Government funding for ‘military ethos’ in schools
04/11/2015
figures compiled by ForcesWatch, updated June 2016
Government figures indicate that, since the Military Ethos in schools projects were announced in 2012, over £38 million of new funding has been awarded to them. Most of this new funding comes from the Department for Education. A further £50 million was pledged by the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the July 2015 budget for expanding cadet units in state schools to 2020.
French soldiers condemned for having primary school pupils try out unloaded rifles
21/10/2015
French soldiers have been criticised by the French MoD and local education authorities for having school pupils aged 10 and under try out unloaded assault rifles. There had been no similar outcry regarding similar armed forces activities in schools in the UK, which are driven by the UK MoD.
The Guardian
Army officer recruitment drive in universities
21/10/2015
A major new Army officer recruitment drive is targeting university students. Why is this acknowledged as 'recruitment', when similar activities in schools are not?
ForcesTV; Army
Armed forces visits to schools debated in the Welsh Assembly!
30/09/2015
Our reaction to today's Welsh Assembly debate on armed forces visits to schools in Wales, which represents a major step forward in the scrutiny of the ethics of the military's engagement with the education system.
ForcesWatch Comment
Fears over Army targeting deprived schools debated by AMs
30/09/2015
Concerns over how many visits army officers make to schools in deprived areas will be debated by assembly members on Wednesday.
BBC Wales
Visits to schools by BAE Systems and the RAF
29/09/2015
Evidence suggests that the BAE Systems-RAF team that visits primary and secondary schools ostensibly to encourage students to take an interest in Science, Technology, Engineering and Maths, gives students a sanitised, glamourised image of both BAE and the RAF.
BAE Systems
ForcesWatch welcomes Welsh Government stance over military visits to schools
23/09/2015
The Welsh Government has been praised by ForcesWatch over a “groundbreaking” decision to support in principle more research into how the armed forces operate in secondary schools in Wales.
ForcesWatch press release
Government Cadet Programme Cynically Targeting the Poor
16/09/2015
"The Tory Government are preying on school children in some of our most deprived areas by setting up more and more military cadet units as a step to recruiting them into the armed forces."
Alex Cunningham MP
New critical thinking resources from The Citizenship Foundation
28/07/2015
The Citizenship Foundation's new resources focus on facilitating primary school students' critical thinking skills. Discussing the military in this rigorous way would give students a more balanced impression of armed forces life.
The Citizenship Foundation
Updates on £50m for over 300 new Cadet units in disadvantaged state schools
13/07/2015
Here are several updates following last week's government budget announcement that £50 million would go to expanding the number of state school Combined Cadet Forces to 500 (an increase of over 300), focusing on disadvantaged schools.
* Criticisms of the funding decision have come from the National Youth Agency ("it's a real missed opportunity not to have invested some of it in good quality youth work which delivers 'character' and a whole lot more besides for young people"), and the Quakers (“Ultimately, militarism in schools leads to two kinds of recruitment: the recruitment of teenagers into the armed forces, and the recruitment of wider society to be war ready. Both go undebated. Why can’t we invest in education for peace, not war?”)
Schools Week, Children & Young People Now, Ekklesia.
