Scouting practical skills views sought

[Mang]

I have been asked to join a team to look at the practical skills in Scouting and said that I’d put this on Escouts and several bushcraft forums to garner opinion. From the first meeting there were a lot of really good ideas put forward to expand and freshen up the practical skills information.

One piece of ‘homework’ we have been set after the first meeting is to come up with a list of practical skills (up to 25) and by that I mean Scoutcraft type skills so any ideas welcome.

Also, kit was discussed. Do any of you have any ideas on stuff that could be considered for the Scout shop to stock? This thread will be copied in to all on the team so your opinions will be read. I've put this in the leaders chatter section but feel free to comment if you aren't involved in Scouting.

[udamiano]

Navigation has to be near the top I would think
knife and axe skills, kids all want a knife but should be trained to use it first
knots and cordage
camp craft - tent layout, kitchen area, sanitary area, etc
a few to get you started

[Maggot]

Definitely navigation, it's something we are majoring on for the coming term, hopefully finishing off with a night nav exercise (what can possibly go wrong?!?!)

Also, the importance of proper footwear. We had a walk planned in January, in the snow, and of the 12 who turned up, 7 had some kind of training shoe on. We had to cancel the walk as it was just too dangerous. So, education centrally around footwear would be great.

[The Lord Poncho]

Mang- your task is an impossible one unless it is closer defined for you. Do they mean 'practical skill areas'? Otherwise, 25 individual practical skills will get you nowhere. If skill areas, then conversely, a list of 25 is to long. I would say:

1) Camp craft (standing camp)
2) Camp Craft (Lightweight Camp)
3) Camp Craft (Green Field)
4) Expedition skills
5) Adventurous activity skills (e.g. specific skills related to the likes of climbing, kayaking, pioneering etc)
6) Team work skills
7) Leadership skills

Within these 7 key categories, will be hundreds of individual practical skills. Setting a list of 25 individual skills in isolation is a waste of time. Better focus on the broader categories, then in turn, start to flesh out the particular practical skills that make them up. For example, navigation would fall under expedition skills; 'bushcraft' type competance would be an advanced skill under Camp Craft (Green Field).

A base level of competance in each of the above areas will make a very capable and well rounded Scout who will have an excellent foundation both for life in the outdoors, and life in general.

In terms of Kit for the Scout Shop to sell- i guess as you are asking on here you are after bushcrafty type suggestions- Moras, spoon knives, quality hand axes around the £20 mark, Dutch Ovens, surplus parachutes, cheap olive green tarps, dd style hammocks, cheap cotton smocks for general camp craft type activities.

[spartacus]

some good points already made and I'd like to add COOKING as a really important skill. As a former Scout and Venture Scout leader I found this life skill not only essential to good humour but it is a great way to teach, conservation and hygene for example as well as filling up the day. It takes time to prepare, we seldom used packaged food. When some of my Venture Scouts went to Uni it stood them well, keeping them hale and hearty for the students union and all the lager and cider, lol. Fresh is also more economical and healthy.

[rik_uk3]

First thing is to read a copy of 'Scouting For Boys', full of practical skills, shelter building, cooking, fire lighting.

free.pdf if you do a quick google.

[Mang]

Mang- your task is an impossible one unless it is closer defined for you.

Whatever comes of this project it will be wrong to someone somewhere! =D

Thanks to all who have posted so far. We had our first meeting with a lot of folk not able to come...and I noticed one individual who wasn't there that will really make things interesting. The 25 list was really a starting point, a bit of homework if you like and I'm scoping all the forums I posted on to look for ideas so any contributions will be looked at.

[Stew]

One piece of ‘homework’ we have been set after the first meeting is to come up with a list of practical skills (up to 25) and by that I mean Scoutcraft type skills so any ideas welcome.

Just to double check, do you mean a list of 25 practical skills that a Scout should aim to have under their belt by the time they finish, as it were?

[Mang]

It's more for leaders. Whilst there is a strong skill set in Scouting you'll have Mrs Mary Housewife and Mr Allen Supermarket Assistant have just taken over a Cub Pack together and don't know one end of a knife from the other so will need things like a new fresh factsheet for example to help them. That's more the angle without me oversteeping my forum thread remit! Also, it's not a closed team and if you are interested in joining PM me.

[Stew]

It's more for leaders. Whilst there is a strong skill set in Scouting you'll have Mrs Mary Housewife and Mr Allen Supermarket Assistant have just taken over a Cub Pack together and don't know one end of a knife from the other so will need things like a new fresh factsheet for example to help them. That's more the angle without me oversteeping my forum thread remit! Also, it's not a closed team and if you are interested in joining PM me.

Aaah, superb idea.

I shall draw up a list for you.

Sadly I'm no longer a leader as I had frustrations with kids and leaders but hopefully this will be enough of a help.

[Stew]

Only 21 thoughts...

1 How to tie basic knots (reef knot, bowline, clove hitch, round turn two half hitches, figure eight loop, sheepshank, fishermans knot)
2 Basic pioneering - rafts!
3 basic first aid
4 start a fire
5 maintain a fire
6 putting out a fire - campsite
7 Camp hygiene
8 Navigation - Take a bearing
9 - Read a map - symbols, contour understanding, etc
10 - Plan a route with timings
11 - Emergency planning - weather, accident
12 - Kit & Clothing
13 Set-up a tent
14 Cooking - use of camp stoves
15 - cook a meal indoors
16 - cook a meal outdoors
17 - Basic food safety
18 Simple sewing!
19 Basic knife skills? - Tent peg, spoon, featherstick?
20 Domestic fire safety
21 Basic hand tool use - able to build a Bird box??

