From Canada

[Deenatural]

Hi everyone. I would like you to help me for a task. The first thing to know is that I’m french-canadian, so my english might be a little clunky.

 

Before the task, here’s a little backgroud : I’m a Scouter of a troop of 12 members (2 patrols) in the Association des Scouts du Canada (ASC) (Scout Association of Canada). Since it’s not the BSA, there is some little differences on how it’s going on in my Troop.

• The boys and the girls are mixted up. There is boy and girls in the troop;
  
• The age for the Troop is from 12 y old to 14 y old;
  
• In the ASC, many components of your Troop structure doesn’t exists. There is no SPL and no ASPL. There is only the adults (SM and ASM), PL, APL and the others Scouts.
  
• In the Patrol, everyone has a role to do. You can be PL, APL, Scribe, Moneyguy, Cook, Clown, and much more.
  
• The way the Troop works, from experience, is that it’s mostly adult-led. The camp days are choosen by the adults and the patrols have to come up with themes for camps, a menu and activities to do. Once we get this info, we build the plan for the Troop and we can the things done.
  
• There is WAY less badges to get in the ASC if you are in the Scouts. The progression is splitted in two : « learn to be » and « learn to do ».
  
• The « learn to be » is all about taking up personnal challenge to become a better person. When you accomplish those challenges, you get a badge and you go to the next step. It goes like this : Integration – Participation – Sharing – Service.
  
• The « learn to do » is all about gaining skills in 7 differents domains : Nature – Expression – Sport – Outdoor – Technical – Orientation – Security. To get one of those badges, you must accomplish personnal challenge that rewards you degrees. By the way, there is no offical way to test the scouts. The degrees you get are not set in stone, and is to the discretion of the Adult. So two Scouts can get the same badge by doing totally differents things.
  
• There is probably many other things I’m missing, but that’s the big picture.
  

So just before I give you my question, here’s the reason I’m asking this forum : in the ASC, we are WAY smaller than the BSA. All those literrature you have, we don’t. Most of the classes you take as an adult is about the Mouvement, about how to be an monitor (like in an holiday camp) and about security with the kids. I really feels like there is something missing in this training, and it’s about teaching how to be a Scouter, and not a camp monitor. The ASC is a great place, but really clunky sometimes by the lack of guideline.

 

So here’s the task : My Troop is new. It is the « result » of a split of a Troop considered to be too big (we can’t go past 24 Scouts in a Troop). The way we always did our scouting always been adult-led. I wanna go to a boy-led Troop, but I don’t know where to start.

 

I don’t know where to start to train the PLs. They are doing a great job for doing what they are asked to do, but if not asked, they won’t do anything. I wan’t them to become independant, for them to be able to run a Patrol like you do in the BSA.

 

I don’t know how to do progression with the young. I want them to learn to do stuff, and to want to learn stuff.

 

I want the Troop to be less of a kindergarden, were we have to play during the whole reunion to keep the boys and girls entertained.

 

So, where do I start? Where would YOU start?

 

Deenatural

[qwazse]

Bonjour Dee!

 

Your English surpasses my French!

BSA demographics are different than yours (Troops are 11-18 year old males, Crews are 14-20 year old co-eds) which may limit the usefulness of some of our advise. Maybe the Brits among us will give you some age-appropriate objectives. (To be honest, I find that 12-14 age group very scary and am glad all of my children have passed it.)

 

But, where would I start? First, I would talk to my co-leaders and ask what they envision. Who are the adults that will be helping you? Do they have the same concerns as you do? Also, is it possible for you to have the assistance of a Venturer or Rover scout?

[boomerscout]

You might consider contacting your National Youth Network (?) about the FAST youth leader training program. A preview is given at

http://www.scouts.ca/sites/default/files/Fast.pdf

Also, consider Google for "the Dump Scouts Canada" That site offers several editions of the Canadian Patrol Leaders Handbook. The 1950 edition seems to have a good intro on why trained leaders are necessary