Comment, analysis, news

Three Days on the Western Front: A student’s experience of a school trip to the First World War battlefields

23/02/2016

Written and offered to ForcesWatch by Joe Brydon, who was in Year 13 at an academy school in Bristol at the time of the trip.

An account of a school trip in 2015 to the First World War battlefields by Joe Brydon, who was in Year 13 at the time, which raises various important questions about some of the ways that school students are being encouraged to remember war.

New Deal Needed on Military Visits to Scotland’s Schools

12/02/2016

ForcesWatch press release

ForcesWatch – which scrutinises the military – and Quakers in Scotland, are today formally launching a petition at Holyrood calling for increased transparency and scrutiny of armed forces visits to schools.

Troops to Teachers scheme misses target

01/02/2016

TES, Hansard

A controversial scheme to turn former military personnel into teachers has trained just a sixth of its target number of veterans during the first two years.

After ‘cannon fodder’ outcry … Holyrood urged to investigate military visits to schools

27/01/2016

Sunday Herald

MSPs are being urged to hold an inquiry into the presence of the armed forces in Scotland’s schools after an outcry over plans to set up cadet units aimed at the poorest pupils.

Holyrood should protect Scottish schools from creep of cadets

19/01/2016

ForcesWatch press release

ForcesWatch is calling on the Scottish government to resist attempts to introduce Cadet units into the country’s state secondary schools.

RAF recruitment in schools

06/01/2016

Hansard

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'.

Children have no place in the British army

22/12/2015

The Guardian

Britain is the only country in Europe to recruit 16-year-olds into its armed forces. The cynical targeting of underprivileged youngsters must end

Army urged to stop using armed teenagers to guard barracks

16/12/2015

The Guardian

ForcesWatch report calls on UK military to stop recruiting minors altogether, as armed forces bill due for third reading

New report shows that important duty of care recommendations have not been implemented by the armed forces

16/12/2015

ForcesWatch press release

Ahead of the House of Commons debate on the Armed Forces Bill on Wednesday 16 December, ForcesWatch has published a new report calling for a change in the law ending military recruitment under 18 years of age.

London’s first ‘Military Preparation College’ opens

08/12/2015
London's first Military Preparation College - the UK's 18th - has been set up. ForcesWatch have a few concerns.