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Subject Matter Expert | Next Move: Future Police

Call for Course Authors and Instructors (Subject Matter Experts) | Next Move: Future Police

Police Leadership Development Pathway, University of Guelph School of Continuing Studies

About the Program

Next Move: Future Police is a three-level leadership development pathway for police services, designed for sworn and civilian leaders from front-line supervisors to the executive level. The program comes from the University of Guelph's Next Move: Professional Growth Series. It is being co-designed with policing and public sector practitioners and piloted with a founding Ontario police service partner.

Police services across Canada face succession gaps, fiscal constraint, governance complexity, rapid technology change, an expanding community role, and heightened public scrutiny. Future Police builds the leadership capability to meet these pressures. The curriculum is grounded on a ten-domain Organizational Capability Model covering strategic, financial, technological, and governance competencies. Two lenses run through every course: systems thinking and a human-centred approach.

The pathway has three scaffolded levels. Each level has eight micro-credentials of 15 hours each, and completing all eight earns a certificate at that level. The following course names are subject to change.

Level 1: Serve (Supervisory) | online, self-directed

For sergeants, staff sergeants, team leads, and civilian equivalents

  • 1.1 Adapting to Change
  • 1.2 Foundations of Frontline Leadership: From Tactical Expert to Leader
  • 1.3 Leading Small-Scale Initiatives
  • 1.4 How Organizations Really Work
  • 1.5 Ethics in Practice: Accountability, Integrity & Grey Areas
  • 1.6 Wellness & Psychological Safety for Frontline Leaders
  • 1.7 Responsible Technology Use
  • 1.8 Reading the Room: Navigating Organizations, Power & Politics

Level 2: Lead (Mid-Command) | online asynchronous

For inspectors, superintendents, and civilian managers

  • 2.1 Systems Leadership
  • 2.2 Financial Decision-Making & Resource Management
  • 2.3 Using Data and AI to Drive Decisions
  • 2.4 Leading Through Organizational Change
  • 2.5 Building Trust: Workforce and Community Leadership
  • 2.6 Human-Centred Leadership and Coaching
  • 2.7 Building High-Performing Teams
  • 2.8 Design Thinking and Innovation

Level 3: Command (Executive) | hybrid, faculty-led, police-only executive cohort

For chiefs, deputy chiefs, command staff, and senior administration

  • 3.1 Strategy and Institutional Positioning
  • 3.2 Leading with Purpose: Values, Trust and Authentic Presence
  • 3.3 Financial Stewardship and Resource Allocation
  • 3.4 Strategic Foresight and Modern Policing
  • 3.5 Workforce Strategy and Culture
  • 3.6 Data, Digital Evidence and AI Governance
  • 3.7 Community and Stakeholder Leadership
  • 3.8 Political Acuity and Public Governance

Development is starting with Level 3 (Command) for a Winter 2027 launch. Level 1 (Serve) follows for Spring 2027, and Level 2 (Lead) timing is to be confirmed.

Areas of Expertise Sought

We are looking for policing practitioners, academics, and cross-sector leaders with expertise in areas such as:

  • Police executive leadership, command, and institutional strategy
  • Police Services Board governance, municipal and intergovernmental relations, and operational independence
  • Public sector budgeting, deployment economics, procurement, and resource allocation
  • Workforce strategy, succession planning, labour relations, and culture change in uniformed services
  • Data, digital evidence, AI governance, privacy law, and surveillance ethics in policing
  • Community engagement, co-production, media strategy, and crisis communications
  • Ethics, accountability, and use-of-force decision-making
  • Officer wellness, trauma-informed leadership, and psychological safety
  • Indigenous relations, reconciliation (including the TRC Calls to Action relevant to policing and justice), and EDIA in policing
  • Strategic foresight, systems thinking, and design thinking
  • Frontline supervision and the transition from constable to supervisor

Responsibilities

We are looking for subject matter experts to work with the School of Continuing Studies. Together we will develop Next Move: Future Police course(s) that reflect current Canadian policing practice and integrate the program's core lenses of systems thinking and a human-centred approach.

The course developer will:

  • Participate in planning meetings to set the project schedule and design considerations for the course: learner profile, competency domains, resources, learning strategies, course content, and unit structure
  • Attend regular update meetings with the instructional design team throughout the project
  • Develop written course content with rich, relevant, real-life examples and case studies grounded in Canadian policing and cross-sector practice
  • Design learning activities that reinforce key leadership skills and give participants room to practise them
  • Develop applied assessments and grading rubrics that align with course learning outcomes and ask participants to work on real challenges within their own service
  • Select appropriate readings from a variety of academic, policy, and practitioner sources
  • Identify relevant media components (images, video, interviews, etc.) for the course
  • Integrate the program's design commitments throughout: EDIA, reconciliation (including the TRC Calls to Action relevant to policing and justice), and trauma-informed, wellness-aware leadership
  • Incorporate feedback from practitioner reviewers and the design team, and meet agreed development milestones
  • Participate in quality review and revision of the course in the learning management system before launch, and in refinement after the pilot

For Level 2 (Lead) and Level 3 (Command) courses, the instructor will also:

  • Facilitate live sessions for Command cohorts, in person on campus or live online, and provide active instructor presence in asynchronous Lead courses
  • Moderate discussions, provide substantive feedback, and evaluate assessments against course rubrics
  • Protect the confidentiality of police-only cohort discussions and participant work
  • Contribute to program evaluation and continuous improvement

Qualifications

You have:

  • A graduate degree from an accredited institution in a relevant field (e.g., criminology, public administration, leadership, business, law, organizational development), or an equivalent combination of senior policing leadership experience and professional education
  • Relevant leadership experience in policing, public safety, public governance, or a related field: at least five years for Levels 1 and 2, and at least ten years at a senior or executive level for Level 3
  • Experience in online learning environments
  • One to two years of experience developing curriculum, learning strategies, and assessments
  • Teaching or training experience, or a diploma or degree in adult education with curriculum development skills. This is a definite asset.
  • An excellent ability to balance competing priorities and manage your time to meet deadlines
  • Exceptional communication skills, especially in writing. You can articulate complex ideas, concepts, and processes clearly and concisely.
  • Confidence with computer technology and the ability to master a learning management system. If you are teaching, you have the ability and desire to learn the software required to be a successful online facilitator.
  • Access to the internet and computer technology, including audio and video equipment and software, to develop and (where applicable) facilitate an online course
  • First-hand experience as a student in an online course

Essential Skills and Abilities

You are:

  • Passionate about learning, teaching, and the future of policing leadership
  • Flexible, resourceful, creative, and self-motivated
  • Organized with excellent time management skills
  • A good communicator with exceptional written and verbal communication skills
  • Able to deliver within given deadlines
  • Familiar with, and have an ability to access, academic, policy, and practitioner resources
  • Competent with the Microsoft Office suite, including use of shared files

Compensation and Engagement

SMEs will be engaged as independent contractors. Course development is paid at $1,500–$3,000 per course, depending on level, scope, complexity, and required expertise. Delivery and facilitation for Lead and Command courses are paid separately.

Development runs from Fall 2026 through 2028 according to the launch schedule. Level 3 development begins immediately.

To Apply

Please submit your resume and a brief cover letter outlining your subject matter expertise and relevant experience—indicating the course(s) you wish to develop and whether you are interested in teaching—by November 15, 2026 to:

Mariel Mading, Manager, Professional and Workforce Learning and Innovation, School of Continuing Studies
Email: mmading@uoguelph.ca