This is a public safety issue — not a business debate.

Right now, anyone can call themselves a self-defence instructor.
Anyone can franchise it.
Anyone can issue “qualifications”.

There are no minimum standards, no regulation, and no safeguarding oversight.

That puts women, children, and the wider public at real risk.

Recently, this issue was highlighted on national television when a self-defence franchise model was promoted despite the founder openly stating she does not come from a professional self-defence or martial arts background, yet is now certifying instructors globally.

This is not empowerment.
This is false confidence at scale.

 
❗ WHY THIS IS DANGEROUS
Self-defence is not fitness.
It is not motivation.
It involves violence, fear, legal consequences, and life-or-death decisions.

Teaching simplified physical techniques without:

deep training
pressure testing
legal education
understanding stress and adrenal response
safeguarding oversight
can cause people to:

resist when they should escape or comply
escalate situations unnecessarily
suffer serious injury or end up on the wrong side of the law
When unqualified people certify other unqualified people, this danger multiplies rapidly — especially through franchising.

One poorly taught class is dangerous.
A global franchise of under-trained instructors is a serious safeguarding risk.

 
👤 WHO IS RAISING THIS CONCERN — AND WHY IT MATTERS
My name is Steve Scaddan.

I have over 35 years of experience in martial arts and real-world self-protection.
I have received military training delivered by elite UK Armed Forces instructors, including training alongside Commandos and Paratroopers.

I am the Head Coach at Revolution Martial Arts Academy teaching self defence and self protection awareness, a athlete in Team GB and the founder of Aware360 Pro, a safety and awareness platform built specifically around:

real-world risk
pre-incident indicators
de-escalation
legal responsibility
and safeguarding
I teach men, women, and children, often in my own spare time, and everything I teach is:

awareness-first
avoidance-focused
legally grounded
pressure-tested
safeguarding-led
I am not opposed to men, women and children learning how to stay safe.

I am opposed to confidence being sold without competence.

 
⚠️ THE BIGGER PROBLEM
Across the UK — and increasingly worldwide — there are countless unregulated martial arts, self-defence, and self-protection clubs operating with:

no recognised qualifications
no minimum standards
no accountability
Many exist primarily to make money from fear, not to protect people.

When these models are franchised and promoted publicly, they gain false credibility — and the public assumes they are safe.

They are not.

 
📢 WHAT THIS PETITION IS CALLING FOR
We are calling for:

Minimum competency standards for anyone teaching physical self-defence
A clear distinction between awareness training and physical self-defence instruction
Mandatory safeguarding and legal education for instructors
Oversight of franchised self-defence certification schemes
Public transparency around instructor qualifications
This is not about banning self-defence.
It is about protecting people from harm.

 
✍️ CALL TO ACTION
If you care about:

women’s safety
children’s safety
public accountability
stopping false confidence from getting people hurt
Please sign this petition.

Share it.
Talk about it.
Force this conversation into the open.

Because when safety is involved, shortcuts cost lives.