‘Grown up’ children from armed forces families

This project explored the reflections of ‘grown up’ children from Armed Forces families on their childhood and educational experiences.

These ‘grown up’ children have been overlooked in research, policy and practice, as the main focus has historically been on serving members of the military and veterans, with some exploration of the families, including school-aged children.

The Office for Students note that children from Armed Forces families face ‘very specific and complex barriers’ (OfS, 2020: para 9) and this has been recognised in the English government’s Service Pupil Premium funding, provided to schools since 2011 (MoD, 2023). Although research has been undertaken with school-aged children, we know very little about the childhood and educational experiences from those now grown up.

The reflections from this unique group of adults that cannot be elicited from anywhere else, provide knowledge about how childhood and education as part of an Armed Forces family have been experienced, and the implications of this. The outcomes of this project provide recommendations for policy, practice and research for current children who are in this context, their families, and those that work with and for them. This provides an evidence-based foundation for support for the children, as they move through childhood, schooling, further study and work, and make their transitions into adulthood.

Read our project report: ‘Grown Up’ Children from Armed Forces Families: reflections on experiences of childhood and education

Meet the Principal Investigator(s) for the project

Dr Anne Chappell
Dr Anne Chappell - Anne Chappell is the Head of Department and Reader in the Department of Education and has been in the Department at Brunel University London since 2004. She teaches on undergraduate and postgraduate education programmes, including Initial Teacher Education. Prior to this she worked in several secondary schools in London and the South-East of England with roles including Head of Year and Head of Physical Education. She studied Education, Physical Education and Science at West Sussex Institute of Higher Education, before completing a Master’s in Education at the University of Southampton and a PhD at Brunel University of London. Anne is a Senior Fellow of Advance Higher Education (previously Higher Education Academy). Anne's research interests are in auto/biography, education, policy, and the experiences of professionals, children and young people, including those from armed forces families. She has undertaken funded research with university students from widening participation backgrounds and commuting students and research with teachers at different career stages. She was Brunel's coordinator for the EU funded “Universities Supporting Victims of Sexual Violence: Training for Sustainable Student Services (USVSV)” project.  Anne's recent and current research, with colleagues, focusses on the experiences of 'Grown Up Children' from armed forces families, including university students: (‘Grown Up’ Children from Armed Forces families: reflections on experiences of childhood and education and University Students from Military Families). Anne is the co-editor of The Palgrave Handbook of Auto/Biography with Dr Julie Parsons, University of Plymouth, and she co-convenes the British Sociological Association's Auto/Biography Study Group: Auto/Biography Study Group (britsoc.co.uk) with Dr Carly Stewart, Bournemouth University.
Dr Ellen McHugh
Dr Ellen McHugh - Ellen McHugh is a Senior Lecturer in the Department of Education. Ellen joined Brunel University London in 2017 and teaches on the undergraduate education programme. She is a member of the Human Geography: Space, Place and Society research group and Fellow of Advance Higher Education. Ellen studied Geography and Archaeology at the University of Manchester and completed an MA in Tourism, Environment and Development at King’s College London. In 2007, Ellen was awarded a studentship from the University of Reading to undertake a PhD in Geography. Ellen’s research since joining the Department of Education has focused on higher education and student experience. She has worked on a number of research projects including students from a widening participation background; social housing and resident engagement; commuter students; the growth of tuition centres; students from military families; and doctoral students negotiating the shift to an academic position. Ellen also has particular expertise with hard-to-reach groups. In 2023, Ellen and her colleague Professor Emma Wainwright were awarded a British Academy/Leverhulme Small Research Grant to look at free food provision for university students. Prior to academia, Ellen worked in the Embassy of Ireland with the Emigrant Services Advisory Committee (ESAC), established in 1984 to advise the Irish Government on issues of concern to the Irish community in Britain. Ellen also worked as a Marketing Executive for Tourism Ireland, the body established under the Good Friday Agreement to market the island of Ireland overseas.

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Project last modified 07/03/2025