Battlefield tours and staff rides: a useful learning experience?

Abstract

A key component of current British military education is the battlefield tour and staff ride. These tours allow students to visit the location of military events, most commonly the battlefields of the First and Second World Wars in northern Europe, to facilitate their understanding of military history and draw contemporary parallels from the events concerned. While these tours are commonly hailed as excellent opportunities for learning, there has been a lack of critical discussion on the learning and teaching implications of these exercises. This article aims to provide a review of the available literature on the pedagogical value of battlefield tours and staff rides and to bring them within a theoretical learning context. It will then present some conclusions on the ways in which learning outcomes from battlefield tours and staff rides can be improved.