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Archives for 7/1/11

How Does It Work ?


As young people have a natural desire for action, challenge and adventure, Scouting channels their energy and provides them with a rich learning environment which encourages them to explore, experiment, discover and thus to develop. Learning by doing stimulates an active  approach to life, encourages young people to be actively involved in everything that affects them, helps them to discover all of their capacities and make constructive use of them, to take charge of their lives, and be actors, not spectators, in their community. The motor which drives the educational experiences is the activities that the young people take part in.
 
In other words, it is the combination of experiencing a code of living, the difficulties and rewards of responsibility, the joys and tribulations in the relationships that develop with peers and supportive adults, setting and striving to reach personal and collective goals, etc., all woven into progressively challenging activities that they find stimulating and useful that contributes to holistic and balanced development. As the young people develop through a vast range of experiences, opportunities for new and richer experiences come within reach.

What Is It Intended To ?


Learning by doing is a way of helping young people to develop in all dimensions through extracting what is personally significant from everything that they experience.

What Is It ?


Learning by doing means developing as a result of first-hand experience - which, after all, is a very effective teacher!

Learning by doing:
  • Reflects Scouting’s active approach to education. In other words, young people are helped to develop through opportunities for concrete, “hands-on” experience as opposed to passively listening to a lecture or watching a demonstration.
  • Applies to the way in which young people gain knowledge, skills and attitudes in each of the areas of development and thus progress towards their educational objectives. Learning by doing is thus not limited to “doing” in the sense of learning practical or manual skills. For example, young people learn the meaning of responsibility through taking on responsibility. 
  • Reflects Scouting’s practical approach to education based on learning through the opportunities for experiences that arise in the course of pursuing one’s interests and dealing with everyday life. In other words, Scouts do not gain knowledge, skills and attitudes in an abstract context, divorced from reality. In Scouting, young people would not learn to sew for  the sake of knowing how to sew, but because, or example, they want to put on a play and want to make their own costumes. Or, for example, Scouts would not learn to manage conflict simply through a specifically-designed activity, but through the natural process of sorting out whatever disagreements arise in the group (in a manner which is consistent with the Scout law!).


What Are Some Of The Implications For Programme Implementation ?


The way of explaining the promise to the young people requires attention. They need to understand the implications of making a promise - that they are giving their word and that they are giving their word to do their personal best. It should therefore be presented as an important act, but not something that they need to feel apprehensive about. Another factor to be borne in mind concerns when a young person should make the Scout promise. Evidently, he or she will need to have had time to become familiar with the Scout law and its practical application in the group (i.e. that he or she will be expected to make an effort to develop and to adhere to the group’s code of living), and to decide whether or not he or she wishes to formally join Scouting. From a young person’s perspective, making the Scout promise is not simply about whether the code of living seems reasonable or not. Doing so is also a decision to continue to take part in activities with the young people that he or she has come to know. 

External factors apart (schoolwork, other interests, etc.), whether a young person decides to make the promise or not will therefore also depend on how interesting the activities seem and, especially, on the extent to which the young person feels integrated in the group. On the whole adolescents are likely to want more time than pre-adolescents to make up their minds. At the same time, from an educational perspective, a balance needs to be struck between giving the young person time to make up his or her mind, and the need for the real educational process to start. Until a young person makes the Scout promise, he or she is more or less a visitor to Scouting and cannot experience the richness of what Scouting can offer. In addition, the prolonged presence of “visitors” (i.e. those who simply turn up occasionally for activities) is disruptive for the young people who are committed to Scouting, to the group’s projects and life together.


Making the promise is a personal act of commitment. The adult leader’s task, therefore, is to encourage the young person, but not to force him or her before he or she is ready to do so, nor to withhold the right to make the promise, nor to ignore the matter altogether. A simple way of encouraging the young people would be to propose several dates over a period of several months. The adult leader needs to consider how to make the moment of making the promise a significant one for the young person - a small ceremony at the end of a camp, for example. 

What Are Some Of The Implications For Programme Delivery ?


Preparing adult leaders in this respect involves emphasising the educational function of the Scout promise. A key aspect in this respect concerns the concept, and implications, of “doing one’s best”. As this concept is closely linked to personal progression, it is discussed in further detail in the chapter on this aspect of the Scout Method.

What Are Some Of The Implications For Programme Development ?


The young people make the Scout promise upon entering each new age section. The fact of doing so is a symbolic commitment to embark on a new phase in the voyage of development and to share the way of life inherent in the Scout law with a new group of people. The wording of the promise and law therefore needs to reflect the progression in the maturity of the young people from one age section to the next. For the law and promise to fulfill their educational functions, the young people that the Scout association addresses need to have developed the capacities to understand and to agree to do their best to adhere to a code of living. In other words there is a minimum level of maturity below which a child is unable to voluntarily agree with a code of living if the child is unable to think beyond his or her own immediate needs and desires and does not yet distinguish him or herself from other people with their own needs and desires. By the same token, the kind of social interaction required for teamwork cannot take place either - and thus the Scout Method cannot function. 

The minimum level of maturity required for the Scout law and promise (and, indeed, for the entire Method to function as a whole) is an essential point to bear in mind when a Scout association is considering the minimum age at which a young person may join the Movement.

What Is Promise Intended To ?


Through the promise, the young person accepts Scouting’s invitation to develop by making a voluntary decision to accept the Scout law and to assume the responsibility of that decision through personal effort. Making the promise is the first symbolic step in the process of self-education. Making the promise does not imply that the young person must have proved to be a “perfect” Scout. It is a starting point, not the finishing line. The fact of promising to “do one’s best” refers to making a personal effort to the extent of the young person’s capacity. From an educational perspective, the effort is as important as the achievement of the objective. The effort is a personal one, and progress can only be evaluated in terms of how the young person was
before.

By making the promise in front of peers, the young person makes his or her commitment public. This not only makes the personal commitment “official”, it also symbolises a social commitment to the others in the group. By their presence, the others in the group show that they accept him or her as a member.

What Is Promise ?


The Scout promise is a pledge that every young person makes before a group of peers when he or she chooses to join the Movement. By making the Scout promise, the young person acknowledges that he or she is familiar with the Scout law and makes a personal commitment to do his or her best to live according to this code of living.

What Are Some Of The Implications For Programme Implementation ?


While its function as an educational tool may seem quite complex, it is not difficult to apply in everyday life with a group of young people. The Scout law is deliberately phrased in simple, everyday terms, often referring to qualities, so that each young person can easily understand what is meant and can do his or her best to reflect these in everyday life. As the Scout law is a personal code of living and a collective one, it needs to be the foundation on which the Scout unit is structured and operates if the young people are to be helped to discover for themselves the values on which it is based. Concretely, the Scout law translates into the rules of the group: the rights and duties of each member, the sharing of responsibilities, decision-making processes, conflict management, and so on. Young people should be involved as much as possible, and in ways appropriate to their level of development, in establishing the rules of the group. For one thing, this helps them to deepen their understanding of the Scout law and, for another, young people have much less difficulty in accepting, even enforcing, rules that they have contributed to establishing. Evidently, the adult leader needs to ensure that rules concerning safety measures, etc., are included.

