The Hidden Contents in the Professional Military Education Process

Increasing pressure on the quality of the educational content brings the need to address the issue of hidden mechanisms in the educational process that have impacts on the quality of knowledge and skills. This article discusses the existence of the hidden curriculum in lifelong learning and puts it into the context of the lifelong Professional Military Education as it is provided at the Centre for Security and Military Strategic Studies at the University of Defence. The uncovering of the hidden content in education may not be a welcome process, in extreme it may become unacceptable. However, hidden content can affect the achieved learning outcomes, as well as their deliberate disclosure and appropriate processing. The aim of the article is to describe whether and with what benefit can the concept of the hidden curriculum be applied to professional military education in the Centre for Security and Military Strategic Studies environment.

Professional reading and the education of military leaders

<p>Prominent military figures, both contemporary and historical have, through both personal example and their promotion of critical literacy initiatives, emphasised the role of professional reading in the development of the professional wisdom that underpins effective military leadership. While biographical studies hint at a connection between the extracurricular reading habits of notable military figures and the development of their professional wisdom, the majority of studies on military leadership development focus either through the context of experience or on development through the medium of formal educational programmes. Considering the time and resources invested in formal educational programmes, and the highly incremental nature of self-development that makes its utility difficult to measure, it is understandable but not acceptable that continuous, career-long self-development through professional reading receives scant attention. Using a hermeneutically derived conceptual framework as an analytical tool, this research explores the intellectual component of military leadership, as embodied in the idea of the warrior-scholar, and the role the phenomena of reading, text, and canon, play in the development of the cognitive skills – critical, creative, and strategic thinking – necessary for successful leadership in complex institutions and environments. The research seeks to contribute original insights into the role that professional reading actually plays in the intellectual development of military leaders. The research also seeks to determine the extent to which a military canon that embodies professional military wisdom exists, and the relationship that this canon might have on the development of military leaders in the contemporary environment. The research was conducted through an engagement with literatures in multiple disciplines and 18 open-ended in-depth research interviews with 24 emerging and established military leaders, and defence academics, in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Canada, Israel and the United States on the role reading plays in their professional development. Data have been analysed through literature mapping and the deployment of theme discovery and interpretation-centred analysis methods. In particular, this thesis has examined the artefact of the professional military reading list as used across nations and individual armed services as a component of contemporary professional military education for commissioned and non-commissioned officers at tactical, operational and strategic leadership levels. The research has confirmed the utility of the reading list approach as a means of promoting professional reading, particularly to assist officers: · prepare for a posting or campaign · prepare for formal professional military education courses · aid developmental activities towards promotion · broaden general knowledge, and · cultivate professional military knowledge in breadth and depth. The research has found that reading lists are syllabi for the informal mode of professional military education, particularly to supplement the study, in breadth and depth, of military history, strategy and doctrine, the art of war, and leadership in command. The research has also examined the construction and implementation of the reading lists and developed twenty principles for the development of reading lists for practical use by militaries globally. The research has critically engaged with canon as a concept. While it has not found that the canon concept in its ‘pure’ form as understood in literature studies can be usefully applied to military education, a set of core texts have been identified as being highly valued by militaries globally for the education of officers. Although the research did not seek to prove the link between reading and the development of military leaders, such an approach being inconsistent with the methodological lens adopted, the research does however indicate that professional reading in breadth and depth is as important a component in the development of military wisdom as is training, experience, and formal education.</p>

