Umeå University's logo

The literature reveals the following pattern: that police students worldwide prefer on-the-job training to theoretical, academic studies. In this study, using a Swedish version of Kolb’s Learning Style Inventory, we test the learning preferences of Swedish police students in two groups, one at the beginning and one at the end of their studies. The students score quite far along what in the inventory is labelled the pragmatic side of the transforming axis, as opposed to the reflective side. Two alternative responses to this fact are discussed. The first is for the education programme to adapt to this learning preference and use mainly hands-on learning activities that fit the students’ preferences. The other is to take the opposite route and activate the students’ less-preferred side. The article argues for both ways but emphasizes the second as a means of training students’ general learning capabilities.