Key details

Start date(s)
2025
Study Mode
Full-time (3 years)
Location
Main Campus (Horsforth)
School
Social Sciences

BA (Hons) Professional Policing Practice

This work-based programme is designed to provide the essential knowledge, understanding and skills required to operate effectively as a modern Police Officer.

Leeds Trinity University is partnered with two regional police forces, West Yorkshire and West Midlands, to provide you with expert teaching and support you throughout your policing career.

West Yorkshire Police Homepage

West Midlands Police Homepage

The Student Contract

About this course

This apprenticeship is suitable for school and/or college leavers and career changers who wish to pursue a career as a Police Officer.

It will allow apprentices to combine workplace learning opportunities with theoretical knowledge gained through a number of formal classes which are relevant to modern-day policing.

The Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship (PCDA) route into policing enables you to receive practical on-the-job learning alongside academic theory and knowledge while earning a full-time salary. Starting salaries are reviewed annually and are dependent upon the police force. You will be a police officer from your first day on the job but will be required to successfully complete the course to be confirmed in the role.  

The PCDA covers areas that are critical to effective policing in the 21st century, such as evidence-based policing, supporting vulnerable people, dealing with cybercrime, and crime prevention.

  • There are no direct fees paid by the apprentice as the programme is fully funded by the apprenticeship levy
  • Successful apprentices will gain a degree in Professional Policing Practice
  • Your time will be spent across a combination of sites including Leeds Trinity University campus (WYP only), police training centres and local policing districts. This will also be supported by online delivery.

Programme duration and delivery

It will typically take three years to complete the apprenticeship.

First, you will complete an initial police education. After this you will begin your initial duties at district in a tutored period, working with an experienced police officer mentor. It is during this period that you will be assessed on your ability to police our communities, both independently and with the support of your colleagues.

You will spend further periods of training to build your knowledge and skills and will then return to district to apply this learning and continue to gain operational experience.

Course modules

You will study a variety of modules across your programme of study. The module details given below are subject to change and are the latest example of the curriculum available on this course of study.

Course content

The specific modules you will study are dependent upon your police force. During the apprenticeship, there will be a focus on the following key areas:

Sharpening investigative skills and mastering the investigation process.
Supporting witnesses, victims and the vulnerable.
Understanding the area(s) of criminology and crime prevention.
Ethics, integrity and professionalism on the force.
Operational policing and the role of the Police Service.

Pass-out parade

Thanks to the help of Digital Marketing student, Alex Ivatt, we have created a short video to celebrate and showcase the pass-out parade of one of the cohorts from the course. All our apprentice officers will take part in such an event on completion of their 19 weeks of training with West Yorkshire Police, before joining as a probationary constable in one of the five districts of the region.

Learning and teaching

Throughout the programme, apprentices are assessed via various methods including:

  • presentations
  • assignments
  • practical scenarios
  • exams

Apprentices will also create an Operational Competence Portfolio of evidence.  Towards the end of the programme, each apprentice will undertake the 'End Point Assessment' which has been designed to ensure that the knowledge, skills and behaviours of the apprenticeship standard have been developed.

Programme delivery

Your time on campus, learning through in-person teaching, is at the heart of your academic experience and the way we deliver our programmes. This is supported and further enhanced by additional engagement activities and opportunities provided online and through digital teaching materials. This blended approach seeks to ensure a positive learning and teaching student experience.

Your programme of study has been carefully designed around a three-phase model of delivery:

  1. Preparation: You will be given clear tasks to support you in preparing for live teaching. This could include watching a short-pre-recorded lecture, reading a paper or text chapter or preparing other material for use in class.
  2. Live: All your live teaching will be designed around active learning, providing you with valuable opportunities to build on preparation tasks, interact with staff and peers, and surface any misunderstandings.
  3. Post: Follow-up activities will include opportunities for you to check understanding, for staff to receive feedback from you and your peers to inform subsequent sessions, and for you to apply learning to new situations or context.

