Anne Sofie Schøtt

Abstract

Empiric Praxis in strategic training

According to the Statutory Order on the Military Diploma Programme (premier lieutenant education), one of the purposes of the programme is that the graduate develops a personal officer’s praxis. This development project identifies the strategic competences a of premier lieutenant capable of handling the practical tasks of an officer in the Royal Danish Air Force, and develops a framework describing the professional formation – Bildung – of a premier lieutenant. Based on this, the project produces a set of recommendations on how to strengthen the practical dimension in the strategy training at the Royal Danish Air Force Academy. The development project includes interviews with newly graduates and superiors to newly graduates. The development project concludes that the premier lieutenant of the Air Force needs instrumental competences (operational task solution and communication to subordinate personnel), hermeneutic competences (comprehensive understanding of the Danish Defence) as well as emancipatory competences (professional formation). In line with this, the project recommend that in order to strengthen the practical dimension of the of the strategic training programme at the Royal Danish Air Force Academy the teacher should seek to implement a set of initiatives: 1) analyses of operational cases based on classified information, 2) communication exercises about political decisions and consequences hereof to military personnel, and 3) closer contact with the operative wings, either by having the students visit the wings of the Air Force or by inviting experts within the Air Force to participate in the strategy training.