Bringing it up to date: 100 years on from the First World War
16/03/2016
ForcesWatch comment
This article, summarising ForcesWatch work, was first published on the White Feather Diaries website.
Scotland petition about armed forces in schools is launched amid cadets row
26/02/2016
Good news – after months of hard work ForcesWatch and Quakers in Scotland have now formally submitted our petition to the Scottish Parliament calling for an inquiry into armed forces visits to schools. We are urging MSPs to strike a ‘new deal’ on armed forces visits to schools, ensuring greater scrutiny, transparency and guidance over visits.
There’s already been a hugely positive response to the petition, with more than four hundred signatories in the first four days. You too can sign it, whether you live in Scotland or not. You’ll find it here and it’s live until the 20th March.
ForcesWatch comment
Three Days on the Western Front: A student’s experience of a school trip to the First World War battlefields
23/02/2016
An account of a school trip in 2015 to the First World War battlefields by Joe Brydon, who was in Year 13 at the time, which raises various important questions about some of the ways that school students are being encouraged to remember war.
Written and offered to ForcesWatch by Joe Brydon, who was in Year 13 at an academy school in Bristol at the time of the trip.
New Deal Needed on Military Visits to Scotland’s Schools
12/02/2016
ForcesWatch – which scrutinises the military – and Quakers in Scotland, are today formally launching a petition at Holyrood calling for increased transparency and scrutiny of armed forces visits to schools.
ForcesWatch press release
Troops to Teachers scheme misses target
01/02/2016
A controversial scheme to turn former military personnel into teachers has trained just a sixth of its target number of veterans during the first two years.
TES, Hansard
After ‘cannon fodder’ outcry … Holyrood urged to investigate military visits to schools
27/01/2016
MSPs are being urged to hold an inquiry into the presence of the armed forces in Scotland’s schools after an outcry over plans to set up cadet units aimed at the poorest pupils.
Sunday Herald
Holyrood should protect Scottish schools from creep of cadets
19/01/2016
ForcesWatch is calling on the Scottish government to resist attempts to introduce Cadet units into the country’s state secondary schools.
ForcesWatch press release
RAF recruitment in schools
06/01/2016
The MoD recently acknowledged that the RAF's Science, Technology, Engineering & Maths (STEM) road show in schools - run in partnership with the weapons company BAE Systems - is 'recruitment'.
Hansard
Children have no place in the British army
22/12/2015
Britain is the only country in Europe to recruit 16-year-olds into its armed forces. The cynical targeting of underprivileged youngsters must end
The Guardian
Army urged to stop using armed teenagers to guard barracks
16/12/2015
ForcesWatch report calls on UK military to stop recruiting minors altogether, as armed forces bill due for third reading
The Guardian