Educational Methods

Educational Methods is a term used in Scouting that encompasses our approach to education for our members (Scouts) and our approach to the training of our volunteer leadership.

For young people and adults we use the term 'education' in its broadest sense; as a life-long process that enables the global and continuous development of a person's capacities both as an individual and as a member of society.

Each National Scout Organization is responsible for:

• developing a Youth Programme, based on the fundamental principles of Scouting, that is attractive to and meets the needs of young people in their country
• training volunteers to deliver the Youth Programme and manage the association.

The Educational Methods Committee (EMC), a Sub Committee of the World Scout Committee, is responsible for supporting the development and delivery of Scouting in NSOs; through networking, sharing good practices, supporting innovations and developing partnerships.

The Educational Methods Committee is chaired by John May and a plan for 2008-2011 has been developed.

 

NSO Checklist

WOSM has developed a tool to support a self-assessment process in NSOs, as part of the overall work to support the development of strong, well-functionning NSOs and as a tool to ensure that the constitutions of existing and potential NSOs are acceptable as a legal document.

The tool is divided into different sections. The section on educational methods covers aspects of Youth Programme, Youth Membership and Adult Membership and Adult Resources. A copy of the educational methods section can be downloaded below and you may find it useful in your work as an Educational Committee at national level or in the teams supporting Youth Programme and Adult Resources in NSOs.

Download the Checklist :

Checklist for NSOs 125.22 kB

Download Preliminary results & NSO checklist analysis (Africa Region) :

Preliminary results & NSO checklist analysis 1.83 MB

 

Growth happens at local level

There is no single solution to make sure that Scouting is improving in quality and is attracting more young people. Staff representing all the offices of the World Scout Bureau met recently to share the initiatives that are being undertaken in NSOs in their Regions and to see what support is being provided at Regional and world levels to make sure that Scouting is able to attract and retain both young people and adults.

Here are some of the outcomes of that meeting.

From the discussions the following general points emerged:

Growth happens at local level – this is the key point to develop Scouting.

Youth Programme

1. Know your Membership – accurate numbers of Youth Members are needed at local and national levels.
2. Emphasise the Scout Method as the key shared element in the world-wide family of Scouting. This is our unique selling point in relation to the Youth Programme.

Adult Resources

1. Know your numbers – again accurate number of adults supporting Scouting in the different roles is required at local, national and world levels to support the growth of the Movement
2. Differentiate between the different adult roles
   • supporting young people
   • supporting Scouting structurally to enable appropriate training and support to be delivered
   • important to define mandate
   • important to include appointment process (behaviour and attitudes
3. Identify the “net gain” for adults which needs to be recognised and promoted.
   • What is the unique selling point for adults? Part of a world-wide family of Scouting?
   • IYV +10 in 2011 is an opportunity to promote volunteering.

Scouting's Profile

1. Create a better image of Scouting at local level – so that people
   • feel as a Scout (emotional), look like Scouts, act as Scouts and there are
   • relationships with key leaders of the communities so Scouting can
   • show collective action / ownership and live up to
   • the fame and the reputation
2. Strengthen the Brand
   • corporate image
   • signage
   • focus on the Scout brand
3. Marketing
   • adapt our marketing to the segments /expectations and needs of young people and the communities
   • renew the corporate image on that basis /appearance

Growth will be a key session at the Communication Fora that are currently being run in each of the Regions. More information: http://scout.org/fora

 

An educational Movement for young people

As an educational movement for young people, Scouting's purpose is to contribute to the development of young people in achieving their full physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual potentials as individuals, as responsible citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities.

• It includes all four pillars of education: learning to know, learning to do, learning to live together and learning to be, the last two requiring a particular emphasis.
• It belongs to the category of non-formal education since, while it takes place outside the formal educational system, it is an organized institution with an educational aim and is addressed to a specific clientele.

In addition, Scouting’s educational approach is characterized by the following:

1. it adopts a holistic approach to a young person’s education;
2. it seeks to achieve its educational purpose on the basis of an educational proposal;
3. as a non-formal educational agent, it plays a complementary role to that of other educational agents;
4. it recognizes that it can only make a contribution to the education of young people.

More information on Scouting's approach to education is available in The Essential Characteristics of Scouting

 

Training and support to Volunteers

Scouting recognises that volunteers play an essential role in the Movement and the Adults in Scouting model sets out an approach to the overall management; the recruitment, appointment, support and training and recognition, of its volunteers.

The Strategy for Scouting challenges NSOs to develop new approaches to broaden the base of volunteers that are willing and able to support Scouting. Approaches to volunteering vary from country to country. The EMC will help NSOs to explore volunteering from their perspective and make plans to extend their base of volunteering and provide appropriate training to support the growth of Scouting.

More information on volunteering is available in the World Adult Resources Policy , the Volunteers in Scouting Toolkit and the Volunteers in Scouting Toolkit 2.

 

Resources: http://www.scout.org