Teachers to oppose MoD 'propaganda'

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The National Union of Teachers (NUT) voted to back staff who resist Armed Forces recruitment drives and called for "education for peace" to be embedded in the school curriculum.

Delegates at the NUT's annual conference in Manchester called for a campaign to undermine efforts to enlist new teenage recruits in an attempt to hasten the return of British troops from Iraq.

The union backed a motion committing the NUT to "support teachers and schools in opposing Ministry of Defence recruitment activities that are based upon misleading propaganda".

Paul McGarr, a delegate from east London, told the conference: "Personally, I find it difficult to imagine any recruitment material that is not misleading. We would have material from the MoD saying 'Join the Army and we will send you to carry out the imperialist occupation of other people's countries.

"'Join the Army and we will send you to bomb, shoot and possibly torture fellow human beings in other countries. 'Join the Army and be sent - probably poorly equipped - into situations where people try and shoot you and kill you because you are occupying their countries.'

"When I see the MoD putting out recruitment material saying that, then maybe I won't have a problem with using it in school. Until then, I think that all recruitment material is misleading and should be opposed."

The motion committed the NUT to holding a summit of teachers, education experts and campaigners to consider the issue of military recruitment in schools. The NUT will now campaign for pupils to hear from speakers "promoting alternative points of view" and to have "education for peace embedded in the curriculum along with education about the military".

The Ministry of Defence hit back at the NUT, denying that it actively recruited pupils in schools. Brigadier Andrew Jackson, Commander of the Army Recruiting Group, said: "The single-Service schools teams visit about 1,000 schools a year, only at the invitation of the school. Their aim is to raise the general awareness of the Armed Forces in society, not to recruit.

"We are proud of the work we do with schools and colleges to inform young people about the tremendous work and careers on offer, which can provide fantastic and unique opportunities to a wide range of people from all sectors of society."