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Scouting Leadership (Serious Side of Scouting)

Trainee Concerns for Wood Badge Course Instructors

This is one of those areas where we need your help. This is a page that brings up some concerns that have been expressed by Leaders who have either participated in Wood Badge training or who have been putting it off for one reason or another — not infrequently for one or more of the concerns you will read about here.

This is by no means a complete list of areas needing attention on the part of some Wood Badge course instructors, nor does it have much input from the trainer's point of view. That's where you come into the picture, as well as trainees who have experienced other types of situations we need to pay attention to. We would like to include your points of view and experiences.

All you need to do is to provide your input via e-mail to gaelwolf@magpage.com — with as much information as possible. If what you have to say adds to this discussion, then we will include it along with others on a page that you can go to from this one at some point in the not too far distant future. The more we share here, the more valuable this page becomes to all of us who have the responsibility for training the people who lead with us.

Why is this page here?

Wood Badge training is something I value very highly. Not only has it had a positive effect on the way I manage the Scout Groups and Scout Associations I work with, but I also use the management training I received in my day to day professional life.

The Wood Badge holds a great deal of meaning for me, and the experiences I had in the course of the training, as well as the new friends I made on the course, have made a great difference in the way I look at Scouting as a whole. However, my course had a few rough edges, as do other Wood Badge courses I have been hearing about in many different countries. While nearly every course I hear about is very positive overall, there is always room for improvement. That’s why I decided to write this page.

While I realise that you, as a Wood Badge course instructor, have a great deal of experience as a Scout Leader Trainer, there are some issues that I have seen and heard discussed by Leaders in various parts of the world that you may not have considered as being road blocks to training. I would like to take a few minutes to discuss them with you.

Although this results in what seems to be a stream of criticism, that is not what it really is at its base. What I want to do is to help you become aware of some of the perceptions that are out and about, particularly among the Leaders who have yet to darken the doorway of a Wood Badge training course. Many of these people are being "put off" by some of the negative things they hear about some aspects of some courses. As with anything else, the bad experiences are those that receive the most attention.

I hope that you can take away a greater awareness of these perceptions, and become an advocate of ensuring the courses you work on do not become entangled in any of these pitfalls. You see, I am involved quite heavily in leadership training, and negative "happenings" in other people’s courses make all of our tasks just that little bit more difficult. So, you see, I have to join you in avoiding these traps, too!

Of course, since this is an open forum, Leaders who have never been to a Wood Badge course, as well as those who have, will be reading this page, too. This may or may not be a Good Thing, depending on your point of view, since much of what I have been hearing presents some individual courses in a negative light. While some or all of these situations may not exist in your own training course, they do in other places. A little awareness will not hurt us as much as the negative publicity can.

I am a Leader with more than 35 years’ Scouting experience, since the April afternoon I first stepped into my Cub Pack as a bright-eyed and eager eight year old. By and large, I have never lost a bit of my enthusiasm for Scouting, though there have been occasions when it was dampened a mite through local adverse circumstances.

While I was delayed in participating in my own Wood Badge course as a result of professional activities interfering with Scout Leader training dates, there were a few occasions when I must confess that I did put off attending Wood Badge as a result of some negative feelings toward the manner in which the course was presented to prospective attendees. There was a feeling of secrecy involved that left a bad taste in my mouth. This, coupled with rigid uniform and equipment expectations made me feel as if these were trainers with whom I would not feel comfortable being trained by.

Unfortunately, there are Leaders who would attend Wood Badge training today, were it not for a similar feeling toward their local Training Team members. While this is often a local situation, it occurs frequently enough in widely separated areas that it should concern you. How well do you present your course to those who are eligible to attend? Do you pump them up by emphasising the fun, adventure, and social aspects of the course? Or do you spend time holding details about the coursework and methodology from the people who need the training?

There's no need for secrecy...

Apparently, there are some locations where the Wood Badge course content and methodology are a fairly close-held, confidential subject. Among some Training Teams, there seems to be an impression that the course will not be as effective if the participants know what is coming around the corner. As a matter of fact, there were some on the Staff of my own Wood Badge course who would not tell anyone what to expect in the coming hours of training.

This is an attitude that can make some prospective trainees a bit apprehensive about even signing up for the training. I think we all lose when this happens, because there are Leaders who never attend Wood Badge training as a result. I was far happier with the Wood Badgers in my Scout Group who were willing to go over the coming course with me in depth before I ever arrived than I was with some members of the District Training Team who told me that they couldn’t tell me anything about the course content before I arrived and participated.

Do you think there is any need for confidentiality concerning any aspect of your Wood Badge course? If so, you may wish to review the course content and the rationale for withholding any information from prospective participants.

Should Wood Badge trainees be treated the same as new Scouts?

There are more than a few stories of Wood Badge experiences where the Leaders participating as trainees were made to feel as if they were know-nothing new Scouts. This is NOT a really good way to approach a week-long training course, no matter how you look at it! Thankfully, though, the courses where this seems to have happened are in a very small minority.

