Politician Drew on own experience

Students and staff were lucky enough to hear first-hand from Stroud MP and front-bench Labour spokesman on agriculture and rural issues, David Drew.

He addressed the question – “Power in the modern world: who really makes the decisions”.

In a whirlwind Q and A he dealt with both general and highly specific topics – the party’s position on Brexit; environmental protection on leaving the EU; hospital. menus to cater for individual requirements e.g. veganism; how does an MP elected from one party serve all their constituents etc?

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Student thoughtfulness

Last Friday, whilst leaving one of my last lectures for the Autumn term, I happened across three of our third year students huddled in the hallway just outside the door. They were holding a present.

“For me?” I asked, blushing.

It was.

Fool that I am, I squished the gift… “Feels like a scarf,” I thought to myself. ”Good… I need more scarves.”

Only it wasn’t a scarf. It was even better than that.

Flash back to the term. I always came to class with my whiteboard markers.

I never came to class with an eraser. Inevitably, I would ask, “Has anyone got a Kleenex.”

I’d then proceed to wipe clean the board, grumbling under my breath at the abysmal state of university finances.

By the end of term, some of my students, knowing full well I’d ask if anyone had a Kleenex, began to offer it before I’d even asked.

Yes, better than a scarf. Not so much the pens (though they will indeed be used), but the *cloths*.

Thoughtful beyond measure. Thanks, guys.

And Merry Christmas!

“It’s all in the evidence, Your Honour”

BSc (Hons) Professional Policing……………..”It’s all in the evidence, Your Honour”

Policing Lecturer John Clay-Davies was heard breathing a heavy sigh of relief yesterday as he clicked ‘send’ to despatch the first-round of ‘high level’ evidence to the College of Policing, as the University of Gloucestershire bids to become a licenced provider of the new Pre-Join Degree in Professional Policing.  The Pre-Join is one of the new graduate-entry routes into Policing which comes in to effect on 1^st January 2020.

The photograph below shows the actual file of ‘high level’ evidence submitted to the College of Policing!

John said, “The Professional Policing qualification will replace our existing, and very successful, Policing degree from September 2019.  Our current first-year Policing students will be transferred on to the second year of the new course next September.  The delivery of the high level evidence is the first hurdle to becoming a licenced provider.  The remaining hurdles are: submission of further evidence to the College by 29th January 2019; attendance at a College of Policing quality standards assessment event on 12th March; and our own University of Gloucestershire validation panel on 16th April 2019”.

In the run-up to this Christmas the University will also submit bids to provide courses that cover the other two new entry routes into policing: the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship and the Degree Holder Entry Programme.

John is looking forward to a quiet Christmas!! 🙂

 

Students witness history in the making

Criminology Masters students visited the UK Parliament on November 26th. They were hosted by Dr Sarah Bunn of the Parliament Office of Science and Technology (POST), who talked about how POST’s research is prepared for MPs.

After the talk, Dr Bunn escorted us to the House of Commons to let us observe their proceedings. Imagine our surprise when we discovered that the PM would be delivering a statement on Brexit — we sat for about three hours as none of the students wanted to leave (lol).

According to Dr Bunn, this is the first time Parliament has hosted the University of Gloucestershire. Dr Brian Frederick (pictured extreme right) led the delegation:

 

Bridge Building

Policing is often about teamwork, problem solving and collaborating with others to achieve successful outcomes.

BSc Policing students at the University of Gloucestershire got the chance to consider these and other aspects of policing when they were split into teams, and asked to build a bridge out of Lego, within a set period of time, to span a ‘canyon’.

Whilst none of the teams successfully completed the task there were plenty of lessons to reflect on and to shape future performance.

Policing Lecturer John Clay-Davies said, “This task forms part of the assessment for module NS4551 ‘Personal and Professional Development Portfolio’ and is a useful way to think about the skills involved in policing from a different perspective.  We tend to learn more from failure than we do from success.  This exercise gave Policing students the opportunity to reflect on their performance and think about how they might do things differently in the future”.

There is a solution to the bridge building problem……………….but if we told you it would spoil it for next year’s students!

 

 

Another day…another murder!

MSc Criminology students were busy in the Crime House this week, assessing the competency (or otherwise) of a team of crime scene investigators.

MSc students are required to critique aspects of crime scene management and the recovery of forensic evidence, identifying good and, sometimes very bad, practice.

Criminology and Policing lecturers, Jane Monckton-Smith, Richard Hester and John Clay-Davies provided plenty of entertainment in the form of a bungling crime scene investigator and two interested (and sometimes interfering) members of the public.  How did Rich Hester manage to find himself in the living room at the heart of the murder scene?

Just another messy day at the office!

 

 

It takes a criminal to catch a criminal !

BSc Policing students were put through their paces in the University of Gloucestershire’s Crime House this week when they were asked to respond to a report of a domestic burglary.

Unbeknown to the students the ‘criminal’, former police officer and policing lecturer, John Clay-Davies, was still lurking on the premises waiting to make good his escape from the scene.

Pictured:  BSc Policing student, Becky Tristram, give chase to burglar, John Clay-Davies.

John said, “Using the Crime House allows us to inject a sense of reality into our student practicals.  Policing is seldom straight forward and it is always good to have a few surprises up our sleeve”.