The challenges and opportunities for academics in professional military education

Abstract

Military forces have for centuries sought to improve the intellectual, and as a result operational, effectiveness of their forces through a rigorous curriculum of professional military education (PME). This has often been taught by current serving or retired military personnel but in recent decades there has been a trend towards PME being delivered by civilian academics. This trend of outsourcing the education of junior and senior officers has led to a clash of cultures between the military and academics and presents the academics who deliver these curricula with a number of challenges including education being placed alongside other elements of military training and the physical and mental exhaustion that results from the military training environment. There are also, however, many opportunities for civilian academics involved in PME including smaller classroom groups and a lower administrative burden. This article will explore both the challenges and opportunities that exist within the PME.