Ex forces members as schoolteachers, (Panorama tonight?)

[GabbyLoggon]

Are they being unreasoable?

Its a government idea copied from America
(suprise, suprise)

Training ex forces members to be schoolteachers (It has always been open for them to do that.)

Is it a gimmick? The trouble is Cameron learned from Blair the art of regular publicity stunts.

So it is difficult to know what to take seriously.

What do the teaching profession think of it? "Gabby"

As I've explained I was discussing an issue not referring to the military as "cannon fodder".

Sorry, "you" being plural. Glanost too uses the phrase to imply that all the military does is take innocent children and turn them into "cannon fodder".

It's all semantics to you, but to me it's offensive.

MilaMae: in the Panorama programme, it stated that 20% of Lordship school pupils were in the CCF, so they remain a minority. I am sure that the filming of uniforms was deliberate (and not necessarily representative of the whole school life). They did not state the total staff numbers, so having 4 (?5) ex-military (and 2 of those TA) is also likely to be a minority of total staff. If they had wanted to film a "military school", they would have used DOYRMS (which now accepts pupils from civilian backgrounds).

MilaMae
No, the culture does not permeate the entire school. In the same way that the Chess Club Culture does not permeate the whole school. It is a club, nothing more, nothing less. Just like all the other clubs that the kids can join if they want to. Just like the Karate Club my DD is currently desperate to join.

Your children would not be in the minority - especially as the CCF would not be able to take 'the whole school'. They have a limited number of places available - they cant take everyone who wants to join, and can be selective.

(Mind you you children may well be in the minority if they are the kids who WANT to join the CCF but mummy wont let them!)

No - it was not a military school but doesn't really make a difference. The private school in the same town has a very large cadet force and is run by an ex-officer however, their recruitment of students into the forces isn't that high either.

Milamae: just spotted you asked above about Armed Forces redundancies. Yes there are happening and I'll try to find you a link about what's going on.

But it is important to remember that this in only a small part of what makes up leavers from the Sevices. Most personnel serve up to 22 years. This means that the normal departure age is up to the mid-40s. It is the norm that people move into a second career.

So said cadets wouldn't play a big role in school(assemblies,parades etc)?

Sorry I don't want my dc in a school where playing pretend soldiers is deemed important.I don't want my dc going into the military.If they decide to later it's their choice but I don't want any influence from school thanks.

Thanks Meditrina

RAF are to announce their plans for 5,000 redundancies later today with the Army and Navy announcing theirs over the next few weeks. 17,000 personnel are to go over the next few years, though a lot will be "natural wastage" (i.e. people who were due to retire/coming to the end of their terms of service/comission not being replaced).

More here

Link about redundancies - taken from BFBS: a further announcement is expected today. Head count expected to be reduced by 17,000. No word yet on who will be affected.

No - in my 6 years at the school, not once were the cadets featured in an assembly or parade. I think they went away on a few camps now and again and other than that, we never saw them - although they were allowed to get into uniform if they had finished with PE so they didn't have to get changed twice. They paraded at Rememberance day, as you'd expect but that was it. Oh and I think they were used at town events for car park duties, which they thought was great fun.

Not at any time, during school time, did they pretend to be soldiers and if you think about the things they do in cadets, it's about team work, self discipline and increasing self esteem; something I would definitely want my children to have all of! It's not simply about recruiting them into the forces.

LeQ we should definitely aim for academic people with good communication skills but the current section process doesn't test that adequately and if push came to shove I'd rather have a good teacher with a less well regarded degree than someone who excels at essay writing but can't explain something 3 different ways because they 'get' it naturally.

What I don't buy is that by raising academic standards of teachers we're automatically going to raise teaching standards.

Raising salaries would be nice though!

My fil has a double first from Cambridge, but wouldn't be able to teach as doesn't have the patience with people who don't 'get' things as fast as he does.

My BIL became a teacher after leaving the forces. He lasted one year as a teacher, was too hard work for him. I'm sure there are plenty of ex-forces people who are far better equipped than my BIL though.

My dh is similar scary; if I don't get it the first time, he repeats it again,only louder .

I know he'd make an excellent school HT though.

LeQueen - IME crap teachers make crap head teachers.
The clue is in the job title - They are Head TEACHERS not school managers.

Dh has spent hours trying to explain the principles of inertial navigation to me (glazed look) and much the same happens when ds tried to explain physics. They don't speak loudly to me, but bring me tea in a darkened room where I have retreated to get away from the science/engineering conversation, and where I can commune wit the cat and a Georgette Heyer if ds has been trying to explain atoms and particles to me.

Dh has been into school and done a Q and A on Just War and military ethics with an after school RE class, and he handled them well, but they were all 14+, I had read them the riot act so impeccable behaviour, and he treated them like adults (plus they wanted to see what kind of man would take me on!). He wouldn't want to teach though because whilst he has the patience to explain maths, physics and chemistry to ds, he gets impatient when ds won't just get on with h/w, but turns an hours work into three. Fighting the white he calls it, and has a low tolerance of it.

Terrificteens, that depends on the school really. Some H/Ts manage and don't teach - my last head taught Latin at lunch and that was it (in a comp). I always think the higher you get the less teaching you do.

Coming to this late, I find it a really interesting discussion.My thoughts on the disagreements are these:( with apols in advance for stereotyping of both professions)
Generally, different kinds of people are attracted to these two careers, with accompanying political bent. ie the 'lefty' teacher, with 'soft' skills eg in psychology, 'kidology' (persuasion) used in lieu of overt discipline. Often (according to stereotype)very idealistic about their subject, and their views on society in general wrt repect and community harmony (I include myself in this)
By contrast, military are more often politically right-wing and much more pragmatic in approach. Therefore, it seems weird to teachers that this kind of person would consider teaching, and weird to the mil that teachers wouldn't want their help at 'sorting it all out'.

(Massive generalisation, of course there are rw teachers, but you get my drift)