The Scout law provides an excellent evaluation tool, both in terms of bringing out the connections between the degree to which the code of living was adhered to and what went well or badly with activities, camps, projects, group life, etc., and what could be improved; and in terms of a personal evaluation of the extent to which each young person feels he or she has made progress in reflecting the qualities. When a young person breaks a rule, he or she should be encouraged to reflect on whatever consequences it may have caused. The purpose is not to make the young person feel terrible, but to understand and, if possible, to remedy the situation.

The code of living applies to both adults and young people. The code of living is not a set of rules which apply only to young people because “they have got to respect rules”. The code of living reflects basic ethical principles or values which Scouting believes are valid in life in general. If the adults do not reflect the code of living, why should the young people?

What Are Some Of The Implications For Programme Delivery ?


Preparing adults for their work with young people at local level should involve opportunities for them to explore the values underlying the Scout law and how this code of living translates into their everyday work with the young people. This would include examining the kinds of relationships to be promoted, the implications of the Scout law on the way in which the group should function, etc. For example, any practice that could be potentially humiliating would not be consistent with respecting the dignity of others.     

What Are Some Of The Implications For Programme Development ?


From an educational point of view, the Scout law needs:
  • To express the qualities of a person who lives according to Scouting’s principles;
  • To be expressed in everyday language that is appropriate to the culture in which the national Scout association operates and to the level of maturity of the young people concerned, i.e. very simple for the younger age groups, and formulated in a slightly more mature way for the next age group, and so on;
  • To be formulated so as to be relevant, inspirational and attractive to young people. It therefore needs to be expressed in positive terms, i.e. “A Scout is” as opposed to “A Scout is not”;
  • To be sufficiently short so as to be easily remembered - it is not intended to be a long, exhaustive list.

How Does Law Work ?



A Personal Code Of Living
By trying to reflect the code of living more often in a young person’s daily life and in the growing number of new situations which a young person encounters, the young person is in fact developing him or herself. As this code of living is based on the principles of Scouting (and thus on the values underlying Scouting), it guides the direction of the young person’s development towards a personal exploration of these values. This code of living is therefore personal, related to each person’s development.

A Collective Code Of Living
In addition to being a personal code of living, the Scout law is also a collective code of living. It therefore serves as the law of a micro-society of young people in which each person has the same rights and duties towards him or herself and others. As the Scout law is the basis on which their small community is founded and operates, the young people are exposed to a way of living with others which is democratic, respectful of each person and which promotes a sense of belonging, sharing, solidarity and cooperation.

What Is Law Intended To Do ?


As a concrete personal and collective code of living, the Scout law provides a simple way of helping each young person to become familiar with what Scouting seeks to help him or her to achieve and to discover the meaning of the various aspects of this personal and collective code of living through experiencing it in practice. Ultimately, the Scout law can serve as a reference in the subsequent development of a young person’s value system.

What Is Law ?


The Scout law is a code of living based on Scouting’s principles. It is a personal code of living in that it serves as a reference, guiding the way in which each member of the Movement lives his or her life today, and guiding the direction of development for tomorrow. It is also a collective code of living in that it is the basis on which the Scout unit functions. The Scout law is therefore at the heart of the Scout Method.

A Natural System Of Self-Progression


The Scout Method is a system of progressive self-education. It is intended to help each young person to use and develop his or her capacities and interests, building on what has already been gained; to find constructive ways of meeting needs at different stages of development; and to open doors to further stages of personal development at the young person’s own pace.
The Scout Method provides an educational framework based upon how young people develop naturally. It provides an environment which responds to their need for action, challenge and adventure; their desire to explore, experiment, and discover; their natural capacity for inventiveness and resourcefulness; the need to feel acknowledged, respected and appreciated as individuals; their need for close supportive relationships; their capacity for idealism and their need to make sense of the world; and so on. 

At the same time, the Scout Method offers a way of life which channels their energy in a way which enables them to experience being autonomous, supportive, responsible and committed straight away, to the extent of their current capacities, while helping them to progressively develop their capacities in these directions in a holistic, balanced and attractive way.

A System Of Educational Elements


The Scout Method
The fact that Scouting’s method is referred to as the Scout Method (capital “M”) is because it is composed of several different educational tools. These are: a law and promise, learning by doing, a team system, a symbolic framework, personal progression, nature and adult support.

Taken individually, many of these educational tools are used in other forms of education working in teams on projects, for example. In Scouting, however, these different tools are referred to as elements of the Scout Method - as each one is only one part of the whole. The fact that all of these elements form a whole and are used as a system is part of what makes Scouting unique.In the sense used here, a system could be described as a network of elements in which each element: 
  • Has a specific function.
  • Interacts with the other elements so as to reinforce the effectiveness of each one.
  • Contributes to the overall purpose to be achieved - and therefore must be present.
An important characteristic of a system is the synergy that is created - in other words the effects of a system are greater than the sum-total of the effects of its parts. The same is true of the Scout Method. Each of the elements has an educational function; each element complements the impact of the others. If any of the elements is missing or is not being used as intended, then the system as a whole cannot serve its original purpose - the progressive, holistic development  f the young person. We cannot, therefore, apply certain elements and disregard others , nor can we use any of them in a way which is not consistent with Scouting’s purpose and principles.
 
The Scout Method is designed to stimulate the development of young people throughout the age range that Scouting serves. This means that the educational function of each of the elements and the way in which they work together as a system are just as valid and effective when working with young people in the junior age section as they are when working with young people in the senior age section.
 
Evidently, however, the way in which the elements are applied (i.e. the way in which the educational “tools” are intended to be used) needs to reflect the maturity of the young people in the various age sections. Finally, it would be unrealistic to imagine that each element of the Scout Method can be in the foreground during every activity that the young people take part in. Young people cannot physically be in nature, for example, while they are performing a puppet show for sick children in a hospital in town. However, the element of nature could still be present, albeit in the background - for example by taking time to walk through a park on the way back or by using recycled materials to make the puppets.

Spiritually-Oriented


Scouting’s approach is spiritually-oriented in the sense that it seeks, through everything that it proposes, to help young people to: 
  • Look beyond the material world in search of a Spiritual Reality.
  • To discover for themselves those values which give meaning to life.
  • Continuously strive to put into practice those values in the way in which one lives one’s life.
Of course, however ambitious what Scouting seeks to achieve may be, and however comprehensive its educational approach, it cannot help young people to develop without the right educational tools, and thus we come to the Scout Method.

Community-Related


Scouting’s approach is community-related in the sense that:
  • The very goals that it pursues, i.e. to help young people to live and develop as ever more autonomous, supportive, responsible and committed individuals are necessary for the long term development of society.
  • It seeks to help each young person to recognise him or herself as a part of a whole, i.e. the world in which he or she lives. It does so through.
  1. - emphasising the development of constructive relationships with others - young people and adults - based on mutual respect.
  2. - offering young people the experience of a micro-society, based on a democratic way of life, taking into account the needs and interests of all.
  3. - promoting a sense of belonging in young people - to their Scout unit and to their local,national and international community.
  4. - offering varied opportunities for young people to interact with, and make a meaningful  contribution to, the world of which they are a part (local, national and international community, natural, cultural and spiritual environment,etc.).
  5. - helping young people to adapt constructively to changes in society and to cope effectively with issues that they face or are likely to face.

