This paper describes a method for measuring the effects of academic and living conditions on the academic performance of female cadets in engineering at the Royal Military College of Canada (RMC). For the purposes of this paper systemic harassment is defined as policies, practices, procedures, actions or inactions, that appear neutral but have an adverse impact on an identifiable group. Two different measures of academic performance are used in this paper, the average grade of cadets, and the retention rate of cadets in engineering programmes. Both measures indicate that female cadets, particularly those studying engineering at the college, are adversely affected by the systemic discrimination that exists there. The paper also describes the educational system as it existed at RMC during the period of the study, discusses the perceptions of the affected group as reported elsewhere, and provides a model for analyzing the results.
Mid-sized countries face a changing security environment, and cannot be certain that the knowledge and practices of the past will serve the future. The officers, professors, and researchers in defence universities are the custodians of military sciences that must adapt to these changing situations. Practitioner research should be modelled and encouraged in defence universities as a vehicle for advancing military sciences to meet new challenges. Previous practitioner research in higher and adult education has highlighted the need for experiential learning in other professions. The authors report on practitioner research by professors at pre-commission military academies to improve cadets' understanding of peace and conflict. Military and police education is often experience-based, but there are few reports of practitioner research on its effectiveness, nor of combining peace and conflict education with out-of-classroom experiences. Legitimation Code Theory provides tools for understanding different teaching approaches. Comparing four cases of practitioner research on experiential learning the authors present models for practitioner research on teaching peace and conflict through out-of-classroom experiences, and conclude with means of evaluating learning experiences by pre-commission cadets, drawing on legitimation code theory. This is increasingly important for military academies striving to meet academic standards, but also to preserve professional values and young officer motivation to confront new challenges.
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