Peace Matters Index

action for peace where you live

ONLINE contents


- turn off the lights
- mince pies and missiles
- making room for peace
- in harm’s way
- positive response to conflict
- action for peace where you live
- playtime in the Lotz ghetto
- new kind of warfare

- compled issue pdf

‘It’s not hard recruiting but a subtle way of spreading the message’
Group Captain Dawn McCafferty, RAF’s Inspectorate of Recruitment

The armed forces regularly visit schools. They do so apparently to provide careers guidance, to help discipline and motivate disaffected pupils, and to ‘educate’ children. PPU are concerned that they are also there for recruiting purposes.

The Army, RAF and Navy all have a number of Service Presentation Teams made up of serving personnel which ‘tour schools throughout the country with the aim of providing a greater awareness of the Services and the career opportunities that are available within that Service’.

There is a ‘volunteer mentoring’ programme for disaffected pupils which ‘consists of MOD personnel acting as mentors to individual pupils in local schools’.

The armed forces are also involved in ‘educating’ children through the RAF’s Maths Education Programme and the Army’s Introduction to Human Rights pack (see page 11).

By far the greatest involvement the armed forces have with children is through the ‘Cadet Forces: The Ministry of Defence (MOD) is keen that young people see the armed forces and the MOD civil service as a first choice option when they think about careers. The MOD tries to do so by developing and supporting Britain's youth through sporting, adventurous, military and community training activities.’

The military are trying to recruit school children during school hours, on school premises and with taxpayers money. ‘If they are not caught at this point [16], they are likely to take up other careers and be permanently lost to the armed forces.’ (Select Committee on Armed Forces Bill 2001)

If you are concerned about the military’s ‘subtle way of spreading the message’ you should make your concerns heard. Send the letter below to your MP, the local press and radio stations. If you have children, send the letter to your child’s school or raise the issue at the Parent Teacher Association and with the school’s Board of Governors.
PPU would be very interested to see any replies received in response to the letter as this can help with our future work on militarism in schools. We would also be grateful for reports of military involvement in schools in your area.
The text of this letter here