The Scouting Program is a Mosaic

[AwakeEnergyScouter 247]

In preparing for my first Blue & Gold as Cubmaster, another former scout committee member and I wanted to put together something more extensive about BP and the history of the scouting movement. I checked out the online museum of Swedish Scouting as part of the compilation process, and found this piece about a stained glass window of the trefoil-fleur du lis Scouterna (The Scouts, but in Swedish) logo as a metaphor for the scouting program. The picture is attached and the text translated below.

A picture of scouting

In the stained glass mosaic window, the glass pieces create a pattern. The artist has chosen pieces with the right shape and color, and put them in the right place. Then, they form a symbol for what we want to achieve: Good and proper scouting!

Adventures and experiences

For the scout, the individual glass piece is probably the most important. The things you do and experience. The Scout program. Which is exciting and qualified, where you’re always learning something new, where you have fun, where you grow by taking responsibility etc. But even for the scout the glass pieces become more important if you see how they relate to each other in the pattern. Maybe when we now and then stop in front of the scout law, that everything is aiming towards?

The big picture must be right

But if our scout program is to form the pattern, then we must select and place our pieces carefully. Otherwise, it won’t be good and proper scouting.

If the pieces in one color are missing, then the pattern doesn’t form. That can happen when we forget what the scout program is based on. For example that scouting is an outdoor activity movement, where the patrol is the important unit.

And if some pieces are too big, then the big picture isn’t right. That can happen when we let some types of program activities take up too much space, so that others won’t fit. For example spending so much time indoors that we don’t have time for enough hikes. And if some pieces have the wrong shape, then they of course won’t fit into the pattern. That can happen when we do the right things, but don’t consider how we do them.

Maybe go to camp, but let the activities there become more important than camp life itself?

As scout leaders, we need to think about both the pieces and the pattern. We need to be clear on the purpose of each thing that the scouts are doing. Each program component needs to contribute to the pattern. Otherwise, it doesn’t fit the picture. And then it doesn’t belong in the scouting program.

The Scouts’ web page 2015:

Why+How=What

Everything we do with the scouts is program. To cook your own food at camp as well as attending the troop’s annual meeting contributes to the development of the scout and is part of the program. What’s special about the scout program is that it doesn’t just consist of what we do (our activities) but also why we do it (our aims and purposes) and how we do it (the scouting method, pedagogy). By thinking through why and how we conduct an activity we ensure that the scouts are challenged at their level and according to their circumstances. This could be why a hike is structured the way it is or what symbols we use.

Why?

What is the purpose of a specific activity. It simply answers the question of how the scouts will grow as individuals.

How?

How has to do with our pedagogy, the scouting method. It includes everything from a system for working with small groups (the patrol method) to a way to work with symbols and our own law full of good values.

What?

When we have the goals (why), and how we should structure what we do, then we can create fun and developing activities based on that. In other words what we do in scouts together. The program!