Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA)

From day one, you’re a police officer. You’ll combine real operational work with classroom learning, gaining essential skills in emergency response, safeguarding, investigations, and leadership.

As you complete each stage, you’ll build a strong foundation of experience and qualifications. Unlocking a wide range of potential routes in your future policing career: specialist roles like detective work, community protection, or leadership positions. On top of that, the academic degree gives you recognition and credibility, helping you grow steadily in rank and responsibility.

You’ll begin your training with classroom-based learning at one of your chosen police force’s locations, before joining an operational policing team where you’ll put your skills into practice.

Your training covers a wide range of areas, from officer safety and emergency life support to safeguarding, crime investigation and core policing skills, all based on the national policing curriculum.

As you progress, you’ll take part in work-based learning, fully supported as you apply new knowledge on duty. From day one, you’ll be a police officer, gaining real experience while making a difference in your community. This mix of study and practice helps you build the skills and confidence needed for a demanding but rewarding role.

Year 1

• The Foundations of Policing
• The Principles of Effective Policing
• Practice Skills Module including PPST
• Policing Practice – Independent Patrol Status

Year 2

• Developing Investigation and Intelligence Practice
• Leadership and Advanced Operational Practice
• Neighbourhood Policing, Prevention and Public Protection
• The Occupational Competence Portfolio

Year 3

• Specialist Practice, Prevention and Problem Solving – Response Policing
• Specialist Practice, Prevention and Problem Solving – Conducting Investigations
• Coaching, Professional Development and Wellbeing
• Professional Practice Portfolio

Year 1

You'll undertake an initial structured learning phase designed to build the foundational knowledge and skills required for operational policing. This includes a combination of classroom-based learning, practical activities and dedicated time for Public and Personal Safety Training and police systems training. This is followed by a period of supported practical learning, during which you'll be assigned to a Tutor Constable to apply and contextualise your learning within frontline policing practice.

Year 2

You'll complete all Level 5 and 6 learning. Level 6 has been designed to enable you to consolidate your learning and support the transition to autonomous professional practice. The curriculum is structured around two modules and a Professional Practice Portfolio.

You'll continue to develop your knowledge and skills alongside continued operational experience. Learning at this stage is delivered through a blended approach, combining face-to-face teaching with guided independent and online learning. The curriculum has been designed to strengthen the integration of theory and practice, with learning activities and assessments aligned to operational policing contexts.

You'll be supported through protected Off the Job (OTJ) learning time, ensuring you are able to engage fully with academic study. In addition, opportunities for attachments and exposure to specialist policing areas support broader professional development and the application of learning in varied operational contexts.

Year 3

You'll have protected learning time to complete your Professional Practice Portfolio, which will be your final major project – there is no dissertation. This portfolio will require you to draw on operational experience, critically evaluate practice and demonstrate professional competence through applied analysis, reflective evaluation and a professional discussion

You’ll need to pass both operational and academic assessments to be awarded the degree. All assessments are designed to make full use of operational experience to enable you to apply academic learning directly to policing contexts while demonstrating the knowledge, skills and behaviours required by the Police Constable (Integrated Degree) Apprenticeship Standard and the National Policing Curriculum.

The assessment types you will need to complete on the programme include:

• Roleplay exercises
• Knowledge checks
• Tutor observations
• Work based portfolio work
• Reflective written pieces
• Presentations

Alongside academic assessments, you'll also need to compile an Operational Competence Portfolio over the duration of the apprenticeship. You'll need to pass several operational assessments against a range of critical policing skills. These include:

• providing effective initial response to a critical incident
• engaging proactively with communities
• conducting effective evaluation of intelligence
• and providing support to vulnerable people, victims and witnesses.

In your final year, you'll be required to complete the Professional Practice Portfolio, which will require you to critically evaluate operational practice, integrate academic and professional learning, and demonstrate professional competence through applied analysis, reflective evaluation and a professional discussion.

You'll also be required to evidence operational competence in several areas, such as:

• providing effective initial response to a critical incident
• engaging proactively with communities
• conducting effective evaluations of intelligence

In successfully obtaining the apprenticeship and its associated degree you will need to provide satisfactory evidence that you have achieved the necessary knowledge, skills and behaviours (KSB) set out in the apprenticeship standard. Further information about the KSBs can be found at the Institute of Apprenticeships website.