About the project – Police in Classrooms

The roles that police in schools play in schools vary across contexts, but broadly speaking there are two main types: ‘Police in Corridors’ and ‘Police in Classrooms’.

Police in Classrooms aims to provide age-appropriate classroom instruction on a variety of topics, from drugs and alcohol to knife crime to online safety. They aim to demystify the police, and in so doing make police in general more approachable by young people who may be at risk or need help.

This trial will evaluate a Police in Classroom curriculum developed by the PSHE Association. The curriculum will comprise of four units: Personal Safety, Drugs and the Law, Violence Prevention, and Knife Crime—with each unit containing three lessons. As per PSHE guidance, each unit will be taught collaboratively, with the classroom teacher teaching the first and third lessons and the specially trained schools officer teaching the middle lesson.

The pilot evaluation will involve 10 schools in the Bristol area, randomised at school year level. We will use the findings of this evaluation to determine whether we progress to an efficacy trial. The evaluation also includes scoping, mapping and in-depth work across all police forces in England and Wales as well as an implementation and process evaluation. 

Project protocol