Abstract:

The Norwegian Police has in their strategy (2023-2025) included preparedness against serious societal threats as one of three key goals. To respond to an increase in crime and greater threats in both global and national societies, the Norwegian Police University College (NPUC) has initiated three new study programs within cooperation for emergency and preparedness actors. This initiative facilitates training, teaching and practice in cooperation for all existing emergency actors and – responders. As in real life events, the students would have to communicate, cooperate and act together. The main goal is to contribute to quality, in the form of knowledge and skills, in teaching, training and exercises between the interacting actors, and thus facilitate that the crews are equipped to safeguard the population in a good and safe way. Through this, the education will contribute to interaction between the emergency and response actors, support uniform, high-quality practice, contribute to networking and facilitate efficient utilization of society's overall resources during crisis management. In order to explore these study programs, we asked two research questions (RQs):
RQ 1: How can learning and training through this education increase the students preparedness and interaction?
RQ 2: What changes did we find necessary to make in the work requirements, and what was the result of this?

Data to answer these two RQs were collected through students' answers to the study program evaluations conducted during and after a study program. In the qualitative responses in the evaluations and responding to RQ 1, there were many interesting and relevant findings about communication, as in the need to create a common understanding of each other, and to create and use a common language. The different actors have many different abbreviations, or action cards, etc. The students believed that one of the most important aspects of the study programs is to create a more common language, and thus routines, practice, and communication basis, in order to facilitate interaction in crisis situations. Another finding was the value of facilitated team work, including development of feedback-skills, and reflections for learning. Supporting RQ 2, reflections based on experience and analysis of the evaluations after the first implementation of a study program resulted in changes in two ways. First, one of the work requirements was changed, from group professional assignment to individual reflection assignment. Second, we decided to change what was the foundation for the digital oral exam. Previously, students created a teaching plan for a real teaching situation that later was conducted as part of the study program. Before the exam the students created another teaching plan, for a fictive teaching situation. We streamlined this by having students revise their first teaching plan for the exam, reducing the number of work requirements. This change aimed to give students more time to read, reflect, and learn, and the exam better showcased their learning journey. Furthermore, students would also then have more time to organize their learning, grasp key technical concepts, and reflect on their role as a teacher/instructor based on their experiences and feedback. Our findings may be relevant for other educational institutions dealing with planning and implementation of study programs and education for actors from different emergency and preparedness organizations.

Keywords:

Preparedness education, resilience, education, emergency actors, emergency responders, cooperation, crisis management, mass events, national security.