Person-centered


Scouting’s approach is person-centered in the sense that:
  • Scouting accepts each young person as he or she is - a unique human being with his or her own personal background and experience of life thus far, variations in needs, capacities, interests and pace of development.
It recognises the uniqueness of each person through:
- respecting each person’s free will to decide to join Scouting or not.

- proposing a framework of self-education (i.e. as Baden-Powell described it: “education from within”, as opposed to “instruction from without”).

- inviting each young person to develop to the best of that person’s ability (“doing one’s best”). There is therefore no comparison of achievement between young people; 

- the flexibility of Scouting’s educational system which enables each young person to develop in the way which is most relevant to him or her through:
1.translating the general educational objectives proposed for the age section into a set of  personalised objectives, with help from the adult leader;
2. progressing through pursuing his or her interests and exploring his or her concerns;
3. developing at his or her own pace. The approach takes into account that development does not take place at the same pace in each dimension, nor does it take place in a constant surge forward. There are no absolute deadlines. 

Scouting’s approach is also person-centred in the sense that it seeks to help each young person to develop his or her whole self through:
1.Educational objectives which cover knowledge, skills and attitudes in each of the dimensions of the human personality.
2.A multi-faceted method which emphasises personal experience (as opposed to, for example, just intellectual understanding).
3.Many, varied opportunities for experiences, spread over time, likely to contribute to a young person’s development.

What Is Scouting's Approach To Education?

Scouting’s approach to education has to be coherent with what it seeks to achieve. Here again, it is the principles, the fundamental beliefs on which Scouting is founded, that guide its educational approach. Thus, Scouting’s approach to education could be described as being
  • Person-Centred 
  • Community-Related and 
  • Spiritually-Oriented.

Conclusion

 
The abilities listed are not exhaustive, but provide the basis on which national Scout associations can develop concrete educational objectives which take into account the needs of young people at various stages of development within a specific socio-cultural environment. 

As the areas of development reflect dimensions of the whole personality, in a real person the abilities listed depend upon or involve development in more than one area. It is the well-balanced and harmonious development of the whole personality towards greater autonomy, solidarity, responsibility and commitment that would describe what Baden-Powell called a person of “character”.

5.Spiritual


Developing the ability to:
  • Acknowledge and explore a dimension beyond mankind.
  • Explore the spiritual heritage of one’s community.
  • Understand the beliefs, practices and customs of other world religions.
  • Integrate spiritual values into one’s daily life and in the global direction of one’s development towards a higher and more unified state of consciousness.

4.Social


Developing the ability to:
  • Listen and to express oneself effectively.
  • Accept other people as distinct human beings with equal rights;
  • Take into account the interdependence of mankind, and of mankind and the natural world.
  • Cooperate, to support and to lead.
  • Take an active and constructive role in society and contribute towards a better quality of life for all.
  • Foster authentic relationships and an intercultural awareness, overcoming prejudice and discrimination.
  • Adhere to common rules out of one’s own free will.

3.Emotional


Developing the ability to:
  • Acknowledge, recognise and express feelings and emotions and to take responsibility for managing these in daily life.

2.Intellectual


Developing the ability to:
  • Pursue interests, solve problems and adapt to situations in a relevant way through effective information management, creative thinking and intuition.
  • Perceive patterns, connections and relationships between phenomena, events, ideas, etc.
  • Develop receptivity to other perspectives of reality (e.g. understanding different ways of looking at things; understanding cultural, religious, age, gender-related standpoints, etc.).
  • Extract meaning from one’s experiences.
  • Judge things for oneself, to think through the implications of one’s decisions and actions, and to retain one’s own free will.
     

1.Physical


Developing the ability to:
  • Coordinate one’s movements and thought processes (psycho-motor skills).
  • Take responsibility for the growth, functioning and health of one’s body;
  • Come to terms with one’s physical limitations.

A Direction Of Development In Each Area


As Scouting’s principles give direction to the development of the young person, the principles are also reflected in what Scouting seeks to help young people to achieve in each of the areas of development.

  1. Physical
  2. Intellectual
  3. Emotional
  4. Social and 
  5. Spiritual.

Duty To God


Each person has a responsibility to search beyond what is material for a force higher than mankind. This involves seeking: 
  • A Spiritual Reality that gives meaning and direction to one’s life; and
  • To discover meaning in spiritual values and to live one’s daily life in accordance with these values.
When these three simple principles are truly part of a way of life and are adhered to simultaneously, any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism is necessarily excluded.

Duty To Others


In broad terms, this is one’s responsibility towards everything material that is not oneself. This means:
  • Recognising and taking into account in the way in which one lives one’s life that one is not the only important person on this earth, that each person has rights, feelings, hopes, needs, etc.;
  • Recognising that people are interdependent, i.e. no one can live in isolation from others. Everyone needs relationships with others in order to fulfil themselves as persons and everyone can benefit from the contribution that each person makes to the world. 

Each person, therefore, has a responsibility towards others.This involves:
  • Respecting each person’s dignity.
  • Playing an active and constructive role in society and making a personal contribution to it.
  • Helping out in times of need and defending the defenceless, whether they are one’s next-door  neighbour or whether they live in a very different environment at the other end of the world.
  • Recognising and taking into account, in the way in which one lives one’s life, the integrity of the natural world.

Duty To Self


Each person has a duty to develop one’s autonomy and assume responsibility for oneself. This includes:
  • Taking responsibility for one’s own development (physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual); 
  • Striving to live life in a way which respects oneself as a person (e.g. taking care of one’s health, standing up for one’s rights as a human being, making decisions that one feels deep inside are right for oneself as a person, etc.).
Being able to do so presupposes striving to get to know oneself better in all the richness and complexity that characterizes each person with strengths and weaknesses, hopes, needs, and so on.

A Constructive Direction: Scouting’s Principles


Every movement - or organised body, for that matter - has a number of fundamental beliefs which underlie the purpose of its existence, orient what it seeks to achieve and how it goes about achieving its goals. As an educational movement, Scouting clearly has a social responsibility: to the young people it serves, to the families who entrust their cherished youngsters to Scouting’s care and to the world at large. The goals of education are clear: to develop as an autonomous, supportive, responsible and committed individual and member of society.


However, there must be clear guidelines which orient the development of the young person towards these goals.


It is Scouting’s principles (generally referred to as “Duty to self”, “Duty to others” and “Duty to God”) which provide these guidelines. They are the basis of the value system which governs the Movement as a whole. These principles, therefore, give direction to Scouting’s educational policy as a Movement, to the educational approach used with young people and to the way in which the elements of the Scout Method are used so as to give constructive and coherent direction to the development of the young person.

