Teachers

All you need to know about Scouting as a Teacher
Common questions answered

What can I expect?

This will depend on a few factors.

• Do you have other experienced volunteer leaders teachers?
• Have you had experience with uniformed groups in your youth or teaching days?

If you have experienced people who can guide you along, then fear not! There is no hard and fast rule to managing a Scout Group. You can expect to take some time to adjust to the different nature of Scouting as compared to other uniformed groups. And as Scouting places a heavy emphasis on youth leadership, you or your fellow teachers are not required to spoonfeed them!

If you however, do not have any uniformed group experience and/or other experienced people to guide you along… do not worry! There are structured night lessons that the Singapore Training Team from the Association runs to guide you to run your Group/unit! These courses range from a general induction to the skill courses and to the Wood Badge course. Expect to feel some frustration at first but the informal education method of Scouting will soon become second nature to you.

Whether or not you have experienced help, expect to witness a Movement that is vastly different from other uniformed groups!

What form of support will I get?

Your school should at least provide an experienced teacher who will help to guide you along. If you don’t have that, consider looking for the help of established Groups/units. Such Groups/units tend to have volunteer leaders and/or experienced teachers who could give you management and activity support. Of course, Headquarters is just a call away. Contact the Adult Resource department and see what they could do for you.

How should I run my unit?

There is no hard and fast rule to running a scout unit. Apart from the daily MOE and Headquarters-regulated administrative procedures, you could pretty much run the Scout unit the way the boys are accustomed to, and in a way that you would like to. Many scout units operate vastly differently from each and they all have their own cultures and traditions. Talk to the Scouts and see what they would like to see happen and take it from there. Scouting is a boy’s game but a man’s (of course a woman’s as well) job. As long as you’re providing opportunities for them to be really Scouting, you are doing fine.

Help! I’m overloaded

The easiest way to prevent or solve overloading issues is to empower the youth to help you. Encourage graduated Scouts to come back to help. Give more responsibilities to the older boys in the unit!  If the boys are running their own programme, it leaves you to a keep to a supervisory and inspirational role. (Of course there is the admin role as well…)

I’m not a Scout Leader, but I’d like to volunteer

Well done – you’ve taken a huge step in your life! You could think about opening a new Scout unit inside your school (like many have done) or simply to volunteer your free time at other Scout units. Whichever the case, the Association would help you achieve your wish to volunteer. It can be as simple as showing you the procedures to register a new unit to introducing you to the leaders of other