The cadet experience: understanding cadet outcomes

DfE today (14 Mar) published the results of a research report to study the impact of cadet programmes on students and their educational outcomes. 

This report assesses the impact of being a cadet on students, and the value of the cadet expansion programme (CEP) which establishes new cadet units in schools.

It presents the findings from 2 work phases carried out between November 2014 and June 2015 and the analysis of matched administrative data during the spring of 2016 including:

• qualitative case study visits with a sample of 9 CEP schools
• a cadet survey administered with 348 young people in 55 CEP schools across England
• a comparison of cadet characteristics from the survey with a matched sample of young people from the Longitudinal Study of Young People in England (LYSPE)
• a comparison of cadet educational outcomes (attainment, absences, fixed-term exclusions, permanent exclusions) using Ministry of Defence (MoD) and Marine Society & Sea Cadets (MSSC) databases with a matched sample of young people from the National Pupil Database (NPD)