A Constructive Direction: Scouting's Principles


Every movement - or organised body, for that matter - has a number of fundamental beliefs which underlie the purpose of its existence, orient what it seeks to achieve and how it goes  about achieving its goals. As an educational movement, Scouting clearly has a social responsibility: to the young people it serves, to the families who entrust their cherished youngsters to Scouting’s care and to the world at large. The goals of education are clear: to develop as an autonomous, supportive, responsible and committed individual and member of society.

However, there must be clear guidelines which orient the development of the young person towards these goals. It is Scouting’s principles (generally referred to as “Duty to self”, “Duty to others” and “Duty to God”) which provide these guidelines. They are the basis of the value system which governs the Movement as a whole. These principles, therefore, give direction to Scouting’s educational policy as a Movement, to the educational approach used with young people and to the way in which the elements of the Scout Method are used so as to give constructive and coherent direction to the development of the young person. 

The Purpose Of Scouting


According to Scouting’s educational philosophy, each person is born with a unique potential which can be developed in a constructive direction. Making this potential a reality involves developing all of one’s capacities - physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual - in the direction of the goals to be achieved. Evidently, as education is the work of a lifetime, Scouting cannot fully develop anyone’s potential in all areas. Scouting can simply accompany each Scout, for a time, along that person’s path of development and help each person to develop the inner resources he or she will need to continue to develop without Scouting’s help. After all, if Scouting were a crutch on which people relied all their lives, it would certainly have failed in what it is trying to achieve. 

Scouting, therefore, simply seeks to make a contribution to this process of self-education during the years when a person can truly benefit from its structured educational support system. The age range for which Scouting can most benefit young people corresponds approximately to the second decade of life.  

By encouraging young people to use and develop all of their capacities in a constructive way today, Scouting seeks to help young people to realise that they have within themselves what it takes to already make a difference - to their own lives and to the world in which they live. As they become ready to expand their horizons and seek new challenges, Scouting helps them to use their experience and to further develop their capacities to live and grow as fulfilled individuals and as active and constructive members of society. Whether or not a person will actually develop that potential depends, amongst other factors, on the presence of a supportive, structured environment during the formative years which stimulates the young person to bring out of him or herself - and develop - what is constructive, to the detriment of what is destructive. Scouting seeks to offer young people such an environment. 

Education? But That Is School!


Scouting is an educational movement for young people. However, “education” means different things to different people. In everyday language in some parts of the world, education is primarily associated, at its most basic level, with learning to read, write and master basic arithmetic and, on a higher level, with gaining academic knowledge and vocational skills through school, university, and so on. In Scouting, however, education is considered in its broad sense as being the process through which each of us develops our various capabilities throughout life, both as an individual and as a member of society. The aim of education, in this broad sense, is to contribute to the full development of an autonomous , supportive, responsible and committed person.

Conclusion

 
As a movement, this is one of our greatest challenges: continuously adjusting so as to be even more relevant to young people’s aspirations and needs while remaining faithful to Scouting’s  purpose, principles and method. Being able to determine what is essential and invariable from what is not essential and variable is not easy for newly constituted Scout associations who are considering this issue for the first time. The task is not an easy one either for Scout associations that have existed for decades, some for almost a century, steeped in rich memories of “the way things have always been done”.

Complementary To Other Forms Of Education


Scouting is a non-formal educational movement. In other words, it is not part of the formal educational system (school, etc.), nor is it informal (friends, media, etc.) as it does offer a structured approach to education. Scouting does not seek to reproduce what school, family, religious institutions, leisure clubs, etc., are already offering young people. It seeks to complement what others are doing by helping to fill gaps that may not be being met by others.

Independent


While the Movement works in partnership with a number of outside bodies and receives support from benefactors all over the world, Scouting, at all levels, is independent in the sense of being free from control by any outside body or individual.

Non-Political


Scouting is non-political, in the sense that it is not involved in the struggle for power of party politics. At the same time, Scouting’s educational system aims to help young people to be, and develop as, responsible and constructive individuals and members of society. Young people cannot do so in a vacuum, divorced from the socio-political realities of the world in which they live. Scouting’s educational approach, therefore,encourages young people to develop their own powers of  judgment, and to take an active and constructive role in society which is in harmony with the values for which Scouting stands.

Voluntary


Scouting is voluntary. All members - young people and supporting adults - join of their own free will. There is no compulsion to join the Scout Movement, nor to remain a member. Scouting is not like school, at which attendance is usually compulsory between certain ages. 

Every member - young or adult - who does choose to join is required to make a personal commitment to the Scout Movement. First and foremost, this commitment is to respect and act according to the code of ethics inherent in the fundamental principles of the Movement. More globally, this voluntary commitment also extends to achieving the educational purpose of Scouting, as every member commits him or herself to the educational proposal of the national Scout association to which he or she belongs. For youth members, this commitment concerns their own personal development. For adults, this commitment is to help provide the conditions necessary for young people to develop.

Open To All


Membership of the Scout Movement is open to anyone who agrees to adhere to its educational proposal (i.e. its purpose, principles and method); in other words it does not discriminate against anyone because of his or her religion, ethnic origin, social background or gender.

A Movement Of Young People, Supported By Adults


The young people in the Movement are supported by adults, whose role is to facilitate and provide the necessary conditions for the development of the youth members. As members of a movement of self-education, and in a spirit of partnership with adults, young people participate in the decision-making processes of the Movement, in ways which are appropriate to their level of maturity, skills and experience, so as to ensure the relevance of what Scouting offers to them.

A Movement For Young People ( Adolescents )


Scouting exists for the benefit of young people. While Scouting’s educational system is particularly suited for the adolescent age range, the upper age limit depends on factors which define what “youth” means from an educational perspective within a particular culture and society. In general terms, the upper age limit would normally correspond to a general level of maturity at which a person no longer needs Scouting’s structured educational approach in order to continue the process of self-education. The lower limit corresponds to a minimum level of maturity required for Scouting’s educational system to function and thus for young people to benefit from it. Evidently, these levels of maturity can only approximately be measured by age,  but would normally correspond to a few years either side of the second decade of life.

Its method


All members are equally committed to the way in which Scouting seeks to help young people to develop - through Scouting’s unique method of progressive self-education. The Scout Method is a comprehensive educational framework composed of elements which work together as a system to provide young people with a rich and active learning environment. It is based on how young people naturally develop, taking into account their evolving characteristics, needs and interests at different stages of development. Together, Scouting’s purpose, principles and method form the essence of Scouting’s educational system, i.e. they are the foundation on which Scouting is  based all over the world. In order for the Movement to achieve its educational goals, the Movement as a whole must provide the global conditions for this to happen.

Its principles


Wherever they may be, members are actively committed to the principles (i.e. the values) on which Scouting is founded, which form both the basis of the code of ethics which governs the Movement as a whole and a personal code of living to which each member adheres. These principles are about a person’s active and constructive commitment to the spiritual values of life, to society and to oneself.

