Young people from Armed Forces Families: Post-16 education and training
The Service Children’s Progression (SCiP) Alliance community identified a low awareness and understanding of the challenges, strengths and pathways of young people in Armed Forces families (Service children) in post-16 education. In response, the Alliance carried out scoping research and convened a summit of key stakeholders in July 2021 to consider the way forward. This report examines these inputs and draws recommendations for a national strategy to address support for Service children in the 16-19 phase. Service families may move frequently, with little agency and at short notice. Frequent separation, anxiety during deployment and the stress of transition out of the military may also present considerable potential for diverse and unique impacts on young people as they approach post-16 education and training.
Abstract: This research set out to investigate the experiences of ‘grown up’ children from armed forces families, to gather their reflections on childhood and education, and to seek their advice to inform the current armed forces community, policy-makers and practitioners. The Service Children’s Progression Alliance (SCiP) defines a child from an armed forces family as “a person whose parent or carer serves in the Regular Armed Forces, or as a Reservist, or has done at any point during the first 25 years of that person’s life” (SCiP, 2017: para 2) and the Office for Students refers to this definition in their documentation relating to student characteristics (OfS n.d. para 8, see also OfS, 2020: para 11). In this research we use the term ‘grown up’ to indicate individuals over the age of 18 recognised to have reached the legal age of adulthood in the UK. This group of individuals are currently overlooked in research, policy and practice as the focus continues to be on serving members of the armed forces, veterans, and families, including school-aged children.