted based on the findings. The paper concludes by discussing the potential for using collaboration as an empirical framework for the assessment of team-level reliability.

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  • 24.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Collaborative work processes in the police field backroom: observations of operational command and control training2010In: Nordic police research seminar, Umeå University, November 17-18, 2010, Umeå: Umeå University , 2010Conference paper (Refereed)
  • 25.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Ledning, ledarskap och teknikanvändande inom polisiär insatsledning: Ett diskussionsmaterial2011Report (Other academic)
  • 26.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Macho Monsters and Nice Guys: —Media Representations and Identity Work in a Specialised Police Tactical UnitManuscript (preprint) (Other academic)
  • 27.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Media representations and police officers’ identity work in a specialised police tactical unit2016In: Policing & society, ISSN 1043-9463, E-ISSN 1477-2728, Vol. 26, no 1, p. 97-113Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    A growing body of research has highlighted how media representations of policing and contemporary police work are interconnected and influence each other. An under- explored dimension of this relation is how mediated representations of policing transfer meaning to police officers’ sensemaking of their occupational identities. With the aim of advancing knowledge on this issue, the following article reports a case study of a tactical police unit and explores what roles media representations of the unit play in serving police officers’ narrative ‘identity work’ relative to their work and their organisation. Methodologically, the article draws on an analysis of newspaper articles about the studied police unit and interviews with police officers working within the unit. The findings indicate that positively biased representations depicting the unit as heroic and elite had self-enhancing effects on police officers’ identifications, whilst critically oriented media narratives spurred reframing and projection of local counter- images of occupational work identity. These findings add to the present understanding of how the media affect real-life policing, by highlighting how these representations convey meanings to police practice and occupational identification.

  • 28.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Polisiär cykelpatrullering: en kunskapsöversikt och explorativ fallstudie om trafiksäkerhetsarbete i gång- och cykelnätverk2016Report (Other academic)
    Abstract [sv]

    Följande rapport undersöker erfarenheter och möjliga tillämpningsområden för polisiär patrullering med cykel. Specifikt undersöks frågan om hur cykelpatruller kan arbeta för ökad säkerhet inom cykel och gångtrafiknätverk i storstadsområden. Studien är explorativ till sin art och fokuserar på hur poliser med erfarenhet av cykelpatrullering uppfattar metodens inverkan på sociala normer, regelefterlevnad och riskbeteenden i cykel- och gångtrafiknätverk. Metodologiskt är studien kvalitativ och baseras på intervjuer med poliser, observationer av cykelpatrullering samt videodokumentation av polisens trafiksäkerhetsarbete med cyklar. Resultaten tyder på att cykelpatrullering är en lovande och innovativ åtgärd för att fokusera gångoch cykelnätverk i polisens arbete. De intervjuade poliserna rapporterade cykelpatrullering innebar ökad tillgänglighet och täta kontakter med allmänheten. Poliserna uppgav att deras närvaro hade en normativ effekt på beteenden hos cyklister och fotgängare. I rapporten diskuteras hur polisiära cykelpatruller kan vara en viktig källa för tyst kunskap om gång och cykeltrafik. Rekommenderade områden för fortsatta studier är hur cykelpatrullering kan riktas mot högriskområden, så kallade trafik ”hot spots” samt vilken signalvärde polisiära cykelpatruller har ur allmänhetens perspektiv

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  • 29.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Sensemaking and organising in the policing of high risk situations: Focusing the Swedish Police National Counter-Terrorist Unit2013Doctoral thesis, comprehensive summary (Other academic)
    Abstract [en]

