MA Professional Practice in Effective Policing

Our MA Professional Practice in Effective Policing is tailored to experienced serving police officers who hold significant operational responsibilities or senior roles within the service.  

The programme offers a pathway to gain an academic qualification that formally recognises your professional and practical expertise. Through critical reflection and structured learning, you’ll consolidate and evaluate your contributions to policing, while enhancing the leadership skills and strategic knowledge needed to drive positive change across the profession.

Key details

Study mode: Full-time, 3 years, Part-time, 6 years

Delivery location: Leeds City Campus and Online delivery

Start dates: January, May, and September

School: School of Social Sciences

To view our Student Contract, click here.

You’ll engage in enquiry-based and problem-based learning, using real-world policing challenges as the foundation for critical thinking, collaboration, and solution-focused discussion. Peer learning and collaborative activities will support the development of leadership skills, critical reflection, and the sharing of best practice across diverse operational contexts. 

You’ll be enabled to critically analyse strategic aspects of policing, evaluate complex professional challenges, and apply evidence-based solutions to improve and enhance effective policing practice. We support our learners to engage in purposeful reflection, explore current and emerging issues within policing, and the opportunity to develop your capacity to drive organisational learning and improvement. 

The programme fosters a culture of continuous professional development, encouraging you to build a portfolio of skills and experiences that demonstrate readiness for senior leadership roles in policing and public service. Depending on your career aspirations, upon successful completion of this MA, you could progress on to professional doctorates or investigate opportunities to undertake teaching and learning qualifications to support student officers in practice.

This programme is designed to fit around the demands of professional policing roles, using a flexible and accessible delivery model that includes: 

• Blended learning: Online study materials, recorded lectures, live sessions, and in-person workshops
• Online platform: Structured pathways, discussion boards, and interactive tools
• Problem-based learning: Real-world scenarios that encourage critical reflection and practical application
• Collaborative learning: Sharing insights and best practice across diverse policing roles 

Delivered by our supportive lecturers, the programme is delivered through: 

• In-person workshops and seminars
• One-to-one academic tutorials
• Guided independent study
• Comprehensive online resources 

Modules

You’ll be assessed using various methods, which may include:

• Portfolios
• Case studies
• Reflective accounts
• Presentations
• Research proposals
• Applied work-based project.  

Assessment tasks are directly aligned with real policing challenges and allows you to draw on your operational experience. You could also negotiate the format of some assessments to support your individual learning styles and professional roles.

To apply for this course, you’ll need to have the following: 

Academic entry requirements 

There are no formal academic entry requirements for this programme. Admission is based entirely on professional experience and qualifications. 

Professional Requirement 
 Applicants must meet the following criteria: 

• Be a serving police officer or have recently served in a UK police force.
• Have a minimum of five years’ service in policing.
• Have completed the probationary period (this is implicit in the five years of service and does not require separate evidence) 

Applicants must provide evidence of service, which may include: 

• A letter of confirmation from the relevant HR department
• An official service record
• A warrant card (if still serving)
• Other formal documentation from the police force confirming the duration of service 

This course is not available to students on a Student Route Visa.

The fees for this programme are £3,500.

For information regarding fees and finance, please visit our Student Fees and Finance pages.

For more information on this course, including Recognition of Prior Experiential Learning (RPEL) and how to apply, please get in touch with the Head of Social Sciences, Tony Blockley at t.blockley@leedstrinity.ac.uk