Candidate Materials Defining and Assessing COMPETENCE · PDF fileCANDIDATE MATERIALS DEFINING AND ASSESSING COMPETENCE (DAC) PROJECT V. 3 This document contains all the documents required

CANDIDATE MATERIALS DEFINING AND

ASSESSING COMPETENCE (DAC)

PROJECT V. 3

This document contains all the documents

required for assessment at Pay point 7, all generic

supporting documentation is available on the

College of Policing dedicated web page.

Assessment at

Pay point 7

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Candidate Materials Defining and Assessing Competence (DAC) Project

Page 2 of 18 OFFICIAL Version 3

© College of Policing Limited 2014

© - College of Policing Limited (the College) December 2014

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced,

modified, amended, stored in any retrieval system or transmitted, in any

form or by any means, without the prior written permission of the College

or its representative.

The above restrictions do not apply to Home Office police forces who are

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within the police service of England and Wales. Some restrictions apply

and forces may not copy or use any part of this material for audiences

other than Home Office police personnel, distribute to third party

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commercial purposes without obtaining written agreement, in the form of

a licence extension, from the College.

All enquiries about this product should be addressed to the Programme

Management Unit on +44 (0)1423 876741 or

[email protected]

The College is committed to providing fair access

to learning and development for all its learners and

staff. To support this commitment, this document

can be provided in alternative formats by

contacting the Programme Management Unit on

+44 (0)1423 876741 or

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The College is committed to the promotion of equal opportunities. Every

effort has been made throughout this text to avoid exclusionary language

or stereotypical terms. Occasionally, to ensure clarity, it has been

necessary to refer to an individual by gender.

mailto:[email protected]

mailto:[email protected]

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Assessment at Pay point 7

Version 3 OFFICIAL Page 3 of 18


Contents

Candidate Handbook - Pilot ............................................................ 4

Why You? ...................................................................................... 4

What Standards will you be Assessed Against? ................................... 5

How will the Assessments be Conducted? .......................................... 5

Establishing the Standard ................................................................ 5

Timetable ...................................................................................... 6

16 Advanced Threshold Personal Qualities ......................................... 6

Core Learning ................................................................................ 7

Behavioural Competency ................................................................. 8

Role Specific CPD ........................................................................... 8

Assessment Time Table ................................................................... 8

Setting the Scene ........................................................................... 9

Appendices .................................................................................. 10

Appendix 1: Police Constable Advanced Threshold Criteria ................ 11

Appendix 2: Assessment Event - Recording Sheet - Blank ................. 13

Appendix 3: Example One: Assessment Event - Recording Sheet ....... 14

Appendix 4: Example Two: Assessment Event - Recording Sheet ....... 16

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Candidate Handbook - Pilot

This handbook offers guidance to officers who are taking part in the pilot

phase of the Defining and Assessing Competence (DAC) project at pay

point 7 (advanced threshold). During the pilot phase we will be asking

you to trial the outlined assessment process.

The aim of this handbook is to offer guidance to officers taking part in the

pilot so fair and valid assessments can be made.

We have put into this guide as much information as we can but as we

progress through the pilot, guidance will be developed as we collectively

begin to understand the standards and what material is required to assess

them. Therefore please feedback any errors you find and more

importantly any issues you face while using this handbook. Please be

willing to share any information, the more we learn at this stage and the

more guidance we can gather the better and fairer the process will be

when it goes live.

Why You?

First of all thank you for agreeing to be part of the pilot. We do

recognised that being assessed can be challenging but it should also be

rewarding and supportive so thanks.

So why you? You are approaching pay point 7 in your career as a police

officer.

We are asking you to commit to an assessment process over the next

year to pilot whether the assessment process we have designed will meet

the requirements of the Winsor Review. We will also be asking you to be

involved with the College of Policing Evaluation Team so we can really

identify what works and more importantly what doesn’t.

