Retrain ex-soldiers as inner-city teachers, report says
Friday, 15 Feb 2008 08:05
Ex-servicemen and women could be retrained as inner-city schoolteachers, report says
Retiring servicemen and women should be retrained as teachers in inner-city schools, a report said on Friday.
According to a thinktank, an adoption of the US troops to teachers (T3) scheme would have a "profound effect" on some of the UK's most deprived schools.
Writing for the Centre for Policy Studies (CPS), report author Tom Burkard says a similar initiative in Britain could solve problems of "violence, classroom disruption and a failure of basic literary and numeracy skills".
More than 16,000 people have retrained as teachers in the US since leaving the American armed forces, the report says.
Jill Kirby, director at the CPS, said hiring ex-servicemen and women as teachers in Britain could improve discipline and provide role models for children, as well as providing an attractive career path to former members of the armed forces.
"Today, too many children are held back by the failure of schools to impose good discipline and create calm and purposeful classrooms," she explained.
Ms Kirby added that the report "highlights the success of an American scheme which brings ex-servicemen and women into tough schools, where they tackle unruly behaviour, give every child the chance to learn, and provide strong role models for a rising generation".
A spokesperson for the Department for Children, Schools and Families said the government would not be commenting.
But shadow children's secretary Michael Gove said the report had raised an "excellent idea"
"Helping soldiers retrain as teachers would be great for our schools," he continued.
"Many British schools need a change of culture because they face real problems with violence and bad behaviour. Children, particularly in the worst schools, desperately need order and role models for self-discipline."