Army: Recruitment
(asked on 14th November 2023) - View Source
Question to the Ministry of Defence:
To ask His Majesty's Government whether they collect data on the reading ages of new army recruits under the age of 18; and if so, what those data indicate.
The Army does not collect data and centrally record the reading ages of all new Army recruits under the age of 18.
It does collect the scores of the ‘Functional Skills Literacy Assessment’ which show the following for all under-18 recruits in Recruiting Year 2022-23:[1]
FS Score | Percentage of U18 recruits 2022-23 |
Entry Level 2 | 8% |
Entry Level 3 | 27% |
Exempt | 27% |
Level 1 | 25% |
Level 2 | 13% |
These Functional Skills levels are based on the 2011 Skills for Life Survey: A
Survey of Literacy, Numeracy and ICT Levels in England: 2011 Skills for Life Survey: A Survey of Literacy, Numeracy and ICT Levels in England (publishing.service.gov.uk).
The majority of under-18 recruits complete Basic Training at the Army Foundation College (Harrogate) where 100% leave with a GCSE equivalent in English.
[1] Recruiting year runs from April - March