Tonight:
2°c
One of Damilola Taylor's killers was back behind bars today - only 16 days after being released from jail. Ricky Preddie (pictured left) was recalled to prison last night after breaching the terms of his parole
More...
Teachers declare war on Army for 'using MoD propaganda to lure vulnerable students into the military'
Last updated at 02:22am on 27.03.08Teachers yesterday vowed to boycott military recruitment activities in schools - claiming they "glamorise" life in the armed forces.
The country's biggest teaching union will also back staff who send in anti-war speakers to give pupils an alternative view.
Despite acute shortages of military personnel, members of the National Union of Teachers voted to launch a campaign of opposition to recruitment visits.
They said their aim was to deepen the manpower crisis and force the return of troops from Iraq and Afghanistan.
Scroll down for more...
Attention: A soldier barks out harsh truths during a visit to a girls' school in Birmingham
Their stand will heighten concern over the indifference or hostility displayed by parts of society towards the armed forces.
It follows the revelation earlier this month that RAF personnel have been banned from wearing their uniforms in public in Peterborough, after a string of abusive incidents.
At their annual conference in Manchester, NUT members lined up to claim military recruitment literature and campaigns were "misleading" and downplayed the realities of a career in the Forces.
Each of the three armed services has teams which respond to 1,000 invitations a year to visit schools. They attend careers fairs and give presentations but the Ministry of Defence insists the teams go to raise awareness and not recruit.
Critics said it was obvious promotional material would avoid drawing undue attention to the risks attached to a role in the services.
Teenagers from disadvantaged areas have traditionally seen a career in the military as a way to improve their prospects.
Shadow Defence Secretary Liam Fox blasted the NUT action as a "kick in the teeth" for soldiers.
"They should concentrate on improving the education for British children instead of undermining British forces when they are so over-stretched," he said.
The NUT has 255,000 members, giving it representation in most of the country's schools. It is both the biggest and most Left-wing of the three main teacher unions.
The conference passed a motion committing the union to "support teachers and schools in opposing Ministry of Defence recruitment activities that are based on misleading propaganda."
Paul McGarr, a maths teacher from east London and a member of the Socialist Workers Party, said: "Personally I find it difficult to imagine any recruitment material that is not misleading. They want to recruit in our schools because they have got a problem.
"Young people, who have been at the forefront of campaigning against these illegal and immoral wars, are not signing up in sufficient numbers.
"They have had a crisis in recruitment and we can add to that crisis, make it more difficult to launch an invasion alongside America of Iran and bring forward the day when we end the illegal occupation of Afghanistan and Iraq."
Scroll down for more...
An Army advert targets teenagers. But school is not a recruiting ground, say anti-war teachers
Stefan Simms, of Ealing, West London, attacked TV adverts for the Royal Marines during football matches for "glamorising" gang culture and macho behaviour.
And he told delegates: "I would be gutted after years of putting time and professional effort into the students I teach, helping their education and preparing them for adult life, to find out that some have said 'I decided to join the Army'."
The union also pledged to campaign for youngsters to absent themselves from recruitment activities, to "hear from a speaker promoting alternative points of view" and to draw up protocols for "ethical" recruitment.
Reader views (26)
Teachers!
Why do we pay for these traitorous left-wing lunatics?
Sack the lot of them!
- Tangomike, Kensington, London, 26/03/2008 21:41
Report abuse
Usually I sympathise with teachers and many of my friends are in the profession. However this is trendy left wing tripe and shows the NUT in a very poor light. The fall out from a lack of a structured life and discipline is all around them on a daily basis in the form of unruly behaviour, and still they adopt this political posturing. The Army can offer kids much, would they prefer hoodies or heroes?
- Steve, Hereford, 26/03/2008 21:02
Report abuse
Correct me if I'm wrong, please, but isn't it the job of parents to teach their kids morality (whichever point of view you take)? Since when did it become the job of fanatic, politically motivated individuals like the NUT?
- Rogan, DFW Texas, 26/03/2008 17:52
Report abuse
I don't think I know of a more effective way to turn a group of hoodie wearing, insolent, lazy teenagers into useful members of society than a couple of years in the services. At the very least these teachers duty is to be neutral and leave the choice to the students.
