New Study Spotlight: Education - A Pathway to Wellbeing

Welcome to ‘New Study Spotlight’, where we interview researchers about their new studies to raise awareness and keep you up to date with current research focused on the Armed Forces community. Read on to learn about new research, its importance and relevance, aims, and intended impact and benefit for the Armed Forces community. To learn about all current UK research with the Armed Forces community, you can search Ongoing Research here. 

In this issue, we interviewed Rebecca Steel (Director College of Military Veterans and Emergency Services, University of Lancashire) and  Anna Bell (Lecturer in Adult Nursing, University of Lancashire), about their new research study: “Education: A Pathway to Wellbeing”.

Focussing on the intersection of education and employment, ‘Education: A Pathway to Wellbeing” explores the needs of Armed Forces spouses and partners as potential students and employees. The research aims to use evidence-based practice to develop pathways which address the unique challenges spouses and partners of regular and reservist personnel face. This will lead to the development of interventions to raise confidence, aspirations, and improve wellbeing through opportunities to study and work.

Why is this research important and why now?

Military spouses are the backbone of the military community, providing the social, emotional, and logistical infrastructure that underpins the stability of Service life. Their ability to sustain family functioning, maintain continuity during frequent relocations, and absorb the psychological and practical pressures associated with deployments forms an essential, though often invisible component of operational effectiveness. Approximately 55,000 regular Service personnel are married or in a civil partnership, over half of Service partners are with Army personnel and 26% of these report a non-UK nationality, with the majority of Service spouses living in England¹. Being part of UK Armed Forces means sacrifices, the employment of a family member in the military impacts on everyone². Family members, find themselves juxtaposed between military and civilian life. Whilst they are not enlisted institutional constraints impact upon their daily lives. This can be through many factors, where they live and the accommodation they live in, who is present and absent in the family, how the social determinants impact upon their future and life ambitions³. This stabilising role enables Serving personnel to carry out their duties with reduced domestic strain, directly contributing to organisational readiness, retention, and the overall resilience of the UK Armed Forces.

Transition of Serving personnel re-entering civilian society from military life remains an issue of concern, relatively little consideration is given to the role of military spouses⁴. Therefore, this project supports partners to develop their own identity and skills, working collaboratively with colleges, universities, and employers across the North West to highlight unique challenges faced by this group and improving access to provision.

Despite this central contribution, the educational and career aspirations of military spouses remain insufficiently understood, under‑researched, and inadequately supported. Structural features of military life, such as mobility, the unpredictability of posting cycles, and limited access to childcare or local networks. These challenges create significant disruptions that impede sustained engagement with education and professional development. Often interconnected with broader gendered expectations around caregiving and household management, compounding inequalities and leaving many spouses underemployed, professionally isolated, or unable to realise their academic potential.

Crucially, the discourse surrounding military families has tended to emphasise resilience and adaptability, often obscuring the systemic barriers that constrain spouses’ opportunities. Existing policies and organisational support mechanisms frequently fail to account for the cumulative impact of relocations, fragmented learning pathways and the absence of consistent institutional support across different regions and educational providers. As a result, military spouses, despite their recognised contribution to the functioning of the Armed Forces, continue to experience disproportionately limited access to education and career progression.

What is the problem in the world that this aims to address?

Existing research doesn’t tell us what military spouses and partners need for their own developmental trajectories in work and life. The project endeavours to understand the impact of military culture on family members, spouses and partners of regular and reservist personnel thus, providing alternative discourses to the dominant ones on what constitutes military life and how it impacts on education, aspirations, attainment, and development opportunities. Particularly with the current geopolitics of the world and the potential for increased deployments, this opportunity to support military spouses is vital in both supporting service personnel and their families.

The lived experiences of spouses and analysing the structural conditions that shape their educational trajectories, this research aims to illuminate the gap between their indispensable role within military communities and the inequitable support systems available to them. Ultimately, generating a deeper understanding of these dynamics is essential for informing policy, enhancing institutional responsiveness, and ensuring that military spouses are enabled—not hindered—in pursuing meaningful and sustained educational and career pathways. The challenges military spouses face can negatively affect their mental health, employment prospects, financial stability, and sense of identity. Despite policy commitments to improving their lives, there is limited empirical research capturing their lived experiences or identifying practical, scalable solutions.

What questions will the research aim to answer?

• What educational barriers do military spouses/partners experience?
• How does access to education affect wellbeing, identity, and long‑term prospects?
• What forms of support do spouses/partners need to access and succeed in education?
• How can educational providers and policymakers better design services that meet these needs?

How will it answer these questions (the research method in lay terms)?

This project aims to generate a robust evidence base on the lived experiences of military spouses, with a particular focus on factors influencing wellbeing, access to education and opportunities for personal and professional development. Using a mixed‑methods design, the study will capture rich, authentic accounts through semi‑structured interviews, focus groups, participatory methods and short surveys. These methods will enable the research team to explore not only the challenges spouses encounter, such as mobility, isolation, and career disruption, but also highlight, adaptive strategies and support systems that currently work well within the Armed Forces community.

