Cadet plan needs consultation

This week the Ministry of Defence released news that the City of London Academy Islington (formerly Islington Green School) is to host a cadet unit. ForcesWatch urge parents, governors, teachers and students of the school not to accept this development until after a public consultation on the matter.

This is the first in a proposed 100 new cadet units in state schools across the country.

The move is described by the MOD as throwing the school a ‘lifeline’ – language which we find to be in poor taste given the potential negative effects of such a move.

Although volunteers with the cadets frequently express anger at any suggestion the cadets are a recruitment tool, the facts remain that an estimated 15-25% of serving soldiers were members of the cadets, and the in the MOD’s recently published Defence Youth Engagement Review, Brig. James Plaistow outlines just how valuable a recruitment resource the cadets are. In light of these facts, it is hard to view the institution of a cadet unit in Islington’s worst performing school without a little cynicism at the motives for such a move.

The recruitment tactics of the military and the often misguided information given out during the recruitment process are the subject of ongoing criticism by organisations across the UK and any move to further increase armed forces engagement with schools should be the subject of serious critical inquiry.

I would urge parents, governors, teachers and students of the school not to accept this development until after a public consultation on the matter.

See more: cadets, military in schools/colleges, ForcesWatch, military ethos