Educational & Training Services | |
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Cap badge of the ETS | |
Active | 1845 as the Corps of Army Schoolmasters |
Country | ![]() |
Branch | ![]() |
Type | Combat Service Support |
Role | Education and Training |
Size | c.300 Regular Officers c.200 Reservist Officers |
HQ | Education Branch, Army HQ, Andover, Hampshire |
Motto(s) | 'Animo Et Fide' Courage and Faith |
Colors | Oxford & Minerva Blue |
March | Quick March: Gaudeamus Igitur ("Let us rejoice") Slow March: Greensleeves |
Mascot(s) | Minerva |
Anniversaries | Education Sunday, the First Sunday in June. |
Insignia | |
Tactical Recognition Flash | ![]() |
The Educational and Training Services form part of the Adjutant General's Corps and have done since 1992 when this Corps of the British Army was formed. Their remit is to continue the general education of soldiers and officers alike, as well as the military training of the soldiers of the Army.
The Educational and Training Services Branch can trace its history back to 1762 when the First Regiment of Guards (Grenadiers) based at the Tower of London established a Unit School. [1] In 1797 the Royal Artillery opened a Regimental School at Woolwich Station, and in 1812 the British Parliament first provided funding for Army schools. [1] This was the first widespread, state funded education system in the United Kingdom. [2]
Following the establishment of the Regimental School System, all Army Sergeant Schoolmasters were formally trained in The Monitorial System this being the most modern form of instruction at the time. [3] Thus, the Corps of Army Schoolmasters was established in 1845 [4] to provide Education for Soldiers and their families. References exist to Army Schools, now Army Education Centres, being in operation continually since 1898. [5]
In 1992 the Royal Army Educational Corps was disbanded and its Officers transferred into the newly formed Educational and Training Services Branch of the Adjutant General's Corps. [6]
Members of the ETS Branch are entitled to wear blue socks with their Number 2 Service Dress (British Army) uniforms; this is a unique part of their uniform, as a variation of socks is not seen in other units which wear infantry pattern service dress. [7] This stems from a Royal Warrant of 1854 which instructed Army Schoolmasters to wear: "a blue frock-coat, heavily braided in black, and worn with gold shoulder-knots, a sword and a crimson silk sash, and a cap with scarlet band, bearing a crown in gold thread". [8]
ETS is an all officer, all graduate, branch. It provides education to Regular and Reserve Army personnel, helping them to meet the challenges of the 21st century by training for certainty and educating for uncertainty. Officers are primarily employed as follows: [9]
The original authority for the establishment of Army Education Centres was granted in 1947 for "up to eighty education centres, wherever a concentration of 1500 men or more had displayed a need". [1] Currently, the below are in operation:
AEC Number (1991) [16] | Location | Current AEC Number (2021) [17] |
2 AEC | York | 3 AEC Gp |
3 AEC | Catterick | 3 AEC Gp |
6 AEC | Warminster | 12 AEC Gp |
7 AEC | Chepstow | 20 AEC Gp |
10 AEC | Tidworth | 10 AEC Gp |
12 AEC | Larkhill | 12 AEC Gp |
15 AEC | Bicester | 77 AEC Gp |
18 AEC | Colchester | 18 AEC Gp |
22 AEC | Chatham | 30 AEC Gp |
24 AEC | Windsor | 30 AEC Gp |
27 AEC | Edinburgh | 27 AEC Gp |
31 AEC | Woolwich | 30 AEC Gp |
32 AEC | Lisburn | 32 AEC Gp |
55 AEC | Dhekalia | 55 AEC Gp |
77 AEC | Aldershot | 77 AEC Gp |
78 AEC | Tidworth | 10 AEC Gp |
An ETS Officer would usually start their career in one of two roles: Learning Development Officer (LDO) in an Army Education Centre, or an instructor at the Army Foundation College Harrogate (AFC(H)). [18] Later roles include: Army Training Regiment (ATR) LDOs or Platoon Commanders, Army School of Education (ASE) Instructor, or assignments in the wider Army. [18]
The Educational and Training Services Branch is a member of the International Association for Military Pedagogy (IAMP).
The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Naval Service and the Royal Air Force. As of 1 January 2024, the British Army comprises 75,166 regular full-time personnel, 4,062 Gurkhas, 26,244 volunteer reserve personnel and 4,557 "other personnel", for a total of 110,029.
Warrant officer (WO) is a rank or category of ranks in the armed forces of many countries. Depending on the country, service, or historical context, warrant officers are sometimes classified as the most junior of the commissioned officer ranks, the most senior of the non-commissioned officer (NCO) ranks, or in a separate category of their own. Warrant officer ranks are especially prominent in the militaries of Commonwealth nations and the United States.
Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term adjudant is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commissioned officer rank similar to a staff sergeant or warrant officer but is not equivalent to the role or appointment of an adjutant.