All data will undergo systematic analysis. Quantitative survey findings will help identify broad trends and the prevalence of key issues, while qualitative data will be examined thematically to reveal deeper insights into the context and complexity of spouses’ experiences. The integration of these datasets will support the development of clear, actionable, and evidence‑informed recommendations for policy, practice, and community initiatives.

Project Advisory Group (PAG)

A Project Advisory Group (PAG) has been convened to provide strategic guidance, ensure methodological rigour, and strengthen the relevance of the project to those it intends to serve. The group comprises members of the Armed Forces community, including military spouses, tri‑service representatives, academics, and social enterprise partners, who collectively bring a diverse range of perspectives and expertise.

The PAG will act as critical friends throughout the research process, offering constructive challenge, reflective commentary, and expert insight to ensure the project remains robust, relevant, and ethically sound. Members will support the refinement of research tools such as interview guides and questionnaires, ensuring these are culturally sensitive, inclusive, and appropriate for the Armed Forces community. They will advise on implementation of data collection, helping the team navigate contextual considerations that may influence participation or interpretation. The group will also assist in reviewing and interpreting emerging findings, drawing on their lived experience or professional expertise to ensure conclusions are grounded in real‑world contexts. Additionally, the PAG will help strengthen links with wider networks across defence, education providers, and community organisations, enhancing opportunities for dissemination and impact. Through this ongoing engagement, the advisory group will play a central role in ensuring the project delivers meaningful and actionable outcomes for military spouses/partners and the organisations that support them. This collaborative structure helps to ensure that the research remains grounded in the real-world experiences of military families and leads to meaningful, implementable outcomes

Data Collection Approach

The project uses a mixed‑methods strategy designed to balance depth and breadth of understanding:

• Anonymous quantitative questionnaire (n=50)- The survey will gather demographic information and explore key themes such as mobility, employment, family wellbeing, educational access, and perceptions of support. This will provide a broad overview of common patterns and variations within the spouse/partner community.
• Qualitative focus groups (10–15 participants) - Small-group discussions will allow for detailed exploration of personal narratives, contextual challenges, and existing supports. Focus groups encourage dialogue between participants, helping surface shared experiences as well as points of divergence.
• Participatory arts-based methodology (12 – 15 participants) - Developed with The Drive Project (TDP) to pilot an arts-based intervention from which we will build storytelling for wellbeing and our peer-led network. TDP has been delivering creative, recovery-focused, and wellbeing programmes across the Armed Forces community for over a decade. Too often, support programmes centre around the Serving person, leaving the experiences of spouses and partners overlooked and unheard. We intend to use a series of creative activities to foster genuine connection among military spouses and partners, reduce isolation, and highlight the extraordinary strength and adaptability of military families.

This combined approach offers a comprehensive view of the lived realities of military spouses and partners, ensuring the research findings are both statistically informative and deeply grounded in the voices of those with direct experience.

What are the intended outcomes and impact of the research?

The findings will strengthen understanding of the educational and wellbeing challenges faced by military spouses and partners and inform the development of more effective policies and practices at national and UK levels. By highlighting how service‑related mobility and transition affect spouses/partners and their families, the research will support the creation of evidence‑based interventions rather than assumptions. The work will also contribute to international discussions on supporting Armed Forces families and identify priority areas for future research with military spouses and partners.

Who is funding the research?

This important research project is possible due to securing funding from the Armed Forces Covenant Fund Trust. The research team consists of Rebecca Steel (Director College of Military Veterans and Emergence Services, University of Lancashire) and Anna Bell (Lecturer in Adult Nursing, University of Lancashire). Both Anna and Becky possess lived experience of the Armed Forces community and are experienced post-graduate researchers employing participatory methodologies to understand the barriers the Armed Forces community face. Deborah Collier is the employer engagement and careers pathway lead. Deborah possesses lived experience of the Armed Forces alongside the unique opportunities the Armed Forces community bring to prospective employers. Paul Smith, Director of the Lancashire Colleges is supporting engagement across Further Education pathways. The Drive Project are overseeing the creative methodologies employed as part of the Your Voice storytelling project.

What are the project's key milestones (e.g. recruitment, analysis, results available)?

Nov 2025: Ethical Approval gained

Jan- April 2026: Online Questionnaire

April-Jun 2026: Focus groups

April 26- Nov 2026: Data analysis

Nov 2026: Interventions/support materials

References

1. UK Ministry of Defence. (2024). Tri-service families continuous attitude survey 2024: Main report. 
2. Cramm, H., Norris, D., Venedam, S. and Tam-Seto, L. (2018), Toward a Model of Military Family Resiliency: A Narrative Review. J Fam Theory Rev, 10: 620-640. 
3. Steel, R. (2023). Stories outside the wire. In A. S. J. Cree (Ed.), Creative methods in military studies. Rowman & Littlefield.
4. Jervis, S. (2011). Relocation, Gender and Emotion: A Psycho-Social Perspective on the Experiences of Military Wives (1st ed.). Routledge.