The UK armed forces visit thousands of schools each year. They offer school presentation teams, youth teams, ‘careers advisors’ and lessons plans. The Government has recently indicated that there will be an expansion of cadet forces within state schools to encourage the military ‘spirit’ and that ex-soldiers will mentor youngsters in schools.
While there are claims that school involvement is not about recruiting young people, the Ministry of Defence has itself stated that visits to educational establishments are a “powerful tool for facilitating recruitment”. In having contact with young people, the military aim to sow seeds in impressionable young minds. In 2007, the head of the Army’s recruitment strategy said, “Our new model is about raising awareness, and that takes a ten-year span. It starts with a seven-year-old boy seeing a parachutist at an air show and thinking, 'That looks great.' From then the army is trying to build interest by drip, drip, drip."
Should the armed forces by given access to children within education? How can we challenge their activities in schools and colleges? How can a more balanced view of what life in the armed forces involves be given to young people?
ForcesWatch’s new Military Out Of Schools campaign aims to take the argument that educational institutions are no place for the military into the public arena and to question assumptions that engagement with armed forces at a young age is benign. Additionally, we will provide materials to support those challenging military presence in their schools or provide a more balanced view of what life in the armed forces involves be given to young people.