Its purpose


All over the world, members of the World Organization of the Scout Movement are united by a common, active commitment to Scouting’s purpose which is to help young people to develop their full physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual capacities as individuals and as members of society, and thus contribute to the development of a better world.

A Movement Of Self Education For Young People


     Scouting is a movement of self-education for young people. The Scout Movement comprises national Scout organisations to which the individual members belong. The individual members are the young people that Scouting serves and adults who join in order to contribute to the development of Scouting’s youth members. The unity of the Movement is ensured by the World Organization of the Scout Movement which serves recognised national Scout organisations.

Health And Hygiene

                                  
The following are basic tips for health and hygiene at camp.

Anti-Bacterial
Anti-bacterial cleaners are types of disinfectant and can kill germs. They often come in spray
form.
Anti-bacterial cleaners won't work if you don't use them properly, so always follow the
instructions.
Always clean surfaces first with detergent to remove any grease or dirt, then apply
disinfectant to kill any remaining germs.
Use separate cloths or sponges for separate tasks; where practicable use disposable cloths.
If using them more than once, wash in hot water and soap then place in a suitable
disinfectant, rinse thoroughly and allow to dry. Do not soak overnight as disinfectant solutions
weaken and may allow bacteria to grow.
Keep serving bowls covered to protect them from dust, insects and pets.

Bugs
'Bugs' and 'germs' are the common name for the harmful organisms - such as bacteria and
viruses - that cause food poisoning. Because we can only see them through a microscope they
are also called microbes or micro-organisms.
They can get into our food at any point in the food chain - from the time when an animal or
food is in the field to the moment food is put on to the table to eat. If they are allowed to
survive and multiply they can cause illness when that food is eaten.
Food poisoning bacteria multiply fast but to do so need moisture, food, warmth and time. They
multiply best between 5 and 63°C. One germ can multiply to more than 4 million in just 8 hours
in the right conditions. Food poisoning microbes can be dangerous and can kill - though this is
rare. They are very hard to detect since they do not usually affect the taste, appearance or
smell of food.

Cans
Before opening cans wipe over the tops to remove any dust - and don't forget to clean the can
opener.
Never put open cans in the fridge - transfer contents into a storage container or covered
bowl and remember to use within two days.
Don't use food from rusty or damaged cans.

Chopping Boards
Wash and dry knives and chopping boards thoroughly after every use and especially between
chopping raw meat, fish and poultry and chopping cooked and ready-to-eat foods. Ideally use
separate chopping boards for raw and cooked foods.

Cling Film
Cover dishes and other open containers with foil or film before storing them
in the fridge. Don't re-use foil or film to wrap other foods

Cool Bags
Use an insulated bag or cool box to keep chilled and frozen foods cool when shopping and buy
these foods last.
Use enough ice packs to keep cool bags really cool.
When having a barbecue or picnic keep meats, salads and other perishable foods cool in the
fridge or in a cool bag until just before you are ready to cook/eat them. Ideally use separate
cool bags for raw meats and cooked/ready-to-eat foods. Cool bags can only keep food cool for
a limited period so cook sooner rather than later.

WASHING HANDS
Don’t forget to wash hands:
     a) before handling food – any food
     b) before handling meat after veg
     c) before handling veg after meat
     d) before eating or sampling food during cooking
     e) after eating or sampling food during cooking
     f) before cooking
     g) after cooking
Finally, EVERYONE to wash their hands before they sit down to eat.

Original Girl Scout Cookie Recipe

Ingredients
  • 1 cup Butter
  • 3 cups flour
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tsp. baking powder
  • 2 eggs, well beaten
  • 1/4 tsp. salt
  • 2 TBS milk (powdered sugar, optional)
  • 2 tsp. Vanilla
Method
Combine butter and sugar. Blend well.
Add eggs, milk and vanilla. Mix well.
Stir in flour, baking powder and salt. Mix well.
Chill dough 1 hour for best results.
Roll out thin and cut out cookie shapes.
Bake on greased cookie sheet at 350 until lightly browned 11-14 minutes.
Makes 3-1/2 dozen.
You really should have it chilled to work the best and also make sure it is rolled thin since the
cookie really puffs up.
Barbara Williams

Lemon Ricotta Pancakes

These pancakes are sophisticated, yet accessible. Nearly everyone loves their creamy, light
lemon flavour. It's hard to find a more perfect start to breakfast or brunch. Serve with jam
or maple syrup.

Ingredients
  • 1 cup flour
  • ½ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1¼ cups ricotta cheese
  • 4 teaspoons sugar
  • 1¼ teaspoons baking powder
  • 2 eggs
  • 3/5 cup C milk             
  • juice of 1 lemon
  • zest of 1 lemon, minced
Method
Combine the dry ingredients.
In another bowl, mix the wet ingredients until combine.
Fold the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Lightly oil a large griddle or skillet (preferably non-stick).
Heat the skillet over a medium heat. You can tell if your skillet or griddle is hot enough by
flicking a drop or two of water on its surface. The water should skitter around and quickly
evaporate if the pan is hot enough.
Spoon the batter into hot oiled skillet, allowing about 3 tablespoons per pancake.
Cook pancakes for about 1½-2 minutes. You will know your pancakes are ready to be turned
over when large bubbles form on the uncooked surface.
Flip the pancakes and cook for about 1½ minutes on the other side.
Serve immediately or keep warm on a baking sheet in a 200° F oven until all pancakes are
cooked. Dust with icing sugar, if desired.
Makes about 10 pancakes

Peanut Butter and Jelly Pancakes


This recipe is a big hit with the kids. Use the buttermilk pancake mix to make this.

Ingredients
  • 1 egg
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 1½ cups buttermilk pancake mix
  • 1 cup water (more as needed)
  • ½ cup peanut butter
  • Jam/jelly for topping
Method
Mix all the ingredients until blended together and let the mixture stand for about five
minutes.
Lightly oil a large griddle or skillet (preferably non-stick).
Heat the skillet over a medium heat. You can tell if your skillet or griddle is hot enough by
flicking a drop or two of water on its surface. The water should skitter around and quickly
evaporate if the pan is hot enough.
Spoon the batter into hot oiled skillet, allowing about 3 tablespoons per pancake.
Cook pancakes for about 1½-2 minutes. You will know your pancakes are ready to be turned
over when large bubbles form on the uncooked surface.
Flip the pancakes and cook for about 1½ minutes on the other side.
Serve immediately topped with jelly or keep warm on a baking sheet in a 200°F oven until all
pancakes are cooked.

Apple Pancakes


It's amazing how some simple can fruit can turn an ordinary pancake into something special.
This makes a thinner, more crepe-like pancake.