The Royal Military Police (RMP) is the corps of the British Army responsible for the policing of army service personnel, and for providing a military police presence both in the UK and while service personnel are deployed overseas on operations and exercises. Members of the RMP are often known as 'Redcaps' because of the scarlet covers on their peaked caps and scarlet coloured berets.
The Adjutant General's Corps is a corps in the British Army responsible for many of its general administrative services, named for the Adjutant-General to the Forces. As of 2002, the AGC had a staff of 7,000 people.
The Royal Yeomanry (RY) is the senior reserve cavalry regiment of the British Army. Equipped with Supacat Jackal variants, their role is to conduct mounted and dismounted formation reconnaissance. The Regimental Headquarters is located in Leicester, with squadrons in Fulham, Nottingham, Dudley, Croydon, Telford, and Leicester. The regiment is part of the Royal Armoured Corps and is only reserve cavalry regiment to resubordinate into regular brigade as part of the Future Soldier Programme, which in turn arose from the Integrated Review of Security, Defence, Development and Foreign Policy published in March 2021.
The Intelligence Corps is a corps of the British Army. It is responsible for gathering, analysing and disseminating military intelligence and also for counter-intelligence and security. The Director of the Intelligence Corps is a brigadier.
The Hong Kong Military Service Corps (HKMSC) was a British army unit and part of the British garrison in Hong Kong. Throughout the history of Hong Kong, it has been the only regular British army unit raised in the territory made up almost entirely of Locally Enlisted Personnel (LEP).
The Royal Army Educational Corps (RAEC) was a corps of the British Army tasked with educating and instructing personnel in a diverse range of skills. On 6 April 1992 it became the Educational and Training Services Branch (ETS) of the Adjutant General's Corps.
The Royal Australian Army Educational Corps (RAAEC) is a specialist corps within the Australian Army. Formed in 1949, the corps had its genesis in other services that existed within the Australian forces during World War I and World War II. It is currently made up entirely of commissioned officers and is responsible for the provision of education-related services within the Army. Its various roles include instruction, designing computer-based learning materials, instructional systems, language training, literacy, and numeracy.
The Military Provost Staff are the Army's specialists in custody and detention, providing advice inspection and surety within custodial establishments. The MPS form part of the Adjutant General's Corps and are based at the Military Corrective Training Centre (MCTC) in Colchester, Essex.
The Defence School of Policing and Guarding is the training centre for the Service Police of the British Armed Forces including the Ministry of Defence. It consolidates training for the Royal Navy Police, Royal Military Police and Royal Air Force Police and the Ministry of Defence Police in one location, assuring consistent standards across the services. The centre was established at Southwick Park, near Portsmouth, Hampshire, in 2005.
The Military Provost Guard Service (MPGS) is responsible for maintaining physical security at British Armed Forces locations throughout Great Britain. It is one of three constituent units of the Adjutant General's Corps Provost Branch. The Provost branch is the responsibility of the Provost Marshal who is a Brigadier from the Royal Military Police. The MPGS also works alongside the unarmed Ministry of Defence Guard Service (MGS). In Northern Ireland, armed security at Ministry of Defence establishments is provided by the uniformed civilian Northern Ireland Security Guard Service in a similar manner to that of the MPGS in Great Britain.
Bovington Camp is a British Army military base in Dorset, England. Together with Lulworth Camp it forms part of Bovington Garrison.
Worthy Down Camp is a tri-service establishment near Winchester, in Hampshire, England. It forms part of the wider Winchester Garrison and houses the headquarters of the Defence College of Logistics, Policing and Administration (DCLPA), as well as the headquarters of the Royal Logistic Corps and Adjutant General's Corps. DCLPA provides logistic support, policing, guarding, personnel administration and leadership training to all three armed services. The site is north of Winchester, between the villages of South Wonston and Kings Worthy.
Regimental police or regimental provost (RP) are soldiers responsible for regimental discipline enforcement and unit custody in the British Army, other Commonwealth armies and some armed forces structured in the British tradition. They belong to the regiment or corps in which they enforce discipline rather than the Royal Military Police or its equivalent.
A warrant officer (WO) in the British Armed Forces is a member of the highest-ranking group of non-commissioned ranks, holding the King's Warrant, which is signed by the Secretary of State for Defence.
The page contains the current structure of the British Army. The British Army is currently being reorganised to the Future Soldier structure.
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: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)I was in just before the end of the Japanese war. The war in Germany was over, clearly why I went to Germany at that time...to teach soldiers, most of whom had missed schooling during the war, to read and write. It was weird really. I was immediately made a sergeant. Well you had to have some sort of rank because as a private in the classroom, teaching old soldiers their A, B, C, you'd soon have been given the brush off. I spent most of the time writing their letters home, you know 'Dear Mum...'