military ethos

Government funding for ‘military ethos’ in schools

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.

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French soldiers condemned for having primary school pupils try out unloaded rifles

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.

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Armed forces visits to schools debated in the Welsh Assembly!

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.

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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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New critical thinking resources from The Citizenship Foundation

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.

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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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Cadet units in state schools to increase five-fold with £50 million budget boost

The number of cadet units in state schools is to increase five-fold by 2020, George Osborne announced today in the Summer Budget.

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‘Character Building’ range of HM Armed Forces toys

A 'Character Building' series of armed forces toys licensed by the MoD is discredited by the new Veterans for Peace UK short film on some of the things that these toys don't show, and by developments in 'character education' that indicate there is no need for 'military ethos' initiatives in UK schools.

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Military ethos in schools is not character education but recruitment propaganda, claim Mark Thomas and Clare Short

In a new film from the Quakers, comedian Mark Thomas and former MP Clare Short claim the Government is misusing the education system to encourage support for its wars and to promote careers in the armed forces.

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Critical scrutiny of military ethos initiatives continues

An example of how critical scrutiny of the Military Ethos in Schools programme is being sustained from people outside of ForcesWatch, comes from an Institute of Education conference in February 2015, where Victoria Basham, senior lecturer in Politics at Exeter University, gave a critical overview of the Department for Education's Military Ethos in Schools programme. Her talk was filmed, and can be viewed online here...

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