recruitment

RAF recruitment in schools

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'.

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London’s first ‘Military Preparation College’ opens

London's first Military Preparation College - the UK's 18th - has been set up. ForcesWatch have a few concerns.

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Army failing to attract young recruits

The Army has failed to attract enough young recruits in 9 of the last 10 years, and is looking to change this by emphasising the Army's non-combat work. ForcesWatch are concerned this could lead to the further overlooking of the fact that combat is the raison d'être of the armed forces.

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Peace education and the promotion of the armed forces in UK schools

This report highlights that peace education is not being promoted in schools. This is counter to the recommendations made by the United Nations Committee on the Rights of the Child to the UK Government that peace education should be part of the curriculum.  This raises concerns particularly with the increased promotion of the military within schools through the Department for Education's 'military ethos' programme and free military-related learning resources, and as the armed forces continue to conduct a substantial 'youth engagement' programme.

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Army officer recruitment drive in universities

A major new Army officer recruitment drive is targeting university students. Why is this acknowledged as 'recruitment', when similar activities in schools are not?

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Fears over Army targeting deprived schools debated by AMs

Concerns over how many visits army officers make to schools in deprived areas will be debated by assembly members on Wednesday.

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ForcesWatch welcomes Welsh Government stance over military visits to schools

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.

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Government Cadet Programme Cynically Targeting the Poor

"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."

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Concerns about armed forces visits to secondary schools in Wales

This briefing is a response to the 2012-13 Welsh Assembly Petitions Committee’s investigation into UK armed forces ‘recruitment’ in schools in Wales, following the petition Stop the Army Recruiting in Schools (P-04-432) submitted by the Fellowship of Reconciliation Wales. The Petition Committee’s final report on their consideration of the petition was published in June 2015.

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Updates on £50m for over 300 new Cadet units in disadvantaged state schools

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?”)

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