    Specialised policing of critical incidents has previously been underexplored within scholarly research. Simultaneously, this type of policing has been recognised as a highly complex endeavour which hinges on an organisationalability to make sense of uncertainty and external contingencies. To build knowledge on the subject of specialised policing, the present thesis aims to explore processes of sensemaking and organising in the work context of specialised police units dedicated to the policing of high risk incidents. Two research questions have guided the thesis project viz.: 1) what ascribed meanings are coupled to specialised police unit work practice and; 2) how can organising of specialised police units be enacted in a reliable manner. These questions are empirically addressed through four part-studies: Study A amounts to a contextual literature study of previous research on specialised police units and aims at conceptual development of anomenclature describing police specialisation as a professional context. Study B in the thesis examines symbolic meanings connected to specialised police units and how such meanings relate to constructions of occupational identity of police officers working in a specialised police unit. With these studies as a contextual frame, study C within the thesis examines how leadership, management and ICT system within a specialised police unitimpacts organisational reliability and sensemaking during incident management. Finally, study D examines organisational reliability on an interpersonal level during incident management as it entails a study of collaboration between police practitioners conducting an intervention. The thesis employs a mainly ideographic and close practice approach to researchas the empirical examinations are focused upon one specific specialised police unit, namely the Swedish police’s National Counter-Terrorist Unit (NI). Using data collected through interviews, observations and archival sources, the thesis aims to contribute both to organisational developmentand to knowledge development within the scholarly community. In overview, the results of the thesis indicate that specialised policing on a level of ascribed meaning tend to be represented as exceptional, sensational and surrounded by inferences of elitism, machismo and violence. In extent, such representations inform serving police officers occupational identity workeither by spurring identification or dis-identification with prevailing accounts of meaning. On a level of organising, resilient policing of high risk incidents is shown to be dependent on an ability to favour flexibility, both through the organisational frameworks that frames incident management and in interpersonal enactment during task execution. This conclusion challenges day-to-day conceptualisation of specialised police units’ work practice as instrumental applications of coercion.

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  • 30.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Sensemaking in the Swedish National Police Counterterrorist Unit2012In: Policing global movements: tourism, migration, trafficking, and terrorism / [ed] S. Caroline Taylor, Daniel Joseph Torpy and Dilip K. Das, London: CRC Press, Taylor & Francis Group , 2012, p. 105-124Chapter in book (Refereed)
  • 31.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    The miscellany of militaristic policing: a literature review2012In: Journal of Policing, Intelligence and Counter Terrorism, ISSN 1833-5330, Vol. 7, no 1, p. 51-65Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This article reviews how the subject of paramilitary policing and paramilitary police units (PPUs) has been addressed during the last ten years of criminal justice, criminological and policing research. In this paper, the term ‘paramilitary policing’ is discussed in relation to previous debates concerning militaristic policing and police militarisation. Drawing on these debates, articles from a number of journals addressing the phenomena are reviewed with the aim of answering how paramilitary policing has been studied, defined, and contextualised in recent research. The results show that no consensus or universal definition of what paramilitary policing is seems to exist, as studies denote the subject differently depending on applied theoretical and empirical perspectives. This article discusses the apparent differences and offers a conceptual scheme explaining the main intersections and different dimensions encompassed in the subject.

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    The miscellany of militaristic policing: a literature review
  • 32.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Using police bicycle patrols to manage social order in bicycle and pedestrian traffic networks: a Swedish case study2016In: The Police Journal, ISSN 0032-258X, E-ISSN 1740-5599, Vol. 89, no 1, p. 18-30Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This article examines how bicycle police units perceive their impact on social norms of rule compliance and risk behaviours in bicycle and pedestrian traffic networks. Using qualitative methods, a police bicycle patrol was analysed. Findings indicate that bicycle patrols are promising as an innovative measure to target bicycle and pedestrian traffic enforcement. Police reported that the bicycle patrol allowed increased accessibility and that police presence on bicycles had a positive normative impact on the behaviours of bike riders and pedestrians. The discussion encompasses the way in which bicycle patrol units hold important tacit knowledge of street life that could play a key role in policy making.

  • 33.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Ghazinour, Mehdi
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work.
    Padyab, Mojgan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Centre for Demographic and Ageing Research (CEDAR).
    Erfarenheter och effekter av reflektionsinriktad portfoliometod2020In: Reflektion som professionsverktyg inom polisen / [ed] Staffan Karp och Oscar Rantatalo, Umeå: Enheten för polisutbildning, Umeå universitet , 2020, p. 53-63Chapter in book (Other academic)
  • 34.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Haake, Ulrika
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Lindberg, Ola
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Sparrhoff, Gun
    Linköpings universitet.
    Bäck, Thomas
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Den pluralistiska ledarskapsforskningen: en översikt över svenska avhandlingarom ledarskap 2003–20142016In: Nordiske organisasjonsstudier, ISSN 1501-8237, Vol. 18, no 3, p. 3-29Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [sv]

