11/01/12

By Andrew Holt

Military academy schools should be introduced in Britain's most deprived and 'NEET' areas to prevent youngsters turning into a new generation of rioters, according to the think-tank ResPublica.

In the think-tank's published report Military Academies: Tackling disadvantage, improving ethos and changing outcome says two-thirds of young people involved in the riots had some form of special educational need and more than a third had been excluded from school during 2009-10, laying bare the extent of educational failure in Britain's poorest communities.

According to the report, troubled youngsters would benefit from receiving pastoral care from those with a military background.

It adds that the academies will also help students into employment by forming partnerships with defence and other manufacturing firms that offer apprenticeships.

Phillip Blond, the founder of ResPublica, said: "Why should the benefits of military discipline and training be limited to a handful of children excluded from mainstream schools, or just two weeks a year? If the Government is serious about harnessing the expertise and ethos of the armed forces, then they must be far more radical."

A product of ResPublica's Models and Partnerships for Social Prosperity workstream, one of the three core workstreams of the ResPublica Trust, the publication is the first of a new format known as ResPublica Green Papers.

Designed to provide a discussion platform for single exciting ideas in public policy, the purpose of these short, provocative pieces is to outline an argument which could spark a debate and prompt feedback and deeper reflection on the topic.

Written by ResPublica Director Phillip Blond and Patricia Kaszynska, senior researcher and project manager at ResPublica, the paper outlines a new approach to tackling intergenerational disadvantage and the social and educational dysfunction that cripples our most depressed areas.

It proposes a new network of transformative educational institutions, Military Academies officially backed by the Armed Services and delivered by the Cadet Associations which would teach the skills and discipline required to alter outcomes for those who live in our most troubled towns and cities.

This new educational offer would be the result of a partnership between the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Education.

Sponsored by the Armed Forces and delivered with and by the Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Associations (RFCAs) using their practical experience and existing governance support, the schools would be located in those regions in areas with the greatest concentration of young people who are NEET (not in employment, education or training) or at risk of becoming NEET.

The proposal for a new model of schooling offers one policy solution to the social ills that became manifest at the time of the riots in summer 2011.

Looking at the educational background of the young people who took part in the riots, two-thirds were classed as having some form of special educational need, more than a third had been excluded from school during 2009-10, and more than one in 10 of the young people appearing before courts had been permanently excluded from school.

The Military Academies would open up new opportunities for those lacking hope and aspiration; they would change the cultural and moral outlook of those currently engulfed by hopelessness and cynicism.

The paper also makes suggestions for a long-term plan for utilising the talent and expertise that currently exists in the Armed Forces as well as a way of assuring and extending the future Reserves’ intake.

The programme, says the paper, would create an additional incentive for joining the UK’s Reserve Forces by providing significant employment opportunities and a clear career path for those considering membership.

Ultimately, the paper suggests a way for extending the military ethos beyond its traditional confines so that it extends to those parts of society that could benefit the most from a renewed sense of purpose and aspiration.

This publication is part of a set of work encompassing reports, roundtables and conferences that addresses the problems of intergenerational deprivation and institutional disadvantage that compounds the lack of opportunities for too many children and young people in the UK.

The overarching conviction uniting this work is that policy solutions capable of tackling these problems have to operate on the level of groups and communities as well as individuals.

This publication says past attempts at fighting destitution and disadvantage risk failure because they were designed to improve only individual life chances rather than to transform the outcome for deprived communities as a whole.

Unhappily, the effect of many policies aiming to increase social mobility was to move a small number of individuals up the social ladder and leave their communities behind.

With social mobility in the UK remaining at the level it was for those born in 1970 and the inequality gap haemorrhaging the aspirations of those at the bottom, a radical rethinking of public policy is needed.

Home     More News


Other stories you may find of interest:

Cut benefits for parents who refuse all support, urges CSJ report
Parents should face sanctions such as benefit cuts if they persistently fail to cooperate and accept support offered by schools to tackle violent or disruptive behaviour by their children, according to a major new report to be published today. The report, which is highly critical of the current system of combating classroom ill-discipline says that engaging parents is vital to improving educational standards and behaviour. The scale of the problem is startling with permanent exclusions (expulsions) running at nearly 6,000 a year and fixed term exclusions (suspensions) at over 330,000.

Sector pleased with Upper Tribunal's decision on private schools
A number of sector groups have given their views on the Upper Tribunal’s decision on the issue of charities, public benefit and fee charging. The Charity Commission says it welcomes the Upper Tribunal’s decision, the NCVO says it is the most significant development in charity law for nearly 50 years, ACEVO says it reinforces the need for all charities to demonstrate public benefit and the Independent Schools Council claimed it as a victory, handing decisions back to school governors. The case, which went before the Upper Tribunal in May, drew on two sets of proceedings exploring what educational charities charging high fees must do in order to meet the public benefit requirement.

Military leaders in Egypt have 'crushed' hopes of revolution says Amnesty International
Egypt's military rulers have completely failed to live up to their promises to Egyptians to improve human rights and have instead been responsible for a catalogue of abuses which in some cases exceeds the record of Hosni Mubarak, Amnesty International said today as it published a major new report on the Egyptian army’s record. In its 62-page report, Broken Promises: Egypt's military rulers erode human rights, Amnesty documents a woeful performance on human rights by the Supreme Council of Armed Forces (SCAF) which assumed power after the fall of former President Hosni Mubarak in February.