Preparation, Live and Post teaching and learning and the digital materials used will vary by course, but will be designed to help you structure your learning, take a full and active part in your course, and apply and test your developing knowledge and skills.

Learning and teaching

At Leeds Trinity we aim to provide an excellent student experience and provide you with the tools and support to help you achieve your academic, personal and professional potential.

Our Learning, Teaching and Assessment Strategy delivers excellence by providing the framework for:

  • high quality teaching
  • an engaging and inclusive approach to learning, assessment and achievement
  • a clear structure through which you progress in your academic studies, your personal development and towards professional-level employment or further study.

We have a strong reputation for developing student employability, supporting your development towards graduate employment, with relevant skills embedded throughout your programme of study.

We endeavour to develop curiosity, confidence, courage, ambition and aspiration in all students through the key themes in our Learning and Teaching Strategy:

  • Student Involvement and Engagement
  • Inclusion
  • Integrated Programme and Assessment Experience
  • Digital Literacy and Skills
  • Employability and Enterprise

To help you achieve your potential we emphasise learning as a collaborative process, with a range of student-led and real-world activities. This approach ensures that you fully engage in shaping your own learning, developing your critical thinking and reflective skills so that you can identify your own strengths and weaknesses, and use the extensive learning support system we offer to shape your own development.

We believe the secret to great learning and teaching is simple: it is about creating an inclusive learning experience that allows all students to thrive through:

  • Personalised support
  • Expert lecturers
  • Strong connections with employers
  • An international outlook
  • Understanding how to use tools and technology to support learning and development

Entry requirements

Leeds Trinity University is committed to recruiting students with talent and potential and who we feel will benefit greatly from their academic and non-academic experiences here. We treat every application on its own merits.

The following information is designed to give you a general overview of the qualifications we accept. If you are taking qualifications that are not included below, please contact our Admissions Office who will be happy to advise you.

Applicants must:

  • Hold 80 UCAS tariff points from Level 3 qualifications or appropriate experience as a Special Constable or PCSO. Otherwise suitable applicants who do not meet the required tariff points may be asked to complete a 1000-word essay for consideration of suitability by Leeds Trinity University.
  • Be 17 years old or over. There is no upper age limit. Applicants can start the application process whilst 17 years old, but must have reached 18 years to start the course.
  • Hold a level 2 qualification in English Language and Maths Grade 4/C or above
  • Have no criminal convictions (minor offences will be considered on an individual basis)
  • Meet police force attendance standard attendance standard (this relates to absence in your previous role/s if relevant)
  • Be able to pass the job-related fitness test
  • Comply with the tattoo policy
  • Pass the police vetting checks

Please note, the application process can take up to 12 months, depending on the applicant.

Support

Leeds Trinity University offers extensive support to all of our apprentices - whatever your background or academic experience.

This includes access to the Learning Hub, which offers tailored support for academic skills.

Fees and finance

Funding

Apprenticeships are fully funded by your employer if their wage bill is over £3 million each year.

The government will fund up to 95% of the apprenticeship’s course fees, up to the relevant funding band, if the organisation has spent all its levy or has an annual wage bill below £3 million each year. Employers who do not pay the apprenticeship levy contribute 5% towards the total cost of the apprenticeship, the ESFA will contribute the other 95% directly to the University. Employers must have an account with the Apprenticeship Service Account to be able to reserve Government funding for an apprenticeship. This reservation ensures that funds will be available to pay for the training from the point the apprenticeship starts.

Read more about how levy payments work at the UK Government website.

How to apply

Application cycles for the Police Constable Degree Apprenticeship are managed by the police forces that we work with. If you are interested in applying for this apprenticeship, please visit their websites directly.

West Yorkshire Police Apprenticeships

West Midlands Police Apprenticeships

About Leeds Trinity University

Our professional Apprenticeships combine part-time study at Leeds Trinity University with workplace training. We've been providing outstanding provision in higher education for over 50 years and have significant experience of delivering work-based learning programmes. We're proud to offer a personal and inclusive university experience that gives everyone the support they need to realise their potential. Our teaching staff have extensive and relevant professional experience.