    Ledarskap har i ett internationellt perspektiv studerats över tid men hittills vet vi ganska lite hur det svenska forskningslandskapet ser ut. Svensk ledarskapsforskninghar anekdotiskt konstaterats vara svag samtidigt som Sverige, med en arbetsmarknad präglad av samförstånd och korta beslutsvägar, utgör en intressant kontext för ledarskapsstudier. En delaspekt av forskning om ledarskap är hur fenomenet studerats i avhandlingar. Givet dessa konstateranden syftar följande forskningsöversikt till analysera doktorsavhandlingar om ledarskap skrivna 2003–2014. Specifikt besvaras fyra frågor: 1) Vilka ämnen och institutioner studerar ledarskap? 2) Vad studeras i avhandlingar om ledarskap? 3) Hur har ledarskap studerats? 4) Vilka kunskapsbidrag kan identifieras i de analyserade avhandlingarna? Totalt analyserades 70 avhandlingar i studien och valet att analysera avhandlingar motiveras av att doktorsavhandlingar kan spegla lokal praxis och trender i kunskapsbildning inom akademin. Resultatet visar på att ledarskap som forskningsfält är fragmenterat mellan olika ämnen och forskningsbedrivande institutioner, att kvalitativa metoder var vanligare än kvantitativa samt att förvånansvärt lite av forskningen relaterar till, eller tar avstamp ifrån, andra svenska eller skandinaviska forskargruppers arbeten. I artikeln diskuteras avslutningsvis hur bristande kommunikation mellan forskningsmiljöer kan hänga ihop med att ledarskap i många av destuderade avhandlingarna studerats instrumentellt som en delmängd av andra ämnesområden.

  • 35.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Karp, Staffan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Collective reflection in practice: an ethnographic study of Swedish police training2016In: Reflective Practice, ISSN 1462-3943, E-ISSN 1470-1103, Vol. 17, no 6, p. 708-723Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Although reflection has been viewed as an individual process, increased attention has been given to how reflective processes are socially anchored. The present article contributes to this knowledge through an examination of how collective reflection is enacted in the context of police education. The article is based on a one-year ethnographic study of police recruits undergoing training, and the main sources of data collection were participant observations and field interviews. The data were inductively analysed, and a model that differentiates amongst ‘specular’, ‘dialogic’ and ‘polyphonic’ reflection processes is presented. The findings suggest that collective reflection involving multiple individuals adds complexity to reflective processes and that these processes may take on more diverse forms than has been acknowledged, as previous research has mainly focused on dialogic collective reflection. The implications of these findings, such as how increased complexity may counteract the benefits of collective reflection, are also discussed.

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  • 36.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Karp, Staffan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Forskning om reflektion inom polisen: en översikt2020In: Reflektion som professionsverktyg inom polisen / [ed] Staffan Karp och Oscar Rantatalo, Umeå: Enheten för polisutbildning, Umeå universitet , 2020, p. 28-41Chapter in book (Other academic)
  • 37.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Karp, Staffan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Stories of policing: the role of storytelling in police students' sensemaking of early work-based experiences2018In: Vocations and Learning, ISSN 1874-785X, E-ISSN 1874-7868, Vol. 11, no 1, p. 161-177Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Storytelling has been shown to play a key role in transferring work experience from more experienced towards novices in a number of vocational educational practices, however previous studies have not to the same extent dealt with the role of students’ own storytelling practices for sensemaking of work experience. This study set out to examine police students’ storytelling of their first occupational experiences from a sensemaking perspective, with an analysis drawing on the concepts of enactment, selection, and retention. The study is based on participant observations of field training follow up sessions’ in the context of police education. Findings indicated that student storytelling of work experience tended to be geared towards action, extremeness and the telling of ‘war stories’. Furthermore, these type of stories functioned to enable student identification, self-enhancement and emotion management. These findings contribute to our current understanding of how students engage in sensemaking of work-based experiences and in extension how knowledge integration and learning from work placements can be structured pedagogically.

