[BBKing]

Given what's happening in some of our schools perhaps the recruitment of teachers ought to be looked into also. I wonder if all our aspiring teachers are given the whole truth about what life as a 21st century teacher can be like? You know the appalling behaviour, abuse, physical/verbal attacks etc., coupled with the lack of real deterrents and, all too often, a lack of support from the system when things go wrong.

Given the number of teachers I know who are extremely stressed or have left the job (my son's teacher is leaving next week, for example), I'm inclined to say they have more in common with the Army than one might realise at first glance. There's a growing recruitment and (particularly) retention problem in the forces at the moment, you can tell by the way the Defence Secretary repeatedly denies it.

Personally I don't think the NUTs position is credible, I believe it is politically motivated due to their stance against the Iraq war.

A stance shared by a majority of the public. Actually, shared by a majority of the armed forces, I'd like to throw in as a hand grenade here. See ARRSE for details - the prevailing mood there last time I looked was extreme annoyance at being lied into someone else's fight. Quite how does being in tune with the public mood make it incredible?

Originally Posted by NUT Bloke

"Join the Army and we will send you probably poorly equipped into situations where people will try to shoot or kill you because you are occupying other people's countries."

Sounds a fairly good summary of the state of the game to me. Call me an old-fashioned conservative, but as far as I'm concerned schools should be for educating the next generation of Britons. They should not be

a) training grounds for call centre operators,
b) recruiting grounds for the next batch of neo-con cannon fodder or
c) factories for producing exam results and league tables for politicians and estate agents.

foreverwar - believing MOD press releases, are we? For shame!

Actually, the MOD are using a straw man argument to suggest that the NUT are objecting to the Army coming into schools and recruiting. The NUT are actually objecting to misleading propaganda about army life being aimed at impressionable young people, and I'm right with them there. If people want to join up they ought to know it's hard, dangerous and risky. If they still want to join, good for them.