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.
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:
- it adopts a holistic approach to a young person’s education;
- it seeks to achieve its educational purpose on the basis of an educational proposal;
- as a non-formal educational agent, it plays a complementary role to that of other educational agents;
- 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
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 and the Volunteers in Scouting Toolkit.