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  • 38.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Karp, Staffan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Ghazinour, Mehdi
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Lauritz, Lars-Erik
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Future police?: A longitudinal project on police officers' development of reflective abilities in training and professional life2014In: Nordic Police Research Seminar, Växjö 19th – 21st August 2014: 5 th Nordic Police Research Seminar, Seminars and Posters, 2014, p. 28-Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Swedish police are currently undergoing major changes as a result of increased demand for efficiency and service. A central theme in the current reform debate is the importance of "future police" to hold reflective abilities. In relation to the positive rhetoric surrounding the idea of ​​these abilities there is little knowledge of how this ambition can be realized. The research we propose focuses on this very issue. The project is longitudinal and aims to investigate how police officers' reflexive abilities develop at different stages of socialization in education and occupational practice. Our research questions are 1) how reflective abilities develop in academic training; field training and occupational entry 2) the opportunities for reflection these contexts offer and 3) if and how female and male students' development of reflective abilities differ. The project will build knowledge on how police officers' reflexive abilities change and evolve through different phases of socialization and especially on how the development of reflective abilities can be enhanced in education and occupation. This is an issue which is justified from a scientific perspective as surprisingly little previous research has focused on how reflective practice can be achieved, but it is also a matter of practical relevance in the light of ongoing changes in the police.

  • 39.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Karp, Staffan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Ghazinour, Seyedmehdi
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Social Work. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Lauritz, Lars-Erik
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Hur utvecklas nya polisers reflexiva förmågor under yrkessocialisation? En agenda för framtida forskning.2015In: The past, the present and the future of police research: proceedings from the fifth Nordic police research seminar / [ed] Granér, Rolf & Kronkvist, Ola, Växjö: Linnæus University , 2015, p. 171-184Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [sv]

    Polisers förmåga att reflektera i och kring sin yrkespraktik blir en alltviktigare faktor i en snabbt föränderlig omvärld. För svensk polishandlar förändringen till exempel om metodförändringar som följerav ändrade tekniska möjligheter men också om den pågående organisationsförändringendär landets tidigare 21 polismyndigheter bliviten enda från 1 januari 2015. Organisationsförändringen är å enasidan en tydlig centralisering. Å andra sidan ska den, enligt både denutredning som föregått förändringen och enligt beslut som fattats igenomförandearbetet, leda till en decentralisering av beslutsfattandei polisers vardagsarbete. Med ett sådant förändrat mandat blir enskildapolisers förmåga att fatta egna beslut grundade på ett professionelltoch reflexivt förhållningssätt en allt viktigare framgångsfaktori polisverksamhet.I detta kapitel beskrivs ett projekt som undersöker polisstudentersutvecklande av reflexiva förmågor i utbildning och i tidig karriär.Huvudfrågan som behandlas är hur reflektion kan stödjas pedagogisktunder formell utbildning, i aspiranttjänstgöring samt i tidigyrkespraktik. I kapitlet presenterar vi en agenda för forskning omhur förutsättningarna för sådana processer kan förstås och främjas.

    Reflexiv praktik är ett ofta förekommande begrepp inom en arbetslivspedagogiskkontext och reflektion är ett begrepp som oftaomgärdas av en stark positiv retorik. Förmåga till reflektion har visatsig vara av stor betydelse för lärande i både utbildning och arbetslivoch visar sig stödja både problemlösning, innovation och generell kreativitet. Förmåga till reflektion anses också viktig för ett professionelltförhållningssätt i yrkessammanhang som kräver diskretionoch hög grad av autonomitet. I sådana sammanhang indikerarforskning att reflexiv praktik bidrar till ett effektivt erfarenhetsbaseratlärande och ett professionellt yrkesutövande (Boud, Cressey, &Docherty, 2006; Knipfer, Kump, Wessel, & Cress, 2013; Schön,1987).

