Teachers declare war on Army for 'using MoD propaganda to lure vulnerable students into the military'

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.