[FGYT]

It's more for leaders. Whilst there is a strong skill set in Scouting you'll have Mrs Mary Housewife and Mr Allen Supermarket Assistant have just taken over a Cub Pack together and don't know one end of a knife from the other so will need things like a new fresh factsheet for example to help them. That's more the angle without me oversteeping my forum thread remit! Also, it's not a closed team and if you are interested in joining PM me.

Should go on a training course heavily based in the ability to teach kids then on a basic course to learn what to teach
as well as further advanced or topic specific courses

fairly sure thats in place or it was My Dad has been a scout leader for some decades now and has been on and instructed on many leader courses.

pretty sure HSE / insurance wont like Mary and Allen teaching Knife safety after only reading a Fact sheet (good as as Aide Memoire after proper hands on training) they should at least be qualified/ signed off on the course they are trying to teach or actually be at a higher level to give a broader knowledge base to the subject

Ive been through 2 systems as an Army Cadet Instructor ( ex 4star cadet) and as a PADI Diving instructor neither of which will let you near a student unsupervised with out extensive training on what your doing and how to teach it and a good solid set of skills in place.

Tho Mary and Allen should have skill sets that can be brought in ie cooking, sewing, Queue choosing, Google search theory etc but if they cant pass it on to a bunch of Kids its useless.

ATB

Duncan

[Mang]

I've just had the date of the next meeting throug, it's Sunday 23rd October. Quick bump as he next meeting is due soon so if anyone has any other practical skills etc to add to the list...

[MalIrl]

Hi Mang,
If you can get hold of the new Scouting Ireland Adventure Skills material it will give you just tons of ideas (more like 25x25!). The new curriculum has nine Adventure skills. Three are considered core scout skills:
Camping
Pioneering
Backwoods (=bushcraft)

Then there are six additional:
Hillwalking
Emergencies (largely first aid)
Sailing
Rowing
Kayaking
Air

Each Adventure skill has 9 stages, to take a scout from Beavers through to adult. I'm sure many would disagree on the detail of what's in each stage, but it is in fact quite a good framework for breaking down the outdoor adventure skills into manageable chunks.

The Scout Shop in Ireland will sell you the Adventure Skills Poster Book, but the actual content is controlled at the moment. That probably won't matter for what you are doing, though. http://www.thescoutshop.ie/products/...s/publications.

Have fun!

[Mang]

Thought I’d post to keep you all up to date. Following on from the last meeting of the Project team http://www.escouts.org.uk/forum/thre...ght?highlight= we broke into 2 teams and, if you’ll excuse the pun, whittled down a massive list to the following. We have now separated into smaller groups to look at specific areas will be meeting in the not too distant future (my next meeting is Sunday March 4th) so any thoughts and comments posted will be taken to the meeting by yours truly.
1. Field Hygiene
2. Fire Lighting
3. Knives
4. Axes
5. Saws
6. Navigation and route planning
7. First Aid
8. Outdoor/Camp cooking
9. Tent Pitching
10. Knots and Lashings
11. Plant lore – identification/uses etc
12. Tracking
13. Pioneering/gadgets
14. Survival – to include water and shelter building
15. Expedition/event planning
16. Stoves and Lamps
17. Personal Admin – to include ironing, sewing, personal hygiene, self discipline (general sense of pride in themselves and their appearance etc)

Recommendations for other projects/teams:
• Wide games
• Ceremonies
• Country Code

All topics to cover:
• Communications (both in terms of how we communicate with specific leaders, and then how the skill is communicated to young people)
• Health and Safety
• Risk Assessment

Please feel free to comment and I’ll make sure that I take any made to the next meeting.

[brancho]

Austin
Its good to see this coming along.
A lot more practical training is needed IMO.

I showed 93 Scouts knife skills two weeks ago over a day and a half I also managed to train several leaders too of of who made his first spoon.

[Conan257]

1. Field Hygiene2. Fire Lighting3. Knives4. Axes5. Saws6. Navigation and route planning7. First Aid8. Outdoor/Camp cooking9. Tent Pitching10. Knots and Lashings11. Plant lore – identification/uses etc12. Tracking13. Pioneering/gadgets14. Survival – to include water and shelter building15. Expedition/event planning16. Stoves and Lamps17. Personal Admin – to include ironing, sewing, personal hygiene, self discipline (general sense of pride in themselves and their appearance etc)

I think you need to break this down more....You've split up axes/saws/knives, but have left Navigation , Plants and Survival as single subjects... Why don't you aim for a smaller number of larger headings and break them down into root systems?Also, I think that things such as tracking and "plant-lore" are such massive and complex subjects, that Scouts either get taught a tiny portion to which they will not remember and/or cannot put into practice due to the vast majority of leaders having little knowledge. I've been a Scout and Leader for a long time and have never really looked at these areas, even though I've been trained in survival/tracking etc with my job. Best teach someone to be competant and skilled in an area than brush over part of a subject and leave them with large knowledge gaps...