The immersive exercise – designed to enhance students’ practical skills in safeguarding, investigation, and multi-agency collaboration – featured Professional Policing lecturers acting as on-duty officers as students observed and engaged in a simulated case involving a concerned mother reporting her child missing.

This session made use of the University’s new SIM Street – named Brewster Square in honour of Annie Brewster, one of Britain’s first Afro-Caribbean nurses – which features realistic settings such as an immersive room where walls transform to simulate diverse environments, mock hospital wards, and simulated flats fully equipped with furniture.

The exercise, which involved students from courses from across the School of Applied Social Sciences, including Professional Policing, Childhood & Youth Studies, and Criminology, moved between a street scene mocked up in the immersive suite, and a realistic flat environment, while students observed from a nearby lecture theatre.

Throughout the scenario, students witnessed how initial reports of a missing child are handled, the challenges of gathering information from a parent, and the critical steps taken by police to assess risk and initiate safeguarding measures. The scenario concluded with a multi-agency debrief, where participants discussed concerns regarding the child’s wellbeing, risk factors, and appropriate intervention strategies – mirroring real-life professional practice.

Speaking about this session, Keren Cotton, Senior Lecturer in Professional Policing, said: “For all our students, it is vital they have experiences which allows them hands-on learning within a safe environment to develop vital skills, such as communication, partnership working, challenging information they are given, and questioning concerns they have about safeguarding, as well as understanding the importance of effective decision making. These are essential skills for their future career pathways.”

This exercise is just one of the immersive teaching experiences available to students through the University’s commitment to Career Powered Education, equipping students with real-world experience before they enter the workforce. By engaging in realistic scenarios, students can build confidence, develop problem-solving skills, and gain a deeper understanding of the challenges they may encounter in their future professions.

To find out more about courses available at the University of Bedfordshire, visit: https://www.beds.ac.uk/howtoapply/courses/

Watch the video below to find out more about what students got up to and how they found the experience.