Military academies key to preventing repeat of last year’s riots, says think-tank
Schools run by the military should be introduced to tackle issues linked to last year’s riots, a think-tank has suggested.
A report by ResPublica calls for a partnership between the Ministry of Defence and the Department for Education to create a chain of academies in areas where there are high numbers of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet).
Eventually the programme could be extended to all local authority areas with ResPublica suggesting that residents could petition for military academies to be opened.
“We believe that riot-hit areas will be among those neighbourhoods that will particularly benefit from this initiative,” the report states.
Military academies would create and teach from a unique curriculum, using expertise already existing in the Armed Forces.
The report states that academies would also be distinguished by their “whole person education” approach, emphasising the importance of “character formation”, and “high ethical standards and values”, besides more traditional and vocational skills.
It states that two-thirds of young people involved in last summer’s riots had some form of special educational need and more than a third had been excluded from school during 2009/10.
“Most obviously and straightforwardly, our proposal benefits the young who have grown up in deprived areas, both those who are talented and those who are troubled,” the report states.
However, the idea has already sparked controversy. Chris Keates, general secretary of the union NASUWT, said the report is based on a “cynical misuse and misrepresentation” of the causes of last summer’s riots.
“There is no evidence of either the widespread involvement of people from deprived, working-class communities in the riots or that they instigated them.
Source: CYP Now
“The proposal amounts to nothing more than the disgraceful, unjustified vilification of whole communities, promulgating the view that if you are poor and working class you must, therefore, be inclined to criminality and antisocial behaviour.”
