Can Veterans be 'MAD' (Make a Difference) and find their Ikigai in teaching, to help bridge the gap in workforce sustainability in the UK Further Education environment?

The research goal is to investigate how Veterans or former military members can enter the teaching profession in the United Kingdom to address the issues of workforce sustainability of the Further Education (FE) sector. The questions that need to be addressed are what these Veterans can provide the FE context, what challenges they confront collectively throughout their transition, and what strategies are available to benefit all parties involved. According to Veterans UK (2022), between 14,000 and 15,000 people left the British Forces in 2022. Many of these people will have the values and skills necessary to thrive and advance the FE (sciences, engineering, and technology) field, particularly during this prolonged period of negative retention that FE is currently going through. 

The study aims to assess the reasons why Veterans and members of the military forces decide to work in the UK's Further Education industry and what opportunities and difficulties they face in this period of transition; to evaluate the strategic and operational contributions that Veterans have made to the organisation in terms of performance and pedagogical change, measured against the Education and Training Foundation (ETF) professional standards; and to assess and propose a new system of attraction that aligns with the Office for Veteran Affairs (OVA) of the British Government’s Veteran's Employment Strategy of 2028 for the benefit of the Further Education’s workforce sustainability and secondary towards the Veteran educators within the organisation. 

1. What are the primary influencing reasons for military personnel deciding to become teachers and what challenges do members of the Armed Forces have while trying to become teachers in the United Kingdom?
2. How do Veteran employees' organisational performance and pedagogical changes benefit the setting?
3. How can we put in place a new hiring and recruitment procedure that would attract and hire Veterans for employment in Further Education in order to boost productivity and workforce sustainability?

• Between 50 and 75 responses as a minimum from an electronic survey
• 25-30 participants from both employees and management for focus groups
• A minimum of 12 to 15 participants via interviews.