Session 1C: How the Adventurous Activity Permit scheme works (60 minutes)

Cover domestic requirements such as fire exits, toilets, phones, tea and coffee and so on.

Introduce the course staff; it may be helpful at this stage to state what skills and experiences they have that might be relevant to the course.

Describe the key features of the Adventurous Activity Permit Scheme:

• The Adventurous Activity Permit Scheme is designed to ensure that those leading
  adventurous activities for young people have the skills, experience and suitability to do so. It is designed to be as flexible as possible whilst providing a robust checking process, enabling a person to show their competence.
• Everyone who leads an adventurous activity is required to hold a permit for that activity, to ensure that it is safely run. Details of which activities are classified as adventurous can be found in Policy, Organisation and Rules (show where to find this information). It's a national scheme but run locally. There are numerous factsheets to support all types of adventurous activities which are available from the www.scouts.org.uk these are signposted from the A-Z of activities.
• The person who grants a permit is the responsible Commissioner. This will either be a District, or County Commissioner. The responsible Commissioner can only grant permits on the recommendation of an Approved Assessor.

Types of Assessor

• County Assessors – Appointed by Counties to be Assessors for specific activities.
• External Assessors – qualified individuals outside The Scout Association who are used to carry out assessments where no County Assessors are available.

County Assessors are appointed in the same way as any other adult appointment. They must have the appropriate technical knowledge and assessment skills and also keep up to date in their technical knowledge.

Technical knowledge – to ensure that they have the technical knowledge required, all County Assessors are required to hold a National Governing Body Qualification. The level of these qualifications is laid out in the Factsheet FS 120104 Adventurous Activity Permit

Scheme – Approved Assessors. Funding is available to assist County Assessors in gaining the qualifications they require.

Assessment skills – as well as having the required technical knowledge, County Assessors also need the skills to assess. These skills are assured by the training and validation provided by this module.

Remain up to date – It's important the County Assessors remain up to date and active within their activity. To ensure that they are, all County Assessors are required to have been on at least two days (14 hours) of technical update workshops within the last five years.

This figure should be seen as the minimum rather than a target. These updates can include such events as:

• Scout Association Assessor forums
• National Governing Body Assessor workshops
• National Governing Body revalidation workshops
• National Governing Body training

The person conducting any review of an Activity Assessor should check that they are up-to-date before any reappointment is made.

External Assessors can be used where no County Assessor is available. This is not a Scouting appointment and is generally only used for a one-off assessment. External Assessors are not required to attend any internal training or validation but they are required to hold National Governing Body Qualifications which include assessment training. Assessors may not be members of the Scout Association – ensure that they are fully aware of our Safeguarding Policies, as they may assess somebody for a permit who is under the age of 18.

We’ll be looking in more detail in later sessions at how you might assess competence and feeding back to the learner. Here are some last details about the Activity Permit Scheme:

• A permit can last up to five years
• There is no prerequisite training necessary to hold a permit; competence is the important thing.
• Assessments should be seen as a chance to see what level an applicant is at, not to try to catch them out.
• Technical competence is assessed by the Assessor against the relevant Assessment Checklist. The three other areas are assessed by the Commissioner or their nominee.
• A mixture of tools should be used in assessing, including: looking at other qualifications or awards held, previous logged experience, use of examples and scenarios, and practical assessment.
• Permit recommendations can be restricted as seen fit, but Assessors need to be able to justify any restrictions based on the applicant’s technical competence, not personal qualities.
• The Assessor makes a recommendation. It's the Commissioner who actually issues a permit.
• Where possible it is better to recommend a restricted permit, rather than completely fail an applicant.
• Feedback is crucial and should be aimed at supporting applicants in gaining further skills and experience.
• There are no minimum or maximum ages for gaining a permit. When assessing under 18s, Assessors must ensure that they follow Scout Association Safeguarding policies.
• The Activity Permit Scheme is moderated nationally.