Learning about the armed forces should be made an essential part of the national curriculum in citizenship lessons, a report has said.

It also called for transport subsidies to encourage school trips to military museums. Serving personnel could also get time off to visit their old schools and meet pupils and staff, under the independent review’s recommendations.

The study, looking at how to increase public awareness of the armed forces, also backs government plans to increase participation in combined cadet forces in community schools and academies. At present, all but 60 out of 260 forces are based in grammar and independent schools.

The review, by Quentin Davies MP, calls for the appointment of a “London ambassador” to encourage participation in the capital, in school and community-based cadet forces.

The report, National Recognition of the Armed Forces, also acknowledged the “major problem” of armed forces’ visits to schools being perceived as recruitment initiatives.

The National Union of Teachers said there needed to be a protocol that “sets out clear parameters” about what the ministry’s involvement should be in schools.