You are dealing with dedicated volunteer adults. They do not have to be there. They are taking your course because they are dedicated to continually improving the quality of the programmes they are offering young people. They expect and deserve to be treated as adults.

The Patrol Method works with people from any age group. However, the members of the age group who are using the Patrol Method should still work on the social level where their age places them. Personally, I really think that treating adults in a Patrol as you would eleven year olds in a Patrol is very demeaning. I am a mature, reasonable individual. However, were a Training Team member to begin treating me as a child and then tell me that this was the way the course was supposed to be run, I would pack my things and go home.

Uniforming

This is an issue that gets a lot of attention, particularly in those locations where precision uniforming takes the place of common sense. While there is a need for reasonably consistent uniforming, there is a need to be a little understanding, as well.

For instance, there are some countries where shorts are still a part of official uniform, even if there are also long trousers as uniform as well. There are more than a few stories of Wood Badge training courses where shorts were the required uniform, even in very cold weather.

Now, uniforms are one of the methods used by Scouting. This is generally taken to be a means of evening out the differences between more and less affluent Scouts, to place them on a more even social footing. This is as it should be. Where many of us have a problem, though, is when a Wood Badge course Training Team takes this as a license to expect each participating Leader to have at least two complete uniforms with all the identifying badges on one uniform being exactly the same ones as those of all the other participants.

This, I think, is carrying things a bit too far, since it often means removing Scout Group identification items, as well as evidence of honours previously received for service to Scouting. Beyond this, I will not say more than to pass along the thought that I am not alone in thinking this way, and that this is something that several people perceive as a negative aspect of the training. I would like you to ask yourself where the line really ought to be drawn as to what appears on a uniform.

Simply telling a participant that at least two complete uniforms are required is not enough. You should also be willing to help them locate extra uniforms from other Leaders in your District, because there are some Leaders whose families will be financially pinched if they are under the impression that they have to purchase another uniform. While there are some who will go out and buy another uniform, there are also some who you will never see in your training course unless they understand that it is OK to borrow the extra uniform parts.

I have been hearing stories of Wood Badge courses where the participants were required to wear short uniform trousers, even when the temperature dropped near freezing or when it was raining hard, simply as a result of this being the required uniform. Hopefully, your course does not have as rigid a uniforming policy as this.

Look, uniforming has to be tempered with good common sense when the weather becomes cold and wet. Trainees who are cold are trainees who are not getting anything from what they are being taught. There is little good in adhering to a policy that places your participants (or instructors) at risk for developing hypothermia, now, is there? Yet, this appears to be happening in a few places.

..Unresponsive to trainee's needs?

I realise you have to deal with a syllabus that places much of the training course on a very tight schedule, with varying training objectives needing to be met. Unfortunately, there are training needs that are never met by even the best Wood Badge syllabus. While the areas where we don’t fully meet needs varies from country to country and course to course, there are always areas we could do a better job in.

For instance, there are some Scout Associations that are very "light" on the physical, social, psychological, and spiritual development of boys and girls and how to work with them most effectively based on their needs. This is one of the weakest areas in most Wood Badge courses. However, as a "graduate course" in Scout leadership training, this may be an area where we ought to be placing a great deal of emphasis, since we are trying to train tomorrow’s corporate and political leaders in our programmes.

Course Directors may want to locate additional people for their Training Team, especially people who are actively involved in counseling work and education of young people. While their subject areas may not be written directly into the syllabus, they may be very valuable as people who are available to work with small groups of course participants when they are having "free" time.

I have also heard of courses where people with special needs did not receive a lot of latitude from the Training Team. This is something that we need to look at, since no two people are alike, and there are those for whom this training is far more physically or intellectually demanding than it is for the average Leader. It is not wise, for instance, to expect a trainee who has a handicapped knee to kneel on the ground in the course of an activity. However, this happened recently in one Wood Badge course that I am aware of. There are also dyslexic Scouters and Leaders who have varying forms of Attention Deficit Disorder who have had less than stellar experiences while they were going through Wood Badge training.

Summing up

Now, I know there are some of you who are feeling a bit uncomfortable about now, but let me say that you don’t have to feel badly if you see yourself above. This is an opportunity to think about where we are today and how we can become better in the future.

There are many concerns that I have been hearing that are not included here. That’s not so much a result of a lack of time to write about them or a lack of space here as it is a feeling that you have read enough to begin taking a close look at the Wood Badge training courses you are involved in with an eye toward identifying opportunities for improvement.

Our goal should be to encourage EVERY Leader to become involved in and complete a Wood Badge course. It would be nice if every Scouter were to earn the Beads, since that would be evidence of an across the board leadership team trained to a high level of competency. The more people we have completing the Wood Badge, the more effective our Scout Associations will become in all their various sections. The more effective we become, the better job we will do in preparing coming generations to take care of the world and each other.

Not a bad goal, eh?