Comment, analysis, news

Quakers go to war over ‘bellicose’ school pack that promotes ‘pro-military values’

03/03/2015

The Independent

The Government has been accused of helping indoctrinate children with pro-military values through a new schools pack aimed at promoting the armed forces.

Government accused of military propaganda in the classroom

27/02/2015

ForcesWatch / Quakers in Britain press release

The Government's material for schools about the armed forces has been criticised today by the human rights group ForcesWatch and Quakers in Britain.

Veterans bring ‘military ethos’ to schools

27/01/2015

The Guardian

Growing number of organisations employ ex-servicemen and women to work in schools helping children develop ‘character’

Cardiff event on ‘Red Hand Day’ 2015: ‘Ban schoolyard recruitment’

26/01/2015

Cardiff United Nations Association; Cardiff News Plus; Made in Cardiff TV

On Red Hand Day (the annual international day of campaigning against the use of child soldiers), 12 February, 2015, a well-attended event at Cardiff's Temple of Peace called for an end to military presence and influence in schools and colleges in Wales. Featuring speakers from ForcesWatch and Fellowship of Reconciliation Wales, the event explored the nature of armed forces visits to schools and colleges in Wales, as well as the military's 'engagement' with young people in Wales more broadly...

Military ethos – where’s the evidence?

26/01/2015

National Youth Agency

Jon Boagey, operations director [at the National Youth Agency], asks why military ethos doesn’t seem to need evidence to get government funding.

Army launches ‘rebranding’ and recruitment campaigns

21/01/2015

BBC

The Army is launching a publicity campaign to keep its work in the public eye, following the end of combat operations in Afghanistan.

Minister: cut teenage pregnancies with army cadets

20/01/2015

The Telegraph

Army cadet units could help cut the rate of teenage pregnancies, an education minister has said.
Lord Nash said teenage girls from single-parent families who had “never experienced the love of a man” could be deterred from forming “unsuitable relationships” if they enrolled in a cadet unit.

UK soldiers of 16 ‘too young’

12/01/2015

Sunday Times

THE children’s commissioner for England has accused the armed forces of breaching the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child by recruiting soldiers from the age of 16.

More questions raised about the ‘Military Ethos in Schools’ programme

06/01/2015

TES, Telegraph, and BFBS

The Department for Education has committed a further £3.5m to fund organisations building 'character' among school students, and £1m for research to find the most effective ways that character can be taught in schools.

Armed Forces visit state schools as many as 20 times in two years

19/12/2014

Herald Scotland

FOUR out of five of Scotland's state secondary schools had visits by the Armed Forces within a two year period, sparking claims they were related to recruitment.