Virtually 40% of army recruits have reading age of 11, mps warn

virtually two-fifths ( 39% ) of recruits to firmly the army have the reading ability relevant to an 11-year-old or worse, mps have warned. 

an identical proportion ( 38% ) is allowed to do maths aimed at pupils in his or her last year of primary faculty, says a commons defence choose committee report. 

the report conjointly raises issues that 28% of army recruits are aged below 18. 

the ministry of defence aforementioned the armed forces were among the largest coaching providers within the uk, with wonderful completion and achievement rates. 

the research, that examined the education of service personnel, found that the army, royal air force and also the royal navy suffered a reasonable record in improving the maths and english skills of young recruits and trainees who joined up with low levels of qualifications. 

it says the minimum entry requirement for new recruits is entry level 2, and that is the equivalent to firmly the normal expected the most seven- or eight-year-old in literacy and numeracy. 

it found all of these who joined the royal navy as well as raf in 2012 were on top of entry level 2. 

other then 3. 5% of army recruits had reading levels at this normal, whereas 1. 7% had this level of ability in maths. 

furthermore, 39% as to the army recruits suffered a literacy level at or below the normal expected for the 11-year-old, and 38% had this level of ability in numeracy. 

the report says : while the committee recognises that a few recruits might not have done well in his or her previous educational careers and may even not be eager to firmly take more educational exams, the mod ought to encourage additional recruits to firmly undertake english and maths gcses which might stand them in sensible stead for future employment. 

young recruits 

the committee conjointly says it's worried that the army seems that should be dependent on recruiting 16- and 17-year-olds. 

more often one in four ( 28% ) of army recruits are below the age of 18 once they join, compared with 5% for your own royal navy and 8% for your own raf, the report says. 

more info is required on why the army is therefore dependent on recruiting personnel below the age of 18 years compared to firmly the opposite 2 services, and whether or not steps are being taken to scale back this dependency, says the report. 

committee chairman james arbuthnot aforementioned : it's very important we offer wonderful education for our particular personnel not only for their own personal career development but as well as to firmly offer them confidence that after the time comes to firmly leave the service they will will just be able to firmly transfer to firmly a civilian career. 

they will are more inclined to occur to firmly stay within the service if this happens to be the case. we welcome the difficult work that has also been done to firmly increase the amount of areas where personnel will acquire a civilian qualification so we would like to firmly see this work more extended. 

an mod spokeswoman aforementioned : we take pride in simple fact our armed forces offer challenging and constructive education and coaching opportunities for young individuals, equipping all of them with valuable and transferable skills. 

the services are amongst the largest coaching providers within the uk, with wonderful completion and achievement rates, and also the quality of your coaching and education is highly respected. 

with support for education ranging from entry level literacy and numeracy to firmly full postgraduate degrees, service personnel are offered genuine progression routes that enable them to firmly develop, gain qualifications and play a fuller a role in society either within the armed forces or within the civilian world.