- Mark, London, 26/03/2008 15:31
Report abuse
We're talking about a load of kids who probably carry knives and play violent video games: is the Army romanticising war, or do the Academics have a romantic view of peace?
- Roz, Chamonix, France, 26/03/2008 14:46
Report abuse
While I do not agree with our armed forces acting as mercenaries in foreign lands, I also do not agree with these teachers unions. This seems to me to be a throwback to the unions of the 70' and 80's or even akin to Ken Livingstone (or St. Ken as a lot of you with rosy tinted specs see him) when he led a coup in the GLC and tried to run an opposition government to the legitimate government.
The question needs to be asked, who actually makes policy in this country, elected MPs or the unions, or is Gordon Brown really Harold Wilson, Tony Benn, Jim Callaghan or any 70's politician in disguise.
- Dr Finlays Casebook, London, UK, 26/03/2008 14:32
Report abuse
They are called the "Armed Forces". They kill people. It's their purpose. Anybody, knows this when they join-up. My father was 14 at the Battle of Jutland and a 15-year old boy named Cornwall got the VC for standing by his gun till the ship went down. The army and the navy and the air force protect us. God bless them all. They are a necessary evil.
- Frederick, London, 26/03/2008 14:25
Report abuse
If my children were being taught by the NUT's Mr McGarr (quoted in the story), I would do my utmost to have him removed from his post. This brand of blinkered left-wing propaganda has no place in the education system, indeed, it is far more harmful (and certainly more underhand) than a simple recruitment talk from an army officer.
McGarr would do well to realise that the worst thing you can do is patronise children. Let them weigh up the option of a career in the forces...they're quite intelligent enough to make their own choices.
- Mark, London, 26/03/2008 14:03
Report abuse
Teachers are now reaping the 1970's and 80's Politically correct teaching methodologies of free thinking, lack of discipline, dumbed down to the lowest level Marxist ideals - hence the total lack of control, poor behaviour, lack of respect and 'yob' culture they now face on a day to day basis. The removal of the Armed Forces is just another Marxist/Communist initiative. Roll on the teachers strikes - it will just hasten the removal of the Labour Government.
- Gary, Wycombe, 26/03/2008 13:05
Report abuse
'All their job requires them to do is teach'... interesting, still we expect them to be responsible for children's diets, regular exercising, behaviour etc I think the problem is that schools are increasingly expected to take on more and more parental responsibilities, this is just another example.
Peter: 'they would learn respect, discipline and punctuality.' Funnily enough I learnt that from my parents and at school... not sure the army is the only nor best way to achieve that, why not send kids to prison straight away?
- Maria, London, 26/03/2008 12:08
Report abuse
C Byrne is right - let's educate them kidz so we can send literate people away to die for the New World Order instead of sending thickos to their deaths! Corpses look so much better with GCSEs, and their mothers need not weep if their dead sons have passed their Citizenship GCSE!
- Neil, London, UK, 26/03/2008 11:52
Report abuse
Perhaps they should send it representatives of Al-Qaeda for a balanced view?
If we had listened to these idiots and 'anti-war' protesters in the past we'd all be speaking German now. Or Japanese.
- James, London, United Kingdom, 26/03/2008 11:44
Report abuse
People mistakenly believe the army is there to "protect our freedoms". What rubbish - the army is there to kill. They are merchants of death working for the fascist government. If no one joins the army, there can be no illegal occupation of Iraq, Afghanistan etc.
- Neil, london uk, 26/03/2008 10:48
Report abuse
Teachers clearly have little knowledge of history, politics or conflict. At times of a government policy of voluntary military service, the forces are allowed to recruit as and when they judge it best, that is to say in the most efficient way. If country cannot maintain armed forces it cannot pursue the foreign policy objectives it democratically voted for. Teachers must understand that they have a choice - allow the armed forces to recruit or accept that conscription will be necessary, with no deferment for teachers.
- Peter Haldane, London, 26/03/2008 10:31
Report abuse
The abbreviation
NUT
says is it all and could not be more precise.
