Active discussions

Meet the Other Phone. Child-safe in minutes.

Meet the Other Phone.
Child-safe in minutes.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why on earth Troops to Teachers is considered to be a great idea?

687 replies

ballinacup · 07/06/2013 08:53

Before we start, I'm not armed forces bashing, I'm sure there are some troops out there who would make excellent teachers. But why on earth offer a fast track course to troops without a degree?!

It seems like sheer madness, why not offer the fast track course to anyone? Am I missing some glaringly obvious fact that makes it all make sense? Or has Gove got a vision in his head of classrooms running with military precision if he has soldiers at the helm?

Can someone please explain it to me, because I'm genuinely puzzled.

OP posts:
MrsBW · 14/06/2014 22:04

MBT I don't believe anyone who "forgot to ring a bag of sugar through a self checkout" gets a prison sentence.

I do believe members of the forces have far more skills than 'killing people'

If you want to argue your case, you should use less hyperbole. PiperRose makes a good point at 21:58:58.

PiperRose · 14/06/2014 22:06

I agree, none, (although I'm pretty sure being a pirate is pretty hard to get out of) but people CHOOSE it, they know what they're singing up for, and as I' e already pointed out they get a raft of other benefits.

LuluJakey1 · 14/06/2014 22:07

It is not the armed forces per se I am unhappy about. It is this government's continual eroding of teaching as a profession and their belief that anyone can teach- actually if you'd like to go to a free school you don't need any qualifications at all to teach.

They are clueless about quality state education. They don't actually care who teaches children in state schools. It suits their purpose for them to be unqualified and possibly poorly educated teachers who will do a bad job and churn out a generation of poorly-educated young adults. Their whole agenda is to promote an elitist system based on class and privilege where the working class remain working class and the upper class remain rich, powerful and privileged.

Everything Gove has done is working towards that aim.

PiperRose · 14/06/2014 22:10

TusconGirl can I guess that you don't work in education and have children who are educated privately?

TucsonGirl · 14/06/2014 22:13

You're talking rubbish. the Conservatives are the party of business, and without educated, skilled people, this country is fucked. Everything you've said is more akin to what Labour have done to education. They might say otherwise, but what they have actually done is exactly what you posted. Kids are leaving school completely unprepared for work, and that is why employers aren't prepared to take a chance on them.

MrsBW · 14/06/2014 22:14

I agree, none, (although I'm pretty sure being a pirate is pretty hard to get out of) but people CHOOSE it, they know what they're singing up for, and as I've already pointed out they get a raft of other benefits.

Not as many as people think anymore (they used to, but not so much now). And the downsides are pretty crap.

(And, as an aside; really, you only 'knew what you were signing up for' if you signed up in the last 12 years... Before that it was lots of lovely foreign travel to nice places with the odd trip to Northern Ireland. Plenty of people decided that sounded better than life on the dole. Then came Iraq and Afghanistan. Which changed things a tad. Semantics maybe, but an important point which gets missed a lot).

PiperRose · 14/06/2014 22:14

That'll be a yes then.

TucsonGirl · 14/06/2014 22:14

My child is in a state school (primary). I do not work in education. I will be trying to send her to a private secondary, unless the local schools improve a lot between now and then.

PiperRose · 14/06/2014 22:18

Good luck finding a school where the staff are not allowed to be part of a union.

exforcestraineeteacher · 14/06/2014 22:19

Actually closed shop is illegal nowadays - it is advisable to join a union or professional body though.

Goblinchild · 14/06/2014 22:21

Well, I started teaching when Thatcher was in charge, way back in the early 80s so perhaps my view of the Conservative and Labour governments' impact on education isn't quite as blue-tinted as yours TucsonGirl.
I'd like any and all governments to stop squabbling with whomsoever is on the Opposition benches and make better choices. But that's mainstream politics.
'It is a tale. Told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, Signifying nothing.'

LuluJakey1 · 14/06/2014 22:28

Actually, exforces academies can refuse to honour STPC and locally and nationally negotiated union agreements. If staff were Tuped across at he point of conversion to an academy, they retain those rights/ conditions.

Any new staff do not have those conditions/ rights if that is what the academy has decided.

Yet another means of the government undermining the profession.

Education is not a business academy chains and free schools are already making money from it by paying their consultants huge salaries from the state funding given to them to run these schools- funding that should be spent on resources for children to give them the best life-chances.

Goblinchild · 14/06/2014 22:33

Huzzah!
Troops to Teachers in Birmingham. Sounds a perfect fit.

exforcestraineeteacher · 14/06/2014 22:35

Lulu - nobody in my school has ever asked me if I am a union member. If they do ask, it's actually none of their business. Nobody can force anyone to join a union.

exforcestraineeteacher · 14/06/2014 22:37

Goblinchild - who says they're not? Couldn't be any worse than it is...

Goblinchild · 14/06/2014 22:41

I do think if you teach and aren't in a union, you are taking a huge risk. I've always seen it as insurance and legal protection for me as an individual.

Goblinchild · 14/06/2014 22:42

back to my original question though:
'How many T to T are there, actively teaching in classrooms right now?
How many on the training schemes 2013-14?'

exforcestraineeteacher · 14/06/2014 22:48

Less than you think Goblinchild - I do, obviously, know the exact number but am unable to say in this forum.

exforcestraineeteacher · 14/06/2014 22:49

From a protection viewpoint I also agree with your union point

Goblinchild · 14/06/2014 22:52

Less than I think? I've not encountered any, or heard anyone mention them.
You can't talk about it? Why not? Is there a D notice on the info because it's a total cock up?
How very cryptic of you. Hmm

curlygiraffe · 14/06/2014 22:55

I think it's a great idea. I've met some great ex forces people, I think their experience of discipline may help with some of the unruly brats plus when I was at school, my best teacher had Bo teaching qualifications, she was great at her job and had a lot of life and work experience to pass on.

curlygiraffe · 14/06/2014 22:56

No not bo...

Goblinchild · 14/06/2014 22:57

Curly, they'd have to use the same discipline strategies as the rest of us, that's why a school has a policy that all staff follow.

exforcestraineeteacher · 14/06/2014 22:58

Bear in mind the scheme is England wide and there isn't that many of us. The idea, regardless of what the press/unions say, is to prove the scheme can work rather than "parachute" us into schools. You probably wouldn't know that most of us are ex-forces. I could 've sat next to you in the staff room and you would never know...

Goblinchild · 14/06/2014 23:01

We do talk to each other in staff rooms you know, and elsewhere.
I just don't get why the figures are a secret. Why?