• Young people have a natural tendency to form groups of roughly the same age. The team system is a way of making use of this natural tendency in order to provide an environment in which young people enjoy being and in order to channel the substantial influence that peers  have on each other in a constructive direction.
  • What young people gain from living and working together according to a code of living and the relationships that develop as a result of a multitude of shared adventures are as important in terms of their education as the activities in which they take part. 
  • In Scouting, young people of roughly the same age operate in small groups of six to eight members. Each small group operates as a team. Within each team, the young people organise their life as a group and decide upon, organise and carry out their activities. Each young person has a specific responsibility which he or she carries out for an agreed length of time which contributes to the life and welfare of the team and the success of their activities.
  • In each of the teams, one of the young people, acknowledged by the others to be the leader, assumes a general coordinating role and convenes meetings with the other members, giving each member the opportunity to take part in the decisions and to be fully involved in the life of the team. 
  • Several of these teams (usually four to six) form a Scout unit, supported by an adult leader and adult assistants. The Scout unit is managed by a council involving the team leaders and the adult leader.Although the adult leaders are not members of the teams, they are nonetheless in close contact with each of the teams and with each young person.  
  • While the team is the basic grouping in which the young people operate, the young people are also part of the Scout unit as a whole. During the Scout year, there are activities which involve the whole of the Scout unit. These provide opportunities for each team to contribute to the well-being of the Scout unit as a whole and provide opportunities for the young people to get to know the others in the other teams. 
  • All these elements combined form an organised social structure and a democratic system of self-government based on the Scout law that Baden-Powell called the “patrol system” 4. Each person is involved in the government of this mini-society and has a share of the responsibility in ensuring the well-being of its members.
  • Despite the name, the “patrol system” was not in any way intended to reflect a military-style line of command in which the adult leader gave orders to be carried out by the patrols. Indeed, if it were to operate in this way, it would not be able to fulfil its educational function.