| dc.description.abstract | The article examines the reasons fresh police students have for choosing police
education and what kind of backgrounds they have. Previous research has
indicated that police students’ social background has changed in that their
parents have much higher education than before. Students’ perceptions of and
attitudes toward police training and police work has, however, changed little,
which can be seen as a paradox. This research has primarily analysed survey
data. We have combined qualitative interview data with data from public
administrative registers. First, we find that police students are not interested in
academic and intellectual pursuits. Theoretical work in offices and in front of
computers is considered negatively as boring, one-sided, and resulting in decay
and the «fading away» of the employees. Practical work outdoors, however,
has positive connotations. These kind of preferences and work values fit nicely
with our analyses of the register data, which show that most police students are
not children of academics. Our findings, thus, show far greater accordance
between the students’ values, attitudes and beliefs, and their parents’ level of
education than previous research has shown | en_US |
