Failiure to comply with the (new?) Scout Curriculum

[pstretch]

Pretty much everything else is train, support, manage, develop, etc. Compliance with a 'curriculum' in any form will only get people's backs up and generate needless work. Assuming any meaningful monitoring could be achieved at all - afterall were is anyone going to get such data?

What TSA need is a mandatory online tool that tracks programme achievements (badges) for every individual youth member.

[BigBadBaloo]

What TSA need is a mandatory online tool that tracks programme achievements (badges) for every individual youth member.

Ohhh - that's a good idea!

[ianw]

What TSA need is a mandatory online tool that tracks programme achievements (badges) for every individual youth member.

Can't be far off. I mean, yeah, it's not mandatory, and TSA don't run it but...

I had cause to try and share an event with scout sections, in the interests of linking with explorers. I ended up discovering that every group in my district uses it, and all bar one scout section in one group is set up. Of course, there's a world of difference between having an OSM section set up, and using OSM to actively track badges. Some have accepted my event, passed it on, and their scouts have signed up, for some, it's still "pending".

In a way, it's a good analogy to this debate of "curriculum" and "compliance". Showing the variety out there, from those actively using OSM for everything from badges to events, to those not using it, to those who've set up a section because they were told to and not much more. That we're all volunteers, and you can only compel us to do so much before we either start ignoring it, or take our bat and ball and go home. Know what I mean?

[wealdbrook]

Scouting is all about giving our young people the best experiences we can - what is the most appropriate for one group may not be right for another group, our young people are all individuals.
We are all individuals and we bring many "life skills" to our sections, many are "scouting" but they are wider than that. We deliver a programme we think fits the needs and interests of our young people to help them to achieve their full physical, intellectual, social and spiritual potential as individuals, as responsible citizens and as members of their local, national and international communities.
Since they are all individuals it is hard to have a one size fits all curriculum and the value of what we deliver is often only seen years after delivery.

[Kingsley]

Scouting always has had a curriculum - "Scouting For Boys", with a little bit of updating it is as relevant now as it always has been. Any competent scouter can adapt it to suit local needs.

The Scout Association want everyone to believe that they are some form of statutory body with the sole rights to control scouting. They are not and you don't need their permission, anyone can run a scout group and you don't need anyone else's permission. TSA is just an advisory body without any executive authority over you or your group; and nothing more.

Compass is just a means to ensure compliance; you don't need a computer to manage thirty-six scouts.

Kingsley Leigh
Former Leader of 1st Eccleshall Explorer Scout Unit
Dismissed from Scouting by Bullying Thugs

- - - Updated - - -

What TSA need is a mandatory online tool that tracks programme achievements (badges) for every individual youth member.

It's Scouting - not McDonalds!

[Brian Foulkes]

Well said

I entirely agree with you But I think we are being overtaken by people with different thoughts about Scouting. I seem to be meeting more and more people ,admittedly not dunning sections,who seem to have a very different idea than mine about what Scouting is all about.

[Keith at 2M]

"UK Commissioner Programme – Assurance
To lead the strategic development of the youth programme (the curriculum and compliance) with the outcome of increasing the number of young people involved in UK Scouting."

I think if you run this through Google Translate it will come up with something like 'increasing the number of young people in scouting by providing a relevant, safe and fun programme' so no real problem there, other than the need to covert it into plain English. Plus we already have a youth lead compliance programme for assessing the quality of the programme - its called voting with their feet. Its very rare for a group that doesn't provide a half decent programme to do well on the numbers front. Units that close due to a lack of numbers are usually saying something about the quality of the programme/leadership. Maybe a 'compliance' visit from OfScout might have helped and saved the unit but do those sort of leaders ever actually listen to advice.

I'm not sure how anyone can object to a compliance review of our Safety/Safeguarding/Inclusivity - as a parent I'd like to be certain my child's group follows the latest safety rules and legislation. I'd like to be confident that the money I pay to the Group is managed properly and I'd like to be reassured that my data and that of my children is managed in accordance with GDPR etc. I don't think that is too much to ask and have no objection to being asked to prove that my section follows all these rules either.

What I am really concerned about is where these additional compliance officers are going to come from. We already struggle to staff all of the sections and yet we're going to be able to come up with a couple of extra volunteers per District? Having friends & relatives working in education, the general consensus is that today's Ofsted inspectors are largely people who couldn't cope with the pressures of teaching so now make a living judging their former colleagues. Extending this to scouting really frightens me. The only 'spare' people we tend to have (ie volunteers without current posts) are those not considered suitable to be effective leaders. The thought that these individuals would be the only ready source of volunteers to go round passing judgement on the rest of the District worries me? I don't think this sounds a workable scenario and would lead to current leaders just deciding to walk.