    Trots att reflektion är ett vetenskapligt väl etablerat begrepp ärdet svårfångat på den praktiska nivån. Mycket uppmärksamhet harriktats mot individers och gruppers möjligheter till lärande och utvecklinggenom ett aktivt arbete med reflektion. Däremot finnsmindre kunskap om hur man på institutionell nivå kan organiseraverksamhet för att uppnå reflektion i olika sammanhang (Jordan,2010; Reynolds & Vince, 2004). Det finns en närmast total konsensusom att reflektion är något gott både i arbetslivet och i övrigalivet. Ändå vet vi inte mycket om hur en organisation ska formas föratt stödja den goda reflektionen. I detta kapitel visar vi på behovetav att undersöka organisatoriska förutsättningar för reflektion i polisiärgrundutbildning och tidig yrkeskarriär inom polisen.

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  • 40.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Karp, Staffan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Kohlström, Kirsi
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Padyab, Mojgan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Police education in transformation: How police recruits in European countries value new and enduring educational content in a time of uncertainty and change?2016In: EuroCrim 2016: 16th Annual Conference of the European Society of Criminology: Abstracts, 2016Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This paper examines police recruits’ values and attitudes toward different learning content in a number of European countries in a time of uncertainty. From a global perspective, police institutions in many countries are currently undergoing substantial professional reorientation as an answer to changing demands on policing due to transformations of the society such as flows of refugees, demographic changes, increased societal diversity and transnational crime patterns. In sum, these developments has been suggested to lead to increased complexity in the fulfilment of the police’s professional obligations and new demands on police professional knowledge. On a level of police educational curricula, traditional subjects such as law enforcement, investigation and crime control are increasingly complemented with subjects such as cultural awareness, communication, as well as gender and diversity training. Drawing on empirical data from the RECPOL (Recruitment, Education, Careers in the Police) project the attitudes among female and male police recruits, when entering their police training, are analysed and discussed in relation to enduring and new content in police education. The results are also discussed from a broader Euoropean perspective in terms of similarities and differences between educational systems and the traditions and role of the police in the countries taking part in the project. Finally we also touch on implications for decision makers and training providers for developing a police education preparing recruits for policing in a changing society. 

  • 41.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Lindberg, Ola
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Liminal practice and reflection in professional education: police education and medical education2018In: Studies in Continuing Education, ISSN 0158-037X, E-ISSN 1470-126X, Vol. 40, no 3, p. 351-366Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This paper reports on a study of how liminality relates to the facilitation of reflective practice in professional education. Liminality refers to sites and positions that exhibit 'in-betweenness', or bordering positions, that might draw together different institutional conditions. The present project aims to examine the role of liminality in professional educational practice with a specific focus upon how liminality may support student reflection. Using a qualitative and comparative research approach, we analysed interview and observational data from police education and a medical programme. Observations and interviews explore practices of collective interactional (and hence observable) reflection at sites that are characterised by ‘betweenness’ of work and education. Findings indicate that situations that afford reflection are characterised by a sense of undeterminedness in terms of either the subject, space or activity. Thus, we conclude that there is some evidence that liminality affords reflection, but also that liminality and underminedness are fragile states that are not easily organised in a professional education curriculum.

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  • 42.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Lindberg, Ola
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    The logic of excellence: Separating sheep from goats among highly qualified professionals2011In: ESREA Network: Working Life and Learning, Linköping: Linköping University , 2011Conference paper (Refereed)
  • 43.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Lindberg, Ola
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Haake, Ulrika
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    The enactment of professional boundary work: a case study of crime investigation2023In: Professions & Professionalism, ISSN 1893-1049, E-ISSN 1893-1049, Vol. 13, no 2, article id e5345Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Professional boundary takes place as actors negotiate occupational boundaries and division of labour. In this article, we examine the conditions of defensive, accommodating, and configurational boundary work in the context of crime investigation. We analyse how professional boundaries are negotiated as civilian investigators become involved with policing. The article is based on 71 interviews with civilian and police crime investigators from a variety of investigation units in Sweden. Findings show how policing as a professional field is shifted as civilians from a wide variety of backgrounds and with varying motivations enter the occupation. Defensive boundary work that devalued civilians was widely occurring. However, boundary work that focused on learning, collaboration, and training was also occurring in high-status units. The discussion focuses on how power asymmetries impact boundary work when professions are undergoing change. This study exemplifies how organizational actors navigate, defend, and challenge their positions as professional boundaries are negotiated.

