Inclusion matters course – to promote an inclusive organisational culture

The aims of the inclusion matters foundation course are to:

• educate the workforce on organisational culture, biases, banter, microaggressions, privilege and the importance of being an ally
• learn about the ethical policing principles and psychological safety
• build trust and open communication with the workforce
• create meaningful change and imbed inclusive policing practices
• share the five Ds of intervention: direct, distract, delay, delegate, document

The intended outcomes of the Inclusion Matters foundation course are to:

• improve the workforce’s knowledge on inclusive principles
• increase the workforce’s awareness of the Code of Ethics and how to apply it to decision making
• imbed inclusive policing practices

• increase the workforce’s confidence around upstander behaviour

In 2018, His Majesty’s Inspectorate of Constabulary and Fire & Rescue Services (HMICFRS) conducted a nationwide survey to assess the public’s perceptions of the police. 65% of respondents believed that their local force treated people fairly and with respect, while 49% said that stop and search is appropriately used. Alongside this, in November 2019, the first National Wellbeing Survey of Policing surveyed more 34,000 police officers and staff across England and Wales. The findings highlighted that urgent action was needed to support the wellbeing of police forces. 

Inclusion Matters foundation course

In response, Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary and the University of Reading designed the Inclusion Matters foundation course. The course was launched in April 2021, with the purpose to inform, educate, upskill the workforce using work-related application of inclusive principles.

The course was designed and is delivered by the force’s Inclusion and Wellbeing Training Team. The course was piloted using managers, heads of department and support network representatives. The feedback from the pilot was used to make amendments to the content before a force-wide roll-out.

The course is mandatory for all officers, staff and volunteers. Hampshire and Isle of Wight Constabulary have promoted the course via their intranet. Individuals can book onto the course using the learning portal. It is also part of the professional development review (PDR), to ensure that managers are aware of who has attended.

Due to the size of the organisation and geographical complexities, the course is usually delivered by two trainers online using Microsoft Teams. Where possible, the force can accommodate reasonable adjustments to support the delivery of the course.  In the joining instructions the force ask participants to include any reasonable adjustments in advance, so they can be discussed and implemented. The course can be delivered in-person where required, for example if a British Sign Language (BSL) interpreter is needed. The course can also be split and delivered over multiple days.

Attendance for the course is capped at 25 participants, to enable individuals to feel safe to share their experiences.

The course usually runs for a full day from 09:30 to 16:30, and includes a morning break, a lunch break and an afternoon break. The day is divided up into four sessions and covers the following learning outcomes:

• organisational culture
• impact versus intent and microaggressions
• importance of trust and open communication
• upstander training 

Inclusion Matters Part 2

In January 2025, following the successful delivery of the foundation course, the force launched Inclusion Matters Part two, which contains delivery of the mandated Code of Ethics module four and runs for half a day. The course covers the following learning outcomes:

• understanding police culture
• learning about the ethical policing principles and psychological safety
• upstander training
• sharing the five Ds of intervention

For both courses, the force use a combination of PowerPoint presentations, trainer led discussions, case studies, polls, and breakout rooms.

Senior management approval

The former chief constable approved the development and delivery of the course. Inclusion Matters Part 2 was approved by the People Board, chaired by the acting deputy chief constable. 

An evaluation has been conducted by the University or Reading to understand how the programme has been received, its impacts, and lessons learnt. 

As part of the evaluation, responses were gathered from attendees of the course to explore the impact. In all, 2,678 reports were gathered from police officers and staff who had been with the force from under one year to more than 50 years. 

The evaluation results revealed: 

• participants felt a high-quality of listening was present during the course
• most participants felt psychologically safe, however there was some disagreement on this measure and further work needs to be done to optimise psychological safety
• the course performed significantly better than unconscious bias training delivered at home
• participant felt they had a better understanding of diversity issues 

• to date 6,257 officers, staff and volunteers have completed the foundation course, while 2,288 have completed the second iteration
• the course has promoted positive attitudes and behaviours towards diversity, equality, and inclusion in the workplace
• the force can now promote a more inclusive work environment by prioritising autonomy, competence, and relatedness among employees
• there has been positive feedback from the workforce who have commented on the course materials being accessible, engaging, and informative
• participants have stated that their experience with the trainers was authentic, credible, interesting, and challenging
• since the training was rolled out, race disproportionality in stop and search has nearly halved in the force area, though this cannot be attributed directly to the training
• since implementation, there has been a 61.5% increase in reports of upstanding to the force’s reporting system, suggesting an improvement in confidence on how to use the system and challenge of unacceptable behaviours

The feedback from Inclusion Matters Part 2 shows:

• 80.5% of respondents agree or strongly agree that they now feel more confident applying the Code of Ethics
• 93.8% of respondents agree or strongly agree that they would challenge inappropriate behaviour of a colleague

The following feedback has been provided by participants:

• “You never really know what to expect with some courses, but today’s was excellent. It was well structured, informative and was pitched at the right level.”
• “This is such an important part of our lives both professional and personal and I am determined for my team and I to have a good understanding and be able to apply it as the norm.”
• “I would just like to say how much I got out of your training course today. I won’t lie; I thought it was going to be death by power point. How wrong I was, it was a really good piece of training and your passion for the subject was incredible.”

• Collaborating with the University of Reading has been essential to sharing different ideas and perspectives.
• It was important during the pilot to use senior leaders and representatives from all areas of the organisation. By using clear communication in the intranet adverts, prospective participants can sign up to the course at a date convenient form them.
• The size of the organisation and the geographical complexities of the county created challenges. To resolve this, the force decided on primarily using Microsoft Teams for the delivery of the course. This allows the force to deliver the course to individuals all over the county and enables them to work from home or their local station, rather than having to travel to the force’s headquarters.
• It has been a challenge to fit training into busy workloads, different shift patterns and rotas. The inclusion and wellbeing training team are a small team, which limits the number of courses which can be made available for delivery.
• It is recommended that the course run with two trainers per course and approximately 25 attendees. The force ran the course with larger groups on a few occasions but felt it did not have the same impact. The engagement was lower, and it was not conducive to a positive learning environment when discussing such important topics.
• If using Microsoft Teams to deliver, it is suggested that cameras are switched on during the training to create an engaged, inclusive classroom environment.