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Volunteering at Scouts is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing to help us reach more young people

Volunteering is changing at Scouts. Read more

Discover what this means

The purpose of Scouting

The purpose of Scouting

Probably the best place to start when thinking about the fundamentals of Scouting is ‘why does Scouts exist?’ It’s a big question!

The purpose of Scouts describes, in one sentence, what we are trying to do: Scouts exists to actively engage and support young people in their personal development, empowering them to make a positive contribution to society. The various parts of the purpose

This is a clear and direct start to the statement that makes it clear what we are going to do. It also means that the statement can stand alone without the heading ‘The Purpose of Scouting’ and it still makes sense.

This means that young people are actively involved in their own development and not just passively part of Scouts (they don’t just do whatever is organised by others). 

This means that we should encourage young people to have ideas about what they want to do in Scouts and that their ideas should make a difference.

This covers the social, physical, intellectual, emotional and spiritual needs of young people.

This means that Scouts is more than just having fun – it’s about stretching young people in these areas, so that they learn and develop in an enjoyable and practical way.

This is about giving young people the skills and the opportunity to do something – and then supporting them to do it.

It’s more than just saying ‘get on with it’ – it’s core to Scouts that we help young people to develop and learn skills that will assist them in the wider world.

This recognises that other than the personal benefits of Scouts to young people, Scouts has a wider purpose to positively affect society.

Good Scouts helps young people learn skills for life, gain confidence and develop the desire to make their world a better place. 

The ‘positive contribution’ is based on our Scout values – this links us right back to the words of Baden-Powell who wrote: ‘Teach Scouts not how to get a living, but how to live.’ You can’t say fairer than that!

Some people might ask why ‘fun’ is not mentioned in the purpose statement.

We must remember that the purpose statement covers the reason why Scouts exists and not how Scouts works (this latter aspect is covered in the Scouts Method).

The statement doesn’t have an adult focus, because Scouts exists for young people and the adults are used as the means to deliver the method to achieve the Purpose.