Perhaps they should add CASE to make it absolutely clear.
- Weddigen, London SW, 26/03/2008 08:55
Report abuse
Teachers have one job to do - educate the children and prepare them for adult life which includes a career. Who do they think they are to decide what careers options students are allowed to take.
We had the armed forces actively recruiting at school during the 1970s when unemployment was far higher than it is now and the IRA were murdering our lads.
The decision is with the individual not a group of anti British lefties whose experience of life is going from one school as a student to another school to learn about teaching, then on to another school to work. Oh and good wages plus 3 months holiday per year, indexed pensions and no accountability for what you produce!
Britain needs to defend itself and needs youngsters with more bottle than the NUT have in its entire membership to retain the freedoms they take for granted.
- John Lint, Bahrain, 26/03/2008 06:10
Report abuse
Jolly good article. Keep our schools free of the violence of war.
- Simon, London, 26/03/2008 00:06
Report abuse
As a retired teacher, this NUT conference vote doesn't surprise me.
Every school has one or two staff members whose main aim isn't to actually teach children but to promote their own opinions on education, society, etc..
The annual NUT conference is full of such individuals - delegates - who get carried away by hyped-up speeches in a packed hall.
So why do teachers join the NUT? Purely to have legal help and advice if something goes wrong in the classroom!
Teachers en masse have no interest in votes like today's.
In truth, most teachers are apathetic about union politics, leaving the field clear for extremists to laud it at the annual conference.
- Mike, Cardiff , Wales, 25/03/2008 18:26
Report abuse
Considering the other articles today about children behaving like princes and princesses at school, showing little if any respect for teachers and lacking basic social skills, I would think the teachers would welcome the idea of military recruitment which gives recruits direction and teaches discipline and social interaction. The military doesn't choose its wars, the Government does, the TUC should be protesting them, not punishing a much needed industry.
- Jane, London, 25/03/2008 16:27
Report abuse
Why don't we ban teachers from politics, all there job requires them to do is teach and nothing else, so why don't they just get on with that?
- Brian, Wiltshire, UK, 25/03/2008 15:34
Report abuse
The NUT would rather that classrooms should be a conduit for their own left-wing views
- Rogan, DFW Texas, 25/03/2008 15:25
Report abuse
I would suggest then that we get ourselves into fewer wars!
- Stuart, London, 25/03/2008 15:15
Report abuse
While the NUT may not wish to see the services manned effectively, its members still expect to enjoy the democratic liberties protected and ensured by our armed forces. The Army, Navy and Air Force offer constructive employment (and further education) and considerable opportunities to numerous youngsters, many of whom have few other options having been failed by our educational system. A system that has been steadily weakened by the actions of, amongst others, the NUT and its members with their 'everyone must have prizes' attitudes.
Military involvement in Iraq and Afghanistan is something to take up with the Government that sent them there and not with the forces themselves.
- Paul G, Newbury, Berks, 25/03/2008 14:50
Report abuse
What is a vulnerable student? Presumably he that murders and stabs innocents in the street after a night of drugs and binge drinking. In turn, and I am generalizing here, they are taught by a bunch of far left liberal morons for whom anarchy reigns.
These students, indeed the others also, would benefit from a couple of years in the military without necessarily having to go to the front line. The would learn respect, discipline and punctuality. They would learn how to take a bath regularly, brush their teeth and eat healthily.
Surely the Pioneer Corps of WW1 would be a good example of what they could do.
They would be taken off welfare and put to work. Who knows some of them might work out and opt to stay and serve their country!!
- Peter Glazier, Sao Paulo, Brazil, 25/03/2008 14:22
Report abuse
As teachers have made it clear they have no respect for the armed forces, I shall now have no respect for teachers. I wonder what children of our forces will think when they hear this also; 'you want me to respect you, but don't respect my mum/dad'.
- Blind Pugh, Addlestone, UK, 25/03/2008 14:06
Report abuse
This is NUT members doing what they do best, political posturing. If they were to concentrate on educating our children then possibly we would have a much higher number of school-leavers able to read, write and do simple arithmetic.
- C Byrne, Pinner, UK, 25/03/2008 11:37
Report abuse
