recruitment

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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Update on Army attempt to obtain sensitive student data for recruitment purposes

Following our recent piece on the news story that the Ministry of Defence requested access (which the Department for Education rejected) to the database of sensitive data of school students in England, to help the Army better target its recruitment practice, it has emerged that the Army - in collaboration with Royal Holloway College and the mobile phone app specialists DotNet - was specifically seeking to match individuals’ data with specific Army jobs, with a mobile phone app an apparent intended output. This and other revelations undermine the claims by the MoD quoted in the original news coverage of the story that they aren’t targeting individuals for recruitment, and that the request was an error that had been “halted”.

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The British Armed Forces need to stop targeting and recruiting children

The freelance journalist Lee Williams gives an overview of the UK military's youth engagement, and presents a strong ethical case for why the armed forces should stop recruiting children.

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British Veterans Made Some Dark Films to Protest the UK Army’s Recruitment of 16-Year-Olds

An article on the context of the striking new short film from Veterans for Peace UK, Action Man: Battlefield Casualties , which presents a new range of war-traumatised action men.

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War marketed as family entertainment

Letter to The Independent (see all signatories  below).

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Welsh Gov told to review the way British military recruits in Welsh schools

The Welsh Government has been told to review of the way the British Armed Forces are allowed to recruit in Welsh schools.

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War veterans call for rethink on recruitment of 16-year-olds

Former professionals condemn recruitment of teenagers by ‘pushing the notion of a noble military career to children’.

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A former cadet’s experience of the Combined Cadet Forces

Looking back on being part of a school-based cadet unit, the author reflects that, despite the fun and experience to be gained, the benefits could be achieved with non-military activities which would not present a dangerous and risk-laden career as an enjoyable and exciting activity or expose young people to an environment where bullying and hazing are normalised.

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MoD claims request for sensitive student data to aid Army recruitment an “error”

'The Ministry of Defence (MoD) has been blocked from obtaining highly sensitive personal data about school and college students, which had ostensibly been sought in order to help “target its messaging” around military careers...'

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‘Targeted messaging’ in schools about armed forces careers not for the ‘well-being’ of students

Schools Week are today reporting that the Ministry of Defence requested access to the National Pupil Database. The request was for the most sensitive pupil data. The request was refused by the Department for Education. The evidence is in that the armed forces already visit schools for recruitment purposes so we ask why, if 'targeted messaging' in schools about armed forces careers is not for the 'well-being' of students, are they allowed to visit schools with their recruitment agenda at all?

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