For the pilot we are asking that you work with your first line manager who

is likely to be your Sergeant and in this handbook we will be referring to

this role as the assessor and your role as the officer. We have identified

the assessor to be your first line manager as we believe they will be in the

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best position to know what you do and be able to help you identify the

evidence that will make a positive assessment.

It is never too early in the process to refer to the ‘Code of Ethics’ and as

officers being assessed you are asked to become familiar with this Code

and base all your evidence within the code of practice.

We will be looking at ways of making the process as fair and balanced as

possible. So your help is greatly appreciated.

What Standards will you be Assessed Against?

In brief you are being assessed as competent against the following

advanced threshold standards:

16 personal qualities that reflect an officer’s standard of work and

behaviour is beyond that associated with a competent police

constable

any required core learning linked to your role

the behavioural competencies for a Police Constable based in the PPF

self-directed Continuing Professional Development (CPD).

You will be asked to produce evidence with the support of your assessor

that your standard of work and behaviour is beyond that associated with a

competent police constable. Explanation and guidance for how these

assessments will take place will be given later in this handbook.

How will the Assessments be Conducted?

We are suggesting that assessment materials should be collated through

the in force Professional Development Review (PDR) system in a bid to

reduce any additional meetings, hopefully this will be familiar to you and

you will be able to map your evidence to your force priorities. It is very

important to recognise here that a PDR is a really useful tool but it is a

receptacle for assessment material and is not an assessment tool in itself.

Establishing the Standard

During the pilot we will need to be working together to establish what

success looks like, taking into account the roles you as an officer take and

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the context in which you work. It is likely that different assessment

events will be used for different locations, it is important to recognise the

demands in each location will be different and what we need to do is work

together to establish what meets the standard in a rural area is the same

as in an urban area and that our own prejudices don’t get in the way

when making judgements or presenting evidence.

We are trying to establish that an officer approaching pay point 7 is

demonstrating that their standard of work and behaviour is above and

beyond that associated with a competent police constable.

Timetable

Through the pilot assessors and officers will be asked to keep to a

timetable and for evaluation purposes identifying if or why this timetable

could or couldn’t be met. Please become familiar with this proposed time

table. Your in force implementation lead will have access to this.

The pilot is expected to take a year including the evaluation to complete

but there will be some project markers which we hope you will be able to

meet. We are asking that your monthly 1-2-1 meetings are re-configured

so that part of these meetings focus on the collection and collation of

assessment material for this pilot.

16 Advanced Threshold Personal Qualities

A set of 16 personal qualities have been identified as criteria that will be

required to be met by a police constable wishing to attain the advanced

threshold - these are outlined in Appendix 1. This phase is about

establishing that your standard of work and behaviour is above and

beyond that associated with a competent police constable.

Your assessor will work with your to look at the personal qualities

holistically rather than as individual behaviours that occur in isolation to

each other. This is an assessment of the ‘job role’ and complex work

place tasks that demonstrate that your work and behaviour is above and

beyond that associated with a competent police constable. The personal

qualities will brought together with a number of other assessment strands

so that a holistic assessment can be made.

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It will be really important that you can offer examples of your work that

you know you have done well and meets as many of the assessment

requirements as you can, your assessor will be there to help and guide

you. One of the focuses of the pilot phase is to identify these events and

find ways of recording them. Hopefully through this phase we will identify

some common threads to help and support other officers. There are

various communication tools being identified through the pilot as a way of

supporting you.

All this information can be stored within the forces PDR system and be

ready and waiting for a final summative assessment. Evidence shouldn’t

be re-written and presented as a portfolio but fall out of the everyday

work load. Sign posting evidence rather than reproducing it. This should

be seen as a supportive process.

There is are two worked example in Appendix 2 and 3.

The written examples provided form the basis of discussions between the

officer and assessor. The written examples are not the only means by

which an officer is able to demonstrate competence as there are other

forms of evidence such as one to one discussion, witness testimonial,

testimonial from a peer, case file etc. Based on all available evidence the

assessor is required to apply professional judgement in order to determine

whether the officer has met the requirements of the advanced threshold.

Core Learning

This is exactly what it says on the tin. This is training that the force and

either national or local policy has identified to be complete within your

work role.

The core learning requirement is to meet the learning outcomes for the

required learning specific to your role. It doesn’t require you to complete

all the e-learning packages. The College of Policing has created these e-

learning packages to support learning but these are a resource not a

requirement. Many of these learning requirements are met within the

training your force provides, for example the National Decision Model may

be met through Personal Safety Training or Fire Arms Training. Your

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assessor will be checking out your understanding by questions and

answers or a professional discussion or they may ask somebody how you

performed during the training.

This list of learning outcomes is available on the dedicated College of

Policing webpages.

Behavioural Competency

These are the underpinning behavioural expectations that policing expects

for its officers and almost impossible to assess in isolation. You will be

expected to perform your duties by performing your work within this set

of behaviours and your assessor will be looking at how you meet them.

An overview of these competencies are available on the College of Policing

web pages.

Role Specific CPD

This will ultimately be a much personalised piece of evidence as it will be

based on what you are interested in and linked to your specific role.

However what we are looking for is a wider interest than in ‘just doing the

job’. Again there are as many ways of doing this as there are officers

being assessed but the likely scenarios will be furthering knowledge,

finding out more about the communities being served, being involved in

POLKA, wider reading, understanding the political landscape, etc., etc.

We are looking for you to tell us what you do so we can gain a greater

understanding of what CPD you do as well as build a library of ideas.

Assessment Time Table

During any assessment it is essential that a timetable is put in place to

give both assessor and candidate a structure to work to. An assumption

has been made that this timetable can be met but we do want to know if

it can’t. We know that assessing in policing is dependent on many factors

and as a reactive service we know that policing communities will always

come first. At the time of writing we are facing a heightened threat alert,

Ebola and the 2015 election is right in the middle of the assessment cycle

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to name but a few. So if these or any other issue interrupt your process

please let us know.

Setting the Scene

What we want to try and avoid is any surprises so we do recommend that

in your first meeting you explore with your assessor the pilot and be clear

about what we are all trying to achieve. We are recommending that in

your first meeting you discuss what core learning will be required from a

force perspective, the specific behaviours and the personal CPD.

Also at this first meeting you should discuss any appeal procedure,

complaints procedure and any requirement you may have for reasonable

adjustment. Remember reasonable adjustment is about changing ways

that evidence is presented it is not about changing the standards. Finally

put subsequent meetings in the diary and set off. The following meetings

should really be opportunities for you to keep on track and explore ways

of finding evidence particularly if you are doing an unusual role.

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Appendices

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Appendix 1: Police Constable Advanced Threshold Criteria

Standard of work and behaviour is beyond that associated with a

competent police constable.

1. Works with minimal supervision and can be trusted and relied upon

to get work completed without being prompted by supervisor.

2. Takes initiative to generate own workload and doesn't wait to be

asked.

3. Has developed breadth and depth of understanding of law,

knowledge, evidence based policing and understanding of complete

role.

4. Takes an active interest in changes in law and evidenced based

policing, consistently identifying gaps in knowledge, and rectifying

this.

5. Willingness to make decisions independently, escalating when

appropriate.

6. Reasoned decision making based on evidence of what actually works

in delivering outcomes, consideration of the National Decision Making

Model, and thinking ahead.

7. When making pressurised decisions does not focus on any potential

negative impact or repercussions on oneself.

8. Trusted to take control, take the lead, and can be relied upon to take

over when required from supervision.

9. Confidently and competently challenges and expresses opinions with

peers and supervisory officers using constructive language.

10. Confidently and effectively communicates with colleagues, members

of the public or external agencies on what needs to happen and the

reason why.

11. Actively develops colleagues in terms of developmental or

performance needs.

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12. Is highly thought of and respected by colleagues for their knowledge,

skills and experience. Considered as a role model who colleagues

seek advice from.

13. Retains knowledge (organisational, law, or evidence based policing)

in order to share with colleagues (including knowledge transfer that

others benefit from).

14. Consistently copes with the demands of peaks in workload, balancing

workload efficiently, without impacting on the quality of work.

15. Shows commitment to professional development which is

demonstrated through frequent self-initiated learning, further

education or skill enhancement.

16. Builds relationships with partner agencies (e.g. local authorities,

community leaders, or internal departments), bringing people

together to tackle and resolve community issues.

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Appendix 2: Assessment Event - Recording Sheet - Blank

Candidate Name: Tim Brown Candidate Registration Number: 044451 Date: 20/11/14

Assessor Name: Sarah Jenkins Assessor Registration Number: 045678

Short Description of Event

Where the relevant evidence is stored

This assessment covers the following

Advanced Criteria

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Personal Qualities

1 2 3 4 5 6

Core learning

Evidence of CPD Activity

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Appendix 3: Example One: Assessment Event - Recording Sheet

Candidate Name: Tim Brown Candidate Registration Number: 044451 Date: 20/11/14

Assessor Name: Sarah Jenkins Assessor Registration Number: 045678

Short Description of Event I was attending a scene, with four less experienced officers, where

two people had been seriously injured. Although I was not first at

the scene the other officers were not sure about what action to

take and were happy that I took the lead. I asked the officers to

update me with all available information. Both had vital signs.

One victim had puncture wounds and the other was covered in

blood. I was happy to make decisions and used the NDM to help

make decisions. My initial priority was to preserve life - I asked

one officer to see if the ambulance crew needed support. Next I

thought about contamination. I made a decision to use evidence

bags to cover our boots. I asked two other officers to go into the

house to see if there was anyone else in the house. I asked for

support via radio to do house to house enquiries but was told that

none was available. I asked again for support and was told the

same and so spoke on the radio with the Inspector. Inspector

supported my request and we were able to conduct house to

house inquiries.

Where the relevant evidence is stored Witness testimony - file 14/0123

Incident log/event chronology/CAD event

Case file 1411004


Advanced Criteria

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Personal Qualities

1 2 3 4 5 6

Core learning I completed the National Decision Making model e-learning package in March 2013 and applied the principles in the event described

above.

Evidence of CPD Activity N/A

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Example One

In this example an officer has described an event where they attended at

an incident where two people have been seriously injured. The officer has

provided an overview of what happened, what they did and has indicated

where the relevant evidence is stored in Example 1 below. In this

example, the candidate and assessor have been able to identify a number

of the advanced threshold criteria (5 out of 16), have linked the event to

core learning (attendance and application of national decision making

model) and have evidenced unpinning PPF criteria.

In example one, the officer has been able to demonstrate that s/he has

met many of the behaviours within the PPF. For example, in terms

decision making the officer has evidenced ‘a willingness to make decisions

independently, escalating when necessary’ by gathering all available

information from officers already at the incident and has demonstrated

that s/he has made appropriate decisions. Further discussion with the

officer would be required to determine what other options s/he had

considered and whether s/he had reviewed their decision in light of new

information etc.

What makes the example extend from the PPF behaviours and move

towards being an appropriate advanced threshold example is that the

officer was able to evidence that s/he was comfortable in making

independent decisions, demonstrated that s/he applied the National

Decision Making model in his/her thinking and that s/he demonstrated

taking a lead at the incident which was verified through a testimony from

a peer who was present at the event.

As key aspects of the evidence that has been submitted (e.g. took the

lead) are personal accounts of how an officer dealt with other officers such

evidence would not necessarily appear within case files or witness

statements. Evidence of this nature would need to be verified through

another means such as a peer testimony from the officers present.

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Appendix 4: Example Two: Assessment Event - Recording Sheet

Candidate Name: Ridwan Patel Candidate Registration Number: 0555021

Assessor Name: Gareth Hamblin Assessor Registration Number: 0262622 Date: 21/11/2014

Description of Event In January 2014 I received a notable increase in calls from a local elderly care

home. I noticed that this was becoming an increasing trend especially at

weekends. I decided to visit the care home. I met with the manager and

talked to care staff about the calls we had been receiving to find out what the

core issues were and how we could best support them. After taking the time

to talk to the manager, the increase appeared to be due to agency staff who

lacked confidence in restraining patients. I arranged to meet with the staff of

the care home to talk about restraint procedures and negotiating with people

who may be difficult. I reasoned that it was a good investment of time to help

decrease call outs in the future and to also build relationships and a contact

point with this care home. I developed protocols with the home with regard to

calling the police to deal with difficult patients which was done on a

consultative basis with the manager and all staff. I agreed to visit the care

home once a month initially to see how things were progressing and provide

support. Back in force I arranged a briefing session with both community

officers and response officers in that area to talk to them about the issues,

what had been done and the protocols in place. As well as liaising directly with

the home I contacted the council to discuss the issue of training of agency

staff and offered to visit other care homes in the area to provide support and

develop similar protocols.

Where the relevant evidence is stored

Log files 1500124, 1500136, 1500223, 1500324

KPIs indicating decrease in calls for officers to retrain

dementia patients and level of satisfaction with police has

increased in these community areas

Protocols developed for care home

News article outlining the success of new protocols and

policing support


Advanced Criteria

1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8

9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16

Personal Qualities

1 2 3 4 5 6

Core Learning

I completed a local force Mental Ill-Health training package in December 2013 and applied the principles to the event above.

Evidence of CPD Activity

As part of the issues at the home were about dealing with dementia care patients, I researched to find out more about dementia so I was better equipped to talk to patients and staff at the home. I have also arranged for a talk from the care home manager to the team about

dementia to raise our awareness.

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Example Two

In this example an officer has described an event where s/he saw an issue

in the community that had been impacting on policing resources and

looked for a way to improve this. The officer has provided an overview of

the situation prior to their initiative, what s/he did to look into the issues

and what learning s/he took from this event to prevent similar issues from

occurring in other neighbourhood areas. The officer indicated where the

relevant evidence is stored to support the description of the situation and

actions s/he had taken. This resulted in identifying a number of the

advanced threshold criteria (6 of the 16 criteria). The officer has also

linked the event to core learning (completion and application of learning

gained from a local in force Mental Health training session) and has

evidenced the underpinning PPF criteria.

In example two, the officer has been able to demonstrate that s/he has

met many of the behaviours within the PPF. For example, in terms of

Public Service, the officer has evidenced that s/he focused on the issues

that were causing problems for the public (i.e. lack of confidence and

training in restraint measures) and addressed this by providing support

and guidance to agency staff. S/he also demonstrated an ability to ‘build

partnerships with partner agencies, bringing people together to tackle and

resolve community issues’ and by talking to the manager of the care

home and staff; firstly to find out what the underlying issues were and to

work with them to address the issues in a way that suited all parties. This

was evidenced through the development of a protocol. The officer went

on to ensure that this protocol was monitored and s/he developed close

links with the care home on an on-going basis as well as looking to roll

out similar protocols to other neighbourhood care homes.

What makes the example extend from the PPF behaviours and move

towards being an example of advanced threshold is that the officer was

able to evidence that s/he was comfortable in taking the initiative to

address a resourcing problem which was stretching demands on police

resources. At the same time s/he used the event as an opportunity to

build relationships with the community and enhance her/his and other

officers understanding of dementia. The officer also looked beyond the

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initial situation at this care home and looked to how the protocols could be

developed with other care homes. Key aspects of evidence were not only

personal accounts of how s/he addressed the situation but evidence also

included KPI data and news articles promoting the improvements made by

working with the care home.

Documents

Candidate Materials Defining and Assessing COMPETENCE · PDF fileCANDIDATE MATERIALS DEFINING AND ASSESSING COMPETENCE (DAC) PROJECT V. 3 This document contains all the documents required