Education: A Pathway to Wellbeing

Military spouses and partners face distinct challenges linked to frequent relocations, disrupted careers, limited access to education, and reduced social support. These pressures can negatively affect wellbeing, financial stability, and long-term career progression, yet the experiences of this group remain under-researched. Early findings suggest that military partners often encounter structural barriers when attempting to access higher education or maintain meaningful employment. This project aims to generate robust, evidence-based insights into the needs, aspirations, and lived experiences of military spouses. By understanding these barriers and enablers, the research seeks to inform policy, enhance support pathways, and improve educational and employment opportunities across the Armed Forces community.

This project aims to address a significant gap in existing research, which rarely examines what military spouses/partners need to support their own developmental trajectories in work, learning and life. It seeks to understand how military culture shapes the experiences of spouses and partners of regular and reservist personnel. It offers an alternative discourses to dominant narratives about military life. The research aims to explore how service demands influence education, aspirations, attainment and opportunities for personal & professional development. In the context of shifting geopolitics and potential increases in deployment, supporting military spouses is vital to sustaining both service personnel and family wellbeing. By examining lived experiences and the structural conditions influencing educational and career pathways. The project aims to illuminate the gap between spouses' indispensable contributions and the inequitable support systems surrounding them. Ultimately, the research seeks to inform policy, enhance institutional responsiveness, and promote meaningful, sustained opportunities for military spouses.

This project will use a mixed-methods approach to explore the educational, employment, and wellbeing experiences of military spouses and partners. 

The qualitative strand will involve 10-15 participants at 2-3 focus groups, allowing participants to describe the impact of relocation, childcare, identity, and career disruption in depth. This will involve a participatory arts-based methodology of story making and qualitative narrative building. Participants will be recruited purposively through Armed Forces networks, charities, and social media. All sessions will be audio-recorded with consent and transcribed verbatim. 

The quantitative strand will consist of a short online survey capturing demographics, relocation patterns, education level, employment status, and perceived access to support. This will provide descriptive data to contextualise qualitative themes and identify broader trends. 

Qualitative data will be analysed using reflexive thematic analysis, while survey data will undergo descriptive statistical analysis. Integration will occur at the interpretation stage, enabling triangulation and strengthening the validity of findings. Ethical approval, informed consent, confidentiality, and participant wellbeing will be prioritised.

This project addresses four research questions:

1)    What educational barriers do military spouses experience?
2)    How does access to education affect wellbeing, identity, and long-term prospects?
3)    What forms of support do spouses need to access and succeed in education?
4)    How can educational providers and policymakers better design services that meet these needs?

Military spouses/partners within Lancashire with links to Local Regular and Reserve Battalions. Participants will include military spouses/partners (~80), anonymous survey participants (50), focus groups (10 at each) and arts programme attendees (12).