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  • 44.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Lindberg, Ola
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Hällgren, Markus
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE), Business Administration.
    Criminal Investigation in Rural Areas: How Police Detectives Manage Remoteness and Resource Scarcity2021In: Policing: A Journal of Policy and Practice, ISSN 1752-4512, E-ISSN 1752-4520, Vol. 15, no 2, p. 1352-1366Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This article addresses how rural environments characterized by remoteness impact the work of police detectives in their casework. It reports on an ethnographic study of two investigative departments (working on volume crime and domestic crime) located in Northern Sweden. Interviews (N=27) and participant observations (N =56) were conducted in order to examine how investigators approached and managed rural conditions in their daily work. Findings indicate that police investigations in rural areas are characterized by constraints, such as resource shortages, extended set-up times (due to travelling), and challenges in multitasking. The findings identify two main practices for investigating crime in such settings: 'rural investigation' that entails a decentralized approach in which investigators are embedded locally; and 'investigating the rural' that entails a distanced, centralized approach. This article discusses trade-offs and predicted outcomes in crime investigation and highlights how the urban/rural binary divide encompasses a paradoxical tension that investigators must manage continuously

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  • 45.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Lindberg, Ola
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Kihlberg, Robert
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE), Business Administration.
    Hällgren, Markus
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Umeå School of Business and Economics (USBE), Business Administration.
    Negotiations and Research Bargains: Bending Professional Norms in the Effort to Gain Field Access2018In: International Journal of Qualitative Methods, E-ISSN 1609-4069, Vol. 17, no 1, p. 1-11Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    The present study provides an autoethnographic account of the efforts to gain field access to a police organization, spanning more than 2 years. The aim is to describe a case of gaining access in relation to the professional norms of science put forward by Robert K. Merton. Aided by an organized record of notes, e-mails, and other written communications regarding access (144 memos of various types), the study describes and discusses the negotiations with Mertonian norms that followed from the dissonance between ideals of research and practical reality. Opening up for further scholarly discussion, this article concludes that Merton’s norms are incongruent with both prevailing guidelines of research ethics and with the practical, short-term problems of access negotiations and research bargains.

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  • 46.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Sjöberg, David
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Karp, Staffan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Supporting roles in live simulations: how observers and confederates can facilitate learning2019In: Journal of Vocational Education and Training, ISSN 1363-6820, E-ISSN 1747-5090, Vol. 71, no 3, p. 482-499Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Live simulations in which students perform the roles of future professionals or act as confederates (i.e. student actors) are important training activities in different types of vocational education. While previous research has focused on the learning of students who enact a professional, secondary roles in scenario training, such as student observers and confederates, have received inadequate attention. The present study focuses on student observers and confederates in order to examine how these roles can support the learning of other participants in live simulations and to determine how the experience of performing these roles can become a learning experience for the performers. A total of 15 individual interviews and 1 group interview of students attending Swedish police training were conducted. The study findings indicated that the observer role is characterised by distance and detachment, and the confederate role by directness and sensory involvement. Both roles can support as well as inhibit intentional learning for primary participants and offer learning experiences for those playing the roles. The study theorises these roles and lists practical implications for planning live simulations in vocational education and training.

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  • 47.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Stenling, Cecilia
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Lindberg, Ola
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Police bodies and police minds: Occupational socialization through sport2016In: 2016 Triennial Conference European Society for Research on the Education of Adults (ESREA) - Imagining Diverse Futures for Adult Education: Questions of Power and Resources of Creativity: Book of Abstracts, 2016, p. 80-80Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    This paper reports on a study of Swedish police officers’ sport participation as a form of occupational socialisation. Previously, questions of how sport functions as socialisation for work practice has been largely overlooked in the literature. The police are an interesting case, as policing is permeated by ideas of bodily prowess. The study seeks to answer how ideals of work practice are enacted through sport participation and how such socialisation has excluding effects. Using a practice theory framework, the concept of teleoaffective structure guides the analysis. Twelve interviews were conducted with police officers who have experience in police sports and policing. The analysis targeted symbolic manifestations of teleoaffectivity, and the findings indicate five overlapping ideals between sport and police practice. In addition, one police specific ideal was constructed. Based on these findings, we discuss how participation in sport practices subtly shape occupational norms.  