Ingredients
  • 1 cup flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 egg
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
  • 4 large apples, peeled and thinly sliced
Method
In a large bowl, combine the dry ingredients.
In another bowl, combine the wet ingredients except the apple.
Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix until smooth.
Gently fold in the sliced apples.
Heat the skillet over a medium heat. You can tell if your skillet or griddle is hot enough by
flicking a drop or two of water on its surface. The water should skitter around and quickly
evaporate if the pan is hot enough.
Spoon the batter into hot oiled skillet, allowing about 3 tablespoons per pancake.
Cook pancakes for about 1½-2 minutes. You will know your pancakes are ready to be turned
over when large bubbles form on the uncooked surface.
Flip the pancakes and cook for about 1½ minutes on the other side.
Serve immediately or keep warm on a baking sheet in a 200° F oven until all pancakes are
cooked.
Makes about 12 pancakes

Hobo Meal and Tips

  1. One great, easy recipe that's always a wonderful meal is the hobo meal. All you need is heavy-duty foil, potatoes, onions, corn, meat, peppers or celery if desired and salt and pepper. If using ground beef, you should make small meatballs. Just put everything in the centre of a piece of foil, pull up the corners like a sack and twist closed. Place on the coals and wait for your meal to cook! No clean up either! Just eat out of the sack - eat with your fingers if it's cool enough.
  2. Using a few corn chips as fire-starters is economical and efficient. Simply light them with a match and toss a few on the campfire or barbecue.
  3. Placing an egg into a plastic bag and then back into the egg carton makes transporting eggs safer. If the shell breaks, the mess stays in the bag. Remove the shell and scramble the egg later.
  4. To make devilled eggs with no mess, put eggs yolks from hard-boiled eggs in plastic sandwich bag. Add remaining ingredients, close bag and mix. When finished cut small tip off corner of bag and squeeze into hollowed egg white, then simply throw away the bag. No mess, no fuss!
  5. Add a few ice cubes to aluminium foil packet dinners or vegetables to prevent them from burning and keep them moist.
  6. Control the flames on a barbecue grill by using a spray bottle of water mixed with 1 teaspoon baking soda.
  7. To cook hamburgers more evenly and avoid the syndrome of well done edges and rare centres, make a tiny hole (about the size of your index finger) in the middle of the burgers. During grilling, the hole in the middle will disappear but the centre will be cooked the same as the edges.

Erwtensoep

This is a recipe that no Dutch cookery book would be complete without. Pea soup is the national soup of the Netherlands. Throughout the winter, nearly every restaurant, bar or cafe has a sign advertising their own special pea soup, but take care - Dutch pea soup is a meal in itself, full of fresh winter vegetables and chunks of bacon and sausage. If the winter is particularly hard a few hardy souls will set up stalls on the frozen canals and inland lakes and sell bowls of hot pea soup to hungry skaters. As with many national recipes, every housewife has her own recipe - very often the soup is made the day before and then reheated the following day. This i proves the flavour. Any leftover soup can be diluted with chicken stock and eaten as a first course a day or two later.

Ingredients
  • 1 lb split peas
  • 2½ litres water
  • 3 cloves
  • 1 bayleaf
  • 1 whole onion 
  • 2 pigs trotters or bacon hock
  • 1½ level teaspoons salt                              
  • Freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 level teaspoon dried thyme                         
  • 4 leeks
  • ½ celeric or 2 sticks celery                         
  • 3 medium potatoes
  • ½ lb smoked boiling sausage                          
  • 2 level tbs. chopped parsley
Method
Rinse the peas and soak them overnight in the water (some brands are specially treated and do not need to be soaked - follow the manufacturer's instructions). Bring the peas to the boil in the water in which they have been soaked. Stick the cloves and bayleaf into the peeled onion and add it to the peas, together with the pigs trotters or bacon, salt, pepper and thyme. Cover the pan and simmer the soup for about 2 hours, until the peas are tender. Remove the onion, cloves and bayleaf and rub the soup through a sieve. Clean and slice the leeks and celeriac or celery, peel and chop the p   otatoes and add them to the soup together with the sausage. Bring the soup back to the boil and simmer for a further 45 minutes. Slice the sausage, remove the meat from the pigs trotters and return sausage and meat to the pan. Adjust the seasoning, sprinkle the soup with chopped parsley and serve with chunks of rye bread or pumpernickel

Campfire Stew

Ingredients
  • 1 pound hamburger
  • 1 medium onion [optional]
  • 2 cans mixed vegetables [don't drain]
  • 1 bottle ketchup
Instructions
In Dutch oven, brown hamburger with onions and then drain the fat. Return to fire/burner and add the remaining ingredients. Also, rinse your ketchup bottle with about 1/2 cup water and add. Let simmer for at least 30 minutes; but it is best to simmer for about an hour. If stew starts to become dry, just add a little water or more ketchup diluted with a little water for you ketchup lovers! Serve hot with warm bread or crackers. For added flavour, pour into your serving a little ketchup, steak sauce, Worcestershire sauce, etc.

Vegetable Potjie

This recipe is a favourite for the second or third night out in the bush. The root vegetables keep well so that they can make a very filling meal after several days camping. The best part you can kick around the coals and tell stories while waiting for the food to cook.

Ingredients
  • 5-6 medium potatoes
  • 1 medium butternut squash
  • 5 large carrots
  • 2 ears of corn
  • 1 small turnip or rutabaga
  • 1 stalk celery
  • 1/2 cup oil
  • 2-3 onions
  • 4-6 cloves garlic
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • Black pepper to taste
  • 2 teaspoons dried oregano
  • 2 teaspoon dried basil
  • 1 cup vegetable stock
Instructions
Wash the vegetables and cut into chunks. (You can use any other hard winter vegetables that you like.) Heat a cast-iron pot over coals until a little bit warm, then add oil. When the oil is hot, lightly cook onions and garlic. Arrange vegetables in layers on top of onion and garlic mixture. The ones with the longest cooking times go on the bottom of the pot. Sprinkle on the seasonings and herbs. Pour stock over the final layer. Cover the pot with its lid and simmer over campfire coals for 1 1/2 to 2 hours. Leave the lid on until the cooking time is finished. Serves 6 - 8

Veggie Lovers Camp Stew

This stew recipe is versatile - you can add potatoes if you cut them small, or you can add any kind of sausage.

Ingredients
  • 3 yellow squash
  • 2 large sweet onions
  • 1 large green pepper
  • 2 cloves garlic
  • Butter
  • Salt and pepper, to taste
  • 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
     Cut vegetables into chunks and add some butter, garlic (minced or chopped), salt and pepper.
Wrap in foil and sprinkle with about 1 tablespoon of water (this will help to steam the veggies). Set over fire for about 30 minutes or longer depending on how well you like your vegetables cooked. Serves 4

Eggs in a Hat


Ingredients
  • 4 slices of your favourite bread
  • 4 eggs
  • 4 slices of ham
  • 4 slices of cheese
Method
  • Warm the skillet or griddle over a low heat.
  • Grease the skillet well.
  • Using either a round cookie cutter or a drinking glass, cut out a hole in the centre of the    bread, being careful not to break the crust. (It will still work if the crust breaks, just not as well.)
  • Place the bread in the skillet and lightly toast it on both sides.
  • Crack an egg into the hole in the bread and cook until the egg white is almost solid.
  • Flip the bread and egg over and place a slice of cheese and a slice of ham on top.
  • Serve when the cheese is melted.
To use the leftover bread:
Dip leftover bread and make French Toast from it.

