The Prime Minister is being urged to back the setting up of a network of military schools to help tackle educational failure in the UK’s poorest communities according to a ResPublica publication being launched today.

The ResPublica 'Green Paper' urges David Cameron to recognise and harness the ‘unique technical and vocational expertise’ existing in the armed forces and to use them to create a new generation of schools run by the military that will address poor discipline and educational failure in Britain’s most deprived neighbourhoods.

It sets out a series of recommendations Phillip Blond says will facilitate these new schools. And calls on the Government to support the establishment of 10 pilot academies in regional ‘NEET blackspots’, before encouraging the development of a military academy in ‘every’ local education authority.  

The green paper, Military Academies: Tackling Disadvantage, Improving Ethos and Changing Outcome, written by ResPublica Director Phillip Blond, and Patricia Kaszynska, Senior Researcher at ResPublica, is being launched in the wake of last year’s riots, which laid bare the full extent of educational failure in Britain’s poorest communities.

“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 (compared to 21% for the national average) more than a third had been excluded from school during 2009-10 (this compares with Department for Education records showing 6% exclusions for all Year 11 pupils); and more than one in 10 of the young people appearing before courts had been permanently excluded from school,” the paper says.

“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 recognises that the Government has already started to think about the use of the military in the education system, but it concludes that these are not radical enough to make a real difference. 

“Both Michael Gove and Nick Clegg have highlighted the value of military training. Mr Gove in calling for boot camps for expelled children and Nick Clegg’s summer camps, but the Government must be much bolder,” says Phillip Blond.

“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.”

And to re-enforce the military ethos at the schools the report calls for the development of a fast track teaching training programme for both service personnel and reservists similar to the highly successful US scheme, Troops to Teach, which has helped over 9,500 veteran to qualify as teachers and into state schools.

“Our aspiration would be to emulate the success of the Troops to Teachers programme - a U.S. Department of Education and Department of Defense scheme, which helps eligible military personnel begin a new career as teachers in public schools where their skills, knowledge and experience are most needed.

The paper recognises that these military academies could not be staffed completely by the armed forces, but by a mix of “...qualified teachers recruited from the existing pool in the Reserves, university students who would favour the hybrid nature of a military and educational career, or ex-military personnel accredited through an up-skilling programme we outline as part of our proposal. The Academies would also recruit civilian teachers with an intention of joining the Reserves.”

But it is the pastoral care that the paper says will mark these schools out from more traditional models. “A military background can be a huge asset when it comes to the delivery of pastoral care to troubled youths,” it says.

“A US review of the successful Troops to Teachers scheme in a report by the GAO for The US Congress  revealed that over 80% of “Troops” are men and 40% minorities...Indeed, as the US experience indicated, the servicemen involved in school education in difficult inner-city schools are more likely to come from the same culture and context as the students. These factors are conducive to the development of camaraderie and mutual trust between students and their mentors. Trust building, mentoring and pastoral support – in addition to the delivery of extra-curricular activities and discipline enforcement - would form the core duties for the servicemen not directly involved in teaching.”

And the paper says that these schools will seek to “facilitate pathways into future jobs for their students” through apprenticeships in partnership with defence and other manufacturing firms.

It concludes by saying that developing military academies would also benefit personnel in the armed forces, “...The aim would be to create a number of attractive career pathways into teaching and youth mentoring. One of many benefits of our model is that – while it is radical - it would use already existing structures. Working in partnership with a vocational education accrediting organisation such as City & Guilds and the Cadet Vocational Qualification Organisation, the proposed programme would develop a progression scheme using the new Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF).”

The publication’s recommendations include:

·      The Department for Education should recognise the Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations as an agent of the Armed Forces, as a sponsoring body for Academies 

·      Recognising that the positive involvement of the military reserve and ex-military personnel in schooling 

·      On behalf of the Armed Forces, the Reserve Forces’ and Cadets’ Associations, should submit a sponsorship application to the Department for Education proposing to establish a chain of Military Academies, either by setting up new institutions or taking over failing schools to create a military variant

·      Community outreach should be undertaken by the RFCAs in order to identify locations where local residents might petition the Armed Forces to set up Military Academies

·      Pilot scheme, local communities should be informed about and consulted on the plan at an early stage in order to enhance the legitimacy of the Military Academies and shape them according to the needs of their local communities

·      The Reserve Forces' and Cadets' Associations (RFCAs) should expand and enhance its operational capacity and establish a network of contacts with stakeholders to be involved indirectly in facilitating the infrastructural backing for the Military Academies, such as universities running military training units and third sector organisations working with troubled youths and wounded personnel 

·      The RFCAs should publicise the programme among present and past military personnel

·      Military Academies should be able to deliver a unique curriculum and the mentoring scheme.

·      Each military academy would be overseen by a consortium comprising experienced military personnel, the Cadet Vocational Qualification Organisation, education specialists and third sector organisations working with troubled youths

·      The department for Education and each academy consortium would agree clear guidance on teaching and mentoring methods.

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