  • 48.
    Schnaider, Karoline
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Gu, Limin
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Understanding technology use through multimodal layers: a research review2020In: The international journal of information and learning technology, ISSN 2056-4880, E-ISSN 2056-4899, Vol. 37, no 5, p. 375-387Article, review/survey (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Purpose: The purpose of this study is to examine the use of digital technologies by teachers and students in teaching and learning from a multimodal layer perspective.

    Design/methodology/approach: The article reviews 64 studies on technology use. A content analysis based on the theoretical concepts of "multimodal layers" was used to synthesise previous research.

    Findings: The findings indicate that the use of technology in classroom practices by teachers and students is multifaceted and that transitions exist between technologies and sign-systems and are differently related to sign-making activities and thus constitute different uses. Between layers, traces can be made that connect the use of technology to differences in sign-making activities.

    Practical implications: A multimodal layer perspective on technology use is fruitful to understand what happens at the intersection of technology and human activities in school practices. Moreover, more attention to multimodal layers can inform future effective technology usage and design.

    Originality/value: The review offers comprehensive insights on how previous research has studied technology using multimodal layers as an analytical lens.

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  • 49.
    Sjöberg, David
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Karp, Staffan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education. Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Acting in scenario training as a tool for developing professional knowing in police education2016Conference paper (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Scenario training is a common and integral part of police education, where students act as police officers in a variety of situations.  When conducting scenario training and in the research on learning via scenario training, a predominant focus has been on the students acting as police officers. However, students may also partake as actors with more periphery tasks as for instance crowd following a scene, but they can also take direct action towards the police for instance as rioters or as perpetrators of violence.  In the research literature, the learning potential of these secondary roles of students in scenario training has been largely overlooked. In this paper we report on a study of police students experiences of acting in scenario training in other roles than as police officers. The approach of the study was explorative using observations of scenario training, a questionnaire and semi structured interviews with police students at Umeå University. Overall the results show that the students value acting in scenarios in other roles than as police officers as an important tool for developing professional knowing. Hence the results have implications both for educational practitioners and for further research on learning in scenario training.

  • 50.
    Sjöberg, David
    et al.
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Police Education Unit at Umeå University.
    Karp, Staffan
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    Rantatalo, Oscar
    Umeå University, Faculty of Social Sciences, Department of Education.
    What students who perform in "secondary roles" can learn from scenario training in vocational education2019In: International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training, ISSN 2197-8638, E-ISSN 2197-8646, Vol. 6, no 1, p. 46-67Article in journal (Refereed)
    Abstract [en]

    Context: Learning through scenario training and live simulation in vocational education is generally regarded as an effective tool for developing professional knowledge. However, previous research has largely overlooked the learning of students in secondary roles in scenario training. The objective of this study is to explore learning for students who act in secondary roles during scenario training in vocational educational settings. 

    Method: The studied case entails scenario training for police students in a Swedish police education programme. A case study design, which included both participant observation and a questionnaire, was used. The analytic lens applied was inspired by practice theory and focused on how structural and situational arrangements of the training activity affect learning. 

    Results: Our findings show that students who act in secondary roles learn from their scenario training experiences, but this learning often is overlooked in the design of training activities. Due to the structural arrangements of training activities, learning emerged as students in secondary roles were tasked to support the primary participants in relation to their learning objectives. In addition, it emerged in how students in secondary roles used previous scenario training experiences in relation to the current scenario and its learning objectives. Examples of learning from situational arrangements emerged as students in secondary roles formulated and provided feedback to primary participants and through informal discussions and reflection processes. Learning also emerged as students in secondary roles embodied the “other” during scenario training, something that provided the students with new perspectives on police encounters. 

    Conclusions: We theorize and extract three dimensions for how learning emerges in this case for secondary participants. It emerges through embodying the “other”, in students’ sensory experiences, and through reconstruction of knowledge through repetition. However, our findings also show that learning for students in secondary roles can be improved through mindful set-up and design. Based on the findings, our article provides a discussion and suggestions on how scenario training can be planned and set-up to develop professional knowledge for students in secondary roles.

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