Scouting from classroom to life experiences

By Greg Nash

In the text, "scouts" are mentioned but can be substituted by other scouting youth sections.

Scouting complements school and family life, filling the needs not met by either. Our scouting youth like lots of other youth in the community engage in a variety of out-of-school activities both social and sporting. Focused activities for example Australian Rules football, Basketball, and Tennis and including other activities similar to music lessons and karate are all great as they offer healthy and excellent outcomes. But focused activities tend to be just that “focused” on the particular chosen leisure pursuit. Scouting may have similar social and to a point, sporting-related outcomes but scouting goes beyond what a dedicated activity can bring to an individual.

Scouting develops self-knowledge, the need to explore, discover, and want to know. All this and more is offered via a badge reward system that accommodates all levels of ability both physical and intellectual. The scout badge system is always evolving and encouraging participation no matter what the interest is.

Scouts have an enhanced School and Family Life

Scouts discover a greater world beyond their school classroom, tapping into the skills of others to learn, and passing that knowledge on to others. To encourage self-discovery scouts are tempted by an expansive badge reward system. Often pursuing badge subjects form topics of interest and school classroom lessons. Often when giving practical instructions leaders discover that their scouts are either talking about the same subject at school or doing projects on it. For example, on a troop meeting night, I was giving practical compass and map demonstrations when a number of scouts told me they have been learning about the earth's magnetic poles in their school class that week.

Scouts are often placed in circumstances where they become the teacher in a peer situation. Some scouts stand out and tend to take a lead role in running their small group known as a patrol. Because scout troops have their bases of learning through small patrols of about five to eight members, each scout generally has an opportunity to take on leadership roles and be responsible to instruct and guide their patrol.

Scouts are involved in a vast number of issues facing the communities where they live. Scouts work with others in the community to achieve mutual objectives. They work with friends, neighbours, community leaders and other organisations.

Parents of Children new to Scouting often comment on how noticeable the changes are, they often see a more positive attitude to home life, more self-reliance and their social network is broadened. These comments are generally echoed by their school teachers.

Among the thousands of adult Australian Scouting volunteers, school teachers account for a good proportion that enjoys the free-flowing nature of an engaging scout programme. In many cases, adding a sense of balance between the classroom and the great outdoors enhances lessons learnt.