The expansion of new occupations concerned with community safety and anti-social behaviour following the Crime and Disorder Act 1998 brought with it demands for relevant professional education and training. This article discusses the development of an academic programme designed to meet these needs, which emphasised the importance of theoretical and critical reasoning for practitioners, and contrasts it with divergent developments in professional training for probation officers and youth justice workers. The article concludes by reflecting on the likelihood that future qualifying programmes for the new community justice occupations will follow probation and youth justice in adopting a restricted ‘skills and competencies’ approach to professional training.