I strongly believe that Ex-Forces personnel could make a huge difference to a lot of schools. The problem is, I joined up at the age of 16, I am now coming to the end of my career at the age of 40. Because of the nature of my job and the fact I thought I joined up for life, I do not have a degree. For me to get a degree I will need to spend 3 years at uni and pay a fortune for the privilege. I am unable to fund that and therefore unable to follow a career I feel would suit my personality and one that is very rewarding. This I am guessing will be the same for many forces personnel due to leave the service after years of mentoring, coaching and guiding the current personnel.
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http://www.telegraph.co.uk/education/educationnews/8350538/Soldiers-drafted-into-schools-in-discipline-crackdown.html
No other profession is so insulted as to say that untrained people can do the job. People quite rightly expect lawyers, doctors, nurses, armed forces personnel and so on to have had adequate training. This standard should equally apply to teaching.
The second thing I pick up from the general discussions is a underlying view that women or at least non military women cannot enforce discipline in a classroom or are automatically viewed as not being able to do so. From my own experience my female teachers were definitely the strongest in that respect. It was definitely a profession for strong women as you would not otherwise survive!
I also wrote a previous post which has not appeared; in it I supported moves to encourage former troops to become teachers but felt that everyone needed to undergo the same thorough training. I don;t see why ex military personnel and police who tend to retire early cant have more financial support for such training courses- it would make a great deal of sense. I am not someone who thinks military work is all about putting the boot in but appreciate that a range of skills are involved and feel that such personnel have a great deal to offer. I think after the events of the last week there will be a hardening of attitudes about pedagogy and a rethink on many fronts on what schools and our society are offering young people. You now have a case of a London teaching assistant being the first one up in court for riotous behaviour. What future for our kids if someone clearly of low morale calibre are in that sort of position of trust.?
As far as troops into classrooms are concerned, I think that anyone should be able to enter a teaching career as long as they have the appropriate qualifications: a degree and a sufficient knowledge of how children learn. As I said above, Mr Gove supports the former but seems to think that the latter is not worth studying but can be learnt "on the job". I don't think ex-service personnel would think much of politicians who applied this logic to a military situation: "Don't worry about professional training, pick it up as you go along. Just watch the Sergeant there."
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