The facts about our adult training scheme
Scouting is dedicated to the development of young people. Each week over 2600 adults volunteer, in a variety of roles across South London, helping to achieve this aim. Whilst our primary purpose is the development of young people, we also seek to offer personal development opportunities to adults, both within their scouting role and as individuals. Our adult learning is one means by which you can be supported in your chosen role and help you to meet your personal development needs.
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All adults taking on an appointment in scouting are required to show that they have the skills needed for the role. Our programme of adult learning and personal development opportunities consists of two areas. There is some learning that everyone needs to complete this is called Growing Roots Learning and there is also learning that you can choose to complete called Branching Out Learning. When you opt to complete this learning you can gain your Wood Badge.
Each topic in our Branching Out learning consists of two areas. These are:
Learning
Learning is any activity that helps you to gain skills, knowledge or values. The most beneficial learning, as far as the scouts is concerned, is that which helps you to fulfil your scouting role more easily and with increasing success.
We aim to make learning accessible to all, regardless of geography, education, personal circumstances or special needs. Our learning is also designed to provide opportunities to enable you to interact and share your experiences with other volunteers around our county.
Validation (Demonstration)
Validation is the process of finding out if you are able to put the learning covered by a module into practice in your role in scouts. All learning for your role requires validating regardless of whether you have gained the skills from previous experience or by taking part in planned learning. Some learning is validated automatically by our learning system and some learning will need to be carried out by your District Volunteer Development Team.
Each subject, has a fixed list of validation requirement. There are a number of validation methods for you to select from. Validation methods are simple and effective and should always be something that you do as part of your normal role.
The focus should be on you ‘doing something’ and this will often be backed up by discussion. Validation should not be seen as an exam – it is a positive experience in which you will receive supportive feedback.