Chapattis

Ingredients
  • 8oz or 250 gram plain flour (white or wholemeal)
  • 3 fl oz or 80 ml water (warm if possible)
Method
  • Put the flour in a bowl and gradually add the water, stirring with a knife, until enough      water is added and a ball of dough is formed. Add more flour if it gets sticky. Knead the      dough on a floured board/plate with your hands for 5 -10 minutes. It should feel elastic. Cover the dough and leave for an hour.
  • During this hour gather enough punk and wood and light a cooking fire. Try lighting the      fire without matches (using a magnifying glass or even "rubbing 2 sticks together").
  • Knead the dough again for 5 mins. Divide the dough into balls, no bigger than a golf ball,there should be enough for all your patrol, and one for the leaders to taste!
  • Flatten each ball, roll it in some flour and roll, or press, into a thin round about 6ins(15cm) in diameter.
  • Put a small frying pan over the fire. Add a little oil and when hot cook a chapatti for about 30 sec on each side, moving it so it does not stick. When done press the chapatti with a clean cloth and it will swell up, or lift out of the pan and put on griddle over the fire.
  • Spread with butter and eat hot.

Pumpkin Pancakes


Here's the prefect thing for nippy autumn breakfasts.
Ingredients
  • 2 cups flour
  • 2 tablespoons sugar
  • 4 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1½ cups milk
  • 1 cup pumpkin purée
  • 4 eggs, separated
  • ¼ cup melted butter
Method
    In a large bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Combine the milk, egg yolks,  butter and pumpkin purée and stir into the dry ingredients until just blended. Beat the egg whites until stiff. Stir ¼ of the beaten egg whites into the batter to lighten it. Gently fold remaining egg whites into the batter. Heat the skillet over a medium heat. You can tell if your skillet or griddle is hot enough by flicking a drop or two of water on its surface. The water should skitter around and quickly evaporate if the pan is hot enough. Spoon the batter into hot oiled skillet, allowing about 3 tablespoons per pancake. Cook pancakes for about 1½-2 minutes. You will know your pancakes are ready to be turned over when large bubbles form on the uncooked surface. Flip the pancakes and cook for about 1½ minutes on the other side. Serve immediately or keep warm on a baking sheet in a 200° F oven until all pancakes are cooked. Serves 4

Savoury Potato Cakes


Ingredients
  • 1 Packet of Smash or 2 ½ lb cold potatoes
  • 1 tablespoon chopped parsley
  • 1 tablespoon chopped onion
  • Salt and pepper
  • Chopped ham or bacon for extra flavour
Method
Mix the Smash according to the instructions on the packet. OR mash the cold potatoes. Mix in the other ingredients, adding the ham or bacon if wanted. Form into cakes with clean, well-floured hands and fry in a shallow frying pan with a little oil.

Breakfast Hash


      This is a traditional recipe when camping and is always a huge hit! This can be done over the fire with a bed of medium-hot coals or on the stove.

Ingredients
  • 3-4 medium potatoes, diced into bite size pieces
  • 1 package smoked sausage, diced into bite size pieces
  • 1 medium onion, chopped (optional)
  • 1 cup sliced mushrooms (optional)
  • 1 cup diced red, green, yellow pepper (optional)
  • 8 eggs, beaten
  • 1 1/2 - 2 cups shredded cheddar cheese 
Instructions
Cook potatoes for about 10-15 minutes, add the smoked sausage and any of the optional ingredients you choose, and cook until the potatoes are cooked through. Pour in the beaten eggs and cook until eggs are done. Top with shredded cheese and let melt (or mix in). Serves 4-6

Distance Clove Hitch

Equipment: Long Rope, Tree or Pole

Using a very long rope and either a tree or a pole, the object of this game is to tie a clove hitch around the tree (pole) without getting near the tree. Draw a circle around the object that the knot is to be tied to and tell the players that they must not go inside that circle. The knot can be tied, but only through the cooperation and teamwork of the players.

Hint: One child is a runner and the other stands in one spot

Human Knot

Equipment: None

Ask a group of ten or thirteen people to form a tight circle. Have each person extend both hands into the center, and grasp the hand of two different people. When this is completed, the group must then untangle the knot they have created. Physical hand-to-hand contact may not be broken to untangle the knot. Grips may change and palms may pivot on one another, but contact must be maintained. If time is running out, the problem can be simplified by breaking one grip and asking the group to form a single line instead of a circle

All Aboard

Equipment: 2-foot square Platform or Table

The goal of this challenge is to get a group of twelve to sixteen people on a two-foot square platform without anyone touching the ground. Each person must have both feet off the ground. Everyone in the group must remain on the platform for at least 10 seconds. Participants can not lay on top of each other, forming a dog pile, as a solution to this activity. Play continues for a  set  time.

Variations: Use hula-hoops instead of platforms.

Blind Square

Equipment: Large rope tied in a circle

The object of this game is to have a group of at least eight players form a perfect square while  blindfolded. After the players have put on blindfolds, place a rope that is tied in a circle, in each person’s hands. Players must then form the rope into the shape of a square. When they believe the square has been formed, they place the rope carefully on the ground and remove their blindfolds. All players must have at least one hand on the rope at all times.

Anchor Hitch

Anchor Hitch


    There is no single specific knot known only by this name but the Fishermans Bend probably has first claim to the title. A variety of other hitches has been used for this purpose including the Round Turn and Two Half Hitches.

Adjustable Grip

Adjustable Grip
       
       A loop tied in the bight. One of the several so called 'Butterfly knots' which are used for the middle man on a rope when rock or mountain climbing. More than one of these knots has been called the 'Alpine' Butterfly but the knot illustrated is believed to be the most effective in use.

Indian Club Race

Equipment: 'clubs'

    The players are divided into teams and line up. In front of each team is a small circle and ahead of this are a row of crosses about a metre apart. On each cross stands a club. The first player runs out and brings in the clubs one at a time in any order placing them in the circle. Then the next player runs forward and puts the clubs back, one by one. play continues until all the players ahve been out and moved the clubs. The first team to finish wins.

Radar

Equipment: Blindfolds

     The players are divided into teams with a 'leader' for each team standing in front of them. The first player in each team is blindfolded and the leaders change places and try to bring their team members in by radar (i.e. calling them by their teams name). The first player to fly home gets their team 4 points, the second 3 points and so on. The next player is then blindfolded and the leaders change position again and continue the game.

Duty to God

Each person has a responsibility to search beyond what is material for a force higher than mankind. This involves seeking: 

  • A Spiritual Reality that gives meaning and direction to one’s life; and
  • To discover meaning in spiritual values and to live one’s daily life in accordance with these values.
       When these three simple principles are truly part of a way of life and are adhered to simultaneously, any form of fundamentalism or fanaticism is necessarily excluded.

Duty to others

In broad terms, this is one’s responsibility towards everything material that is not oneself.
This means:

  • Recognising and taking into account in the way in which one lives one’s life that one is not the only important person on this earth, that each person has rights, feelings, hopes, needs, etc.;
  •  Recognising that people are interdependent,i.e. no one can live in isolation from others. Everyone needs relationships with others in order to fulfil themselves as persons and everyone can benefit from the contribution that each person makes to the world. Each person, therefore, has a responsibility towards others. This involves:
  •  Respecting each person’s dignity
  •  playing an active and constructive role in society and making a personal contribution to it
  •  helping out in times of need and defending the defenceless, whether they are one’s next door neighbour or whether they live in a very different environment at the other end of the world.
  • recognising and taking into account, in the way in which one lives one’s life, the integrityof the natural world.

Duty to self

     Each person has a duty to develop one’s autonomy and assume responsibility for oneself.
This includes:

• taking responsibility for one’s own development (physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual)
• striving to live life in a way which respects oneself as a person (e.g. taking care of one’s health, standing up for one’s rights as a human being, making decisions that one feels deep inside are right for oneself as a person, etc.).

    Being able to do so presupposes striving to get to know oneself better in all the richness and complexity that characterizes each person with strengths and weaknesses, hopes, needs, and so on.

A Constructive Direction: Scouting's Principles

       Every movement - or organised body, for that matter - has a number of fundamental beliefs which underlie the purpose of its existence, orient what it seeks to achieve and how it goes about achieving its goals. As an educational movement, Scouting clearly has a social responsibility: to the young people it serves, to the families who entrust their cherished youngsters to Scouting’s care and to the world at large. The goals of education are clear: to develop as an autonomous, supportive, responsible and committed individual and member of society. However, there must be clear guidelines which orient the development of the young person towards these goals. It is Scouting’s principles (generally referred to as “Duty to self”, “Duty to others” and “Duty to God”) which provide these guidelines. They are the basis of the value system which governs the Movement as a whole. These principles, therefore, give direction to Scouting’s educational policy as a Movement, to the educational approach used with young people and to the way in which the elements of the Scout Method are used so as to give constructive and coherent direction to the development of the young person.

The Purpose Of Scouting

  • According to Scouting’s educational philosophy, each person is born with a unique potential which can be developed in a constructive direction. 
  • Making this potential a reality involves developing all of one’s capacities - physical, intellectual, emotional, social and spiritual - in the direction of the goals to be achieved. 
  • Evidently, as education is the work of a lifetime, Scouting cannot fully develop anyone’s potential in all areas. 
  • Scouting can simply accompany each Scout, for a time, along that person’s path of development and help each person to develop the inner resources he or she will need to continue to develop without Scouting’s help. 
  • After all, if Scouting were a crutch on which people relied all their lives, it would certainly have failed in what it is trying to achieve. 
  • Scouting, therefore, simply seeks to make a contribution to this process of self-education during the years when a person can truly benefit from its structured educational support system. 
  • The age range for which Scouting can most benefit young people corresponds approximately to the second decade of life.
  • By encouraging young people to use and develop all of their capacities in a constructive way today, Scouting seeks to help young people to realise that they have within themselves what it takes to already make a difference - to their own lives and to the world in which they live. 
  • As they become ready to expand their horizons and seek new challenges, Scouting helps them to use their experience and to further develop their capacities to live and grow as fulfilled individuals and as active and constructive members of society. 
  • Whether or not a person will actually develop that potential depends, amongst other factors, on the presence of a supportive, structured environment during the formative years which stimulates the young person to bring out of him or herself - and develop - what  is constructive, to the detriment of what is destructive. Scouting seeks to offer young people such an environment.

Scout Is Education

“EDUCATION? BUT THAT IS SCHOOL!”

       Scouting is an educational movement for young people. However, “education” means different things to different people. In everyday language in some parts of the world, education is primarily associated, at its most basic level, with learning to read, write and master basic arithmetic and, on a higher level, with gaining academic knowledge and vocational skills through school, university, and so on. In Scouting, however, education is considered in its broad sense as being the process through which each of us develops our various capabilities throughout life, both as an individual and as a member of society. The aim of education, in this broad sense, is to contribute to the full development of an autonomous2, supportive, responsible and committed person.

Definition Of Education

A DEFINITION OF EDUCATION:
     A life-long process which enables the continuous development of a person’s capacities both as an individual and as a member of society.

THE GOAL OF EDUCATION:
    To contribute to the full development of an autonomous, supportive, responsible and committed individual.

      Autonomous:
          able to make one’s own decisions and to manage one’s
          life.

      Supportive:
          able to actively care about and for others.

      Responsible:
          able to assume the consequences of one’s decisions,
          to keep one’s commitments and to complete what one
          undertakes.

      Committed:
           able to live according to one’s values, to support causes
           or an ideal which one finds important.

Rockets and Interceptors

Equipment: Bucket, Large number of Coloured Balls, Rope

        This is played by two teams. The attacking team are called the rockets and the defending team are called the interceptors. The target area is marked off and the bucket or large tin is placed in the center. Only rockets are allowed to go inside the target area. Up to four interceptors are allowed to hover around the target area. The rockets have a base at which they pick up their warheads. Each rocket can carry only one warhead to the target area. If a rocket is tagged by an interceptor before going inside the target area, they must hand over their warhead and return to their base. 20 warhead units in the bucket or tin will destroy the interceptor target area. All the coloured balls count for 1 warhead unit. The five white balls are special multi warheads and count as 5 warhead units for each white ball. If the interceptor target area is not destroyed after 20 minutes then change over the teams so that everyone has a turn at attacking and defending.

Notes: This game is best played where there is a bit of cover for hiding and creeping up on the target, or at night when visibility is reduced.

Tail Grab

Equipment: Rope or Cloth 'tail' for each team

    The players are split into teams. Each team stands in a line behind their team captain. Each player holds the belt or waist of the player in front. The last player has a tail tucked into their waist. When “Go!” is called, the team captains have to move around and try to get as many of the other teams tails as possible. Any teams that break their chain are disqualified. The winning team is the one with the most tails.

Snake Dodge

Equipment: Ball

       Five or six players stand in a line, in the center of the circle formed by the rest of the players. Each player in the line puts his arms round the waist of the player in front. The object of the game is for the players around the circle to hit the player at the end of the line or snake, below the knees with the ball. The snake can move around inside the circle to make this more difficult. When the player at the back of the snake is struck by the ball, he leaves the snake and moves into the circle of throwers and the player who threw the ball, joins on as the front man of the snake. Play until a set time limit.

City, Town, Country

Equipment: None

       Players sit in two lines team A and Team B, each line numbered 1 to N. Player 1 in team A says to player number 1 in team B the name of a city, town or Country. We will suppose for example that he says ’GERMANY”. Player 1 in team B must now say a town city or country, beginning with the last letter of Germany. Let us suppose that he says “YORK”. Player 2 in team A now has to say a city, town or country beginning with the letter K. This goes on all the way down the line. If a player fails to give a correct answer or duplicates a previous answer, then a point is awarded to the other team. When the end of the line is reached play begins at player number 1 again.
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