Typical example of the Government not knowing what they are throwing money at, or just an alternative?
Another private venture by Ex ACF staff by the look of it, much like CVQO.
ACF does focused outreach anyway but this is for stopping kids going NEET would surmise.
The Army did a trial of this a few years ago.
Both ATC and ACF staff are involved in Challenger troop.
Where is the proper education element in this? I would have thought that would have featured highly in the outcomes.
I’ve never understood why this sort of thing is only aimed at kids who in essence are the little sods schools can’t deal with, so they look to off-load them. Just because kids are on course for GCESs, doesn’t mean they don’t have confidence and esteem issues. The sort of kids this is aimed at are the sort who would take the mick out of the ‘swots’ and generally play up to the point where the schools kick them out.
How so?
I know one of the girls involved and she’s ATC.
Many of the staff employed to deliver the programme are current volunteers with the ATC and ACF. Beyond that I know little about it; apparently it is quite successful and growing. Not sure what, if any, support they get from the military.
[sarcasm & cynical viewpoint]The military paid for all their quals through NACATC & CCAT then use them for cadets… and for this private venture? [/sarcasm & cynical viewpoint]
In reality, the military do support these sort of courses quite well. It’s a nice easy recruitment & publicity tool for them. NACRO, Catch 22 & Barnados all run similar schemes - as well as some other less scrupulous charities. And all manage to engage the Regular forces through recruitment centres. One of the NACRO courses I’ve been involved with was timetabled to end with a “look at life” / “Insight” course from the Army - successful completition of the “prep for military life” course (and gaining L1 Eng/Maths/ICT in the process) gave them access to the “reward” of getting beasted by some regular squaddies for a week. Nice.
We have a similar “company” operating not too far from us - the “Military Preparation College”. The only difference appears to be that Michael Gove hasn’t fallen for their marketting like the Challenge Troop folk!
With regards the degree of success of these “schemes” I have seen, through my day job, some excellent results. The kids they generally engage with are high needs, challenging kids who need a lot of support just to keep them engaged in the classroom. From my experience, they generally come from unstable households with very little support and no emphasis or value placed on educational success. Opportunities like what Challenge troop offer engage these young people on an entirely different level than school - and it works. The PRU I currently work part time in offers these sort of activities one day a week - provided the young person has a 80% attendance rate for the week - and the kids show up as a result. They get their DofE through it, as well as a different kind of challenge.
Now, there are many naysayers of this approach - “oh, why pay for this when they could come to cadets” the simple fact is that we can’t cope with these kids. And the kids wouldn’t come. We’d need to make our services available 9-3.30 Mon-Fri - and I’m not giving up my job to do that! We’d also need a lot more training - the peak training ratio for our local provider is 1 staff: 2 kids - we don’t normally operate at that level, but it’s needed for very good reasons! And, with the levels of support these kids get at home, do you really things their parents would be willing to PAY for subs? To help them keep their uniform in order? To ferry them to squadron twice a week? Nope. I can’t.
Are we rewarding bad behaviour by giving them access to such activities? Yes - in a way. But without it, the kids simply wouldn’t attend as much as they do. They certainly wouldn’t get the physical, emotional and social challenges that these schemes offer. They wouldn’t help develop their teamwork and leadership skills. Some of the courses I’ve been involved with - whilst not having the overt “military” flavour - have included some excellent citizenship training, including getting young offenders engaging with police officers for the right reasons - and it built a degree of appreciation of the challenges of both parties.
And, kids in mainstream schools, do still get access to these things. It’s not as “on a plate” it is for the NEET/Pre-NEET/PRU kids - but it is still there. Certainly the schools I work in offer DofE clubs during lunch breaks/after school - free of charge - as well as supporting other activities through after school clubs etc. And, if you’re really lucky, you might get a visit from the RAF outreach team… maybe.
Regarding the trials, the Army weren’t alone in this approach. The RM & RN are both actively involved in similar schemes. And, a few years ago, NACRO, the Air League and the RAF piloted (excuse the pun!) a scheme through RAF Syerston - http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2009/dec/09/nacro-flying-youth-project
I know of an ACF (and former CCF) Officer with a PGCE who has just taken a job with Challenger Troop as an Instructor. Will be interested to see what kind of work they are involved in. HOwever the government does give significant funding to companies such as Challenger Troop to engage with students not currently within formal eduction.
Once such outdoor pursuit company of my acquaintance runs “one-to-one” training for a large number of young people in their local area with outdoor education lessons, literacy and numeracy. These young people do achieve something from the process I’m convinced of that, just not the type “education” that you and I would consider “the norm”