Professional reading and the education of military leaders

<p>Prominent military figures, both contemporary and historical have, through both personal example and their promotion of critical literacy initiatives, emphasised the role of professional reading in the development of the professional wisdom that underpins effective military leadership. While biographical studies hint at a connection between the extracurricular reading habits of notable military figures and the development of their professional wisdom, the majority of studies on military leadership development focus either through the context of experience or on development through the medium of formal educational programmes. Considering the time and resources invested in formal educational programmes, and the highly incremental nature of self-development that makes its utility difficult to measure, it is understandable but not acceptable that continuous, career-long self-development through professional reading receives scant attention. Using a hermeneutically derived conceptual framework as an analytical tool, this research explores the intellectual component of military leadership, as embodied in the idea of the warrior-scholar, and the role the phenomena of reading, text, and canon, play in the development of the cognitive skills – critical, creative, and strategic thinking – necessary for successful leadership in complex institutions and environments. The research seeks to contribute original insights into the role that professional reading actually plays in the intellectual development of military leaders. The research also seeks to determine the extent to which a military canon that embodies professional military wisdom exists, and the relationship that this canon might have on the development of military leaders in the contemporary environment. The research was conducted through an engagement with literatures in multiple disciplines and 18 open-ended in-depth research interviews with 24 emerging and established military leaders, and defence academics, in New Zealand, Australia, Malaysia, Singapore, the United Kingdom, Canada, Israel and the United States on the role reading plays in their professional development. Data have been analysed through literature mapping and the deployment of theme discovery and interpretation-centred analysis methods. In particular, this thesis has examined the artefact of the professional military reading list as used across nations and individual armed services as a component of contemporary professional military education for commissioned and non-commissioned officers at tactical, operational and strategic leadership levels. The research has confirmed the utility of the reading list approach as a means of promoting professional reading, particularly to assist officers: · prepare for a posting or campaign · prepare for formal professional military education courses · aid developmental activities towards promotion · broaden general knowledge, and · cultivate professional military knowledge in breadth and depth. The research has found that reading lists are syllabi for the informal mode of professional military education, particularly to supplement the study, in breadth and depth, of military history, strategy and doctrine, the art of war, and leadership in command. The research has also examined the construction and implementation of the reading lists and developed twenty principles for the development of reading lists for practical use by militaries globally. The research has critically engaged with canon as a concept. While it has not found that the canon concept in its ‘pure’ form as understood in literature studies can be usefully applied to military education, a set of core texts have been identified as being highly valued by militaries globally for the education of officers. Although the research did not seek to prove the link between reading and the development of military leaders, such an approach being inconsistent with the methodological lens adopted, the research does however indicate that professional reading in breadth and depth is as important a component in the development of military wisdom as is training, experience, and formal education.</p>

HEDGEMONY: A Wargame to Evaluate Senior Joint Professional Military Education Learning Objectives

The Officer Professional Military Education Policy directs Joint professional military education institutions to develop officers who demonstrate critical and creative thinking skills. The chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ’s intent is to develop strategically minded officers who will “creatively apply military power to inform national strategy, conduct globally integrated operations, and fight under conditions of disruptive change.”1 The wargame Hedgemony is unlike most other wargames. Its focus is on teaching defense professionals how strategies are a complex interaction between force development, force posture, and force employment. Hedgemony also provides a way in which the Marine Corps War College measures its program outcomes.

EDUCATIONAL WARGAMING: Design and Implementation into Professional Military Education

In light of the Commandant’s Planning Guidance, there is a renewed emphasis on educational wargaming in professional military education (PME). While wargaming has a long history in PME, there is currently a gap in the academic literature regarding wargaming as an adult educational tool. Scientific study has focused on adult education theory and models generally, highlighting the identification of four different learning experiences, each tied to a learning style: concrete experience, which suits those with a diverging earning style; abstract conceptualization, which suits those with the converging learning style; reflective observation, for those with an assimilating learning style; and active experimentation, which works well for those with an accommodating learning style. By effectively engaging each of these four experiences, educational wargaming can have utility for a diverse array of learning styles.

WARGAMING IN PROFESSIONAL MILITARY EDUCATION: Challenges and Solutions

Given the emphasis to employ wargaming in professional military education, how can instructors in the schoolhouses, operating forces, and supporting establishment—particularly those who are not experienced wargamers themselves—go about it? This article explains the necessity of crafting desired learning outcomes to selected, modified, or in-house designed serious wargames with the assistance of accomplished experts. Summarizing relevant recent scholarship, it provides foundational terminology and concepts that facilitate collaborative conversations, as well as offers advice regarding common but avoidable pitfalls of this dynamic and immersive teaching method.

Professional Physical Training of Future Border Guards

The improvement of professional military education is the most important part of reforming state power departments. One of its components is the professional training of cadets in higher military educational institutions. One of the key places in this process belongs to the physical training of cadets, which is aimed at forming their readiness to achieve tasks of professional military training. Therefore, the current research aims to theoretically justify and experimentally verify the effectiveness of the programme for professional and personal physical training of future border guards. Based on the results of the initial survey, two groups of cadets were formed (only 419 individuals). The control group (210 individuals) and the experimental group (209 individuals) included cadets with approximately identical indices of a functional state. After conducting a pedagogical experiment based on the designed model for increasing physical readiness of future border guards for professional activity, the proposed programme for professional and personal physical training of future border guards was proved to be highly effective. Indeed, 94% of cadets completed the experimental programme, successfully passed an annual medical examination and met the established standards of physical training during the covered period of training. A vital index increased by 10.8%, overall working capacity (based on the results of a step-test) – by 18.7%, maximum voluntary ventilation – by 20.1%, heart rate recovery – by 19.4%.

Teaching efficacy of U.S. Air Force enlisted professional military educators during the COVID-19 pandemic

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, U.S. Air Force Enlisted Professional Military Education (EPME) was forced to deliver traditionally in-person leadership development interventions in an online, instructor-facilitated format for the first time in the history of the programme. Despite the absence of training to teach in online learning environments, hundreds of instructors within 80 schoolhouses were charged with embracing this pedagogic shift to continue developing enlisted leaders during a global pandemic. This study examined the sense of self-efficacy of 129 instructors across all levels of U.S. Air Force EPME by utilising a 32-item self-efficacy measurement instrument. This study has implications for enlisted and officer professional military education leaders interested in training and developing faculty to teach in online learning environments. Overall, instructors felt confident in their abilities to teach online, despite pre-service training having focussed solely on in-person instruction. Results indicated a positive relationship between higher senses of self-efficacy and years of instructors’ experience. Instructors who worked with an instructional support specialist showed a significantly higher sense of self-efficacy than instructors who did not. Future studies should aim to integrate multiple perspectives of the efficacy of U.S. Air Force EPME instructors, such as those from students, administrators and colleagues.

Locating Feminist Progress in Professional Military Education

A continuing debate in feminist scholarship on gender, security, and the military has been whether militaries can facilitate feminist progress and be forces for good. Feminists committed to working outside of militaries note that gender perspectives have often been used to advance the military’s goals of winning wars rather than commitments to feminist social transformation of military institutions and societies. However, influences from international normative frameworks on Women, Peace and Security; Canada’s feminist foreign policy; and an emphasis on diversity and inclusion within Canada’s Defence Policy have presented the Canadian Armed Forces with a solid platform from which it has begun to make change. The central tenets of this broad feminist platform have begun to permeate Canadian Professional Military Education (PME) through the collective efforts of educators, staff, and military students at Canada’s defence colleges. Drawing on a review of policy and programmes as well as a qualitative analysis of interviews with educators, staff, and military students, the article demonstrates that feminist transformational change by military members is possible by exploring its nascent reality. The article highlights the challenges and benefits of incorporating feminist perspectives in Canadian PME and demonstrates how and under what conditions military graduates with this education have begun to apply gender and cultural learning to make local feminist interventions both within and outside their institution. Ultimately, this research shows that collective efforts toward localized and incremental changes by military members are paving the way for meaningful feminist progress within the military.

Ethical Education of the Military: NATO Experience and Ukrainian Practice

The article provides a comparative analysis of the scientific and theoretical approaches to the ethical component of a professional military education in the NATO countries and Ukraine. The requirements of modern standards and criteria of military professionalism have been stated. Being based on the results of the analysis, the task to form and develop some basic moral values and qualities of the officers in the National Guard of Ukraine is offered for a project implementation in the educational process in the National Academy of the National Guard. The proposed project is aimed at different categories of learners: first-year cadets, Academy graduates (Junior Officers) and Intermediate Officers doing the course for the Master’s Degree in the National Academy of the National Guard of Ukraine. It can create the methodological basis for the ethical education in the Security and Defense higher educational establishments of Ukraine. The methodology of the project is based on the developments of modern home philosophy of education, including the military one, on humanization and humanitarization of a military education; on western and home socio-philosophical and military-sociological views of the army’s place and role in today's ‘risk society’, on the peculiarities of the interaction between civil and military structures correspondingly, on the moral requirements for the military, first of all officers, and on the principles contained in Generic Officer Professional Military Education (PME) Reference Curriculum (RC), for NATO and partners.