ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Educ.
Sec. Higher Education
This article is part of the Research TopicEducation, Science, and Citizenship: Critical Perspectives for a Globalized WorldView all articles
Educating for a Sustainable Future: Police Students' Experiences and Expectations
Provisionally accepted
- 1Department of Strategy and Organizational Governance / Planning and Finance Section, Norwegian Police University College, Oslo, Norway
- 2Universitetet i Sorost-Norge USN Handelshoyskolen, Kongsberg, Norway
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Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) is a legal and strategic priority in Norwegian higher education, yet its integration in police education remains unclear. This study explores how Norwegian police students perceive sustainability in their training and what expectations they have for future learning. We posed the following research questions: (1) What have police students learned, directly or indirectly, that may promote sustainable development? and (2) To what extent do police students wish to learn more about sustainability, and in which areas? Eleven police students were interviewed using a semi-structured approach. Findings reveal that sustainability is not explicitly addressed in the curriculum. Social and economic sustainability is covered indirectly through content on human rights, diversity, procedural justice, corruption and cybercrime, while environmental dimensions receive minimal attention. Students expressed strong interest in more explicit and practice-oriented ESD, particularly on environmental crime, and emphasized the need to embed sustainability early and systematically across courses, linking it to operational policing tasks. These insights highlight a discrepancy between policy ambitions and educational practice, offering improvement opportunities for professional preparedness and institutional legitimacy. Strengthening sustainability education in policing could enhance competence, support trust, and equip officers to address complex societal challenges. The study contributes to emerging research on ESD in professional education and offers recommendations for curriculum development at the Norwegian Police University College (NPUC).
Keywords: education for sustainable development2, ESD implementation3, police education4, sustainability in policing1, sustainable development5
Received: 10 Nov 2025; Accepted: 29 Dec 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Sillerud and Boe. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Ole Boe
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