Think about programs you’ve attended where you’ve been able to successfully transfer your learning to your workplace or other appropriate location. What did the instructor or facilitator do to assist you with this transfer? Are there programs you attended where no transfer of learning occurred? If so, analyze why you believe this was the case.

            In policing, the majority of courses involve a transference of learning requiring immediate use. While evolving technologies have posed serious challenges for law enforcement, they have also opened up opportunities for police to improve their skills and techniques. From the use of driving simulators at RCMP Depot in Regina to new technologies for specialized courses such as small arms, when it comes to training, the RCMP leverages technology to train cadets and regular members to maintain and further develop their skills. The majority of my law enforcement courses have allowed me to transfer my learning to the workplace or other appropriate locations. For example, police defensive driver training is transferable to my daily driving habits – stopping at all Tim Horton’s.

            During my formal driver training and hundreds of other Cadets in Depot, I was physically and emotionally abused. All driver trainers were regular members of the RCMP with the rank of Corporal. Lack of classroom attention was met with demeaning personal comments and push-ups. Poor driving resulted in a slap on the thigh with a clipboard or back of a hand on the shoulder or side of the head. Extra driving above and beyond the regular training (6:00 am to 4:30 pm) was often the result. These abuses are by today’s standards classified as verbal and mental abuse and physical assault.

            Learning was transferred to me in the RCMP way by teaching me skills development and the immediate application of those skills. This confirms Burke and Hutchins (2007) view that operationalize learning transfers as the use of newly acquired knowledge or skills within the regular working or life context. Even though the RCMP training methods were draconian, as a cadet and learner, I could recognize and describe the concepts and skills learned and be actively used and applied to a real-world concept.

            Did I learn the “far transfer” of the knowledge and skills? One area I learned but many cadets did not was physical training and the importance of continuing with a personal fitness program. The RCMP was over-occupied with the design on content, the implementation and what was happening during the learning event and did little to prepare cadets to actively engage in the far transfer of the knowledge and skills after the training. Many young cadets, after graduation, lost all interest in physical fitness, and the results were very noticeable.

            In depot, I would like to say there was very little learning transfer, but I cannot. Learning was forced learning with consequences. Knowledge was transferred out of fear. I feared failing and return home to face my father and family. For that reason, I persevered through the six months of training.

            In 2022, the RCMP is considered by many to be on the leading edge of police training. With the adult-learning environment structure, each new lesson scaffolds on what cadets have previously learned. They learn a skill in one environment and then transfer it to another. The learning environment is highly interactive and includes scenarios, case studies, role-plays, lectures, panel discussions, presentations and community interaction.

            The RCMP training may have changed, but the cliché remains the same – there is the right way, the wrong way, and the RCMP way.

References

Burke L., Hutchins H. (2007). Training transfer: An integrative literature review. Human Resource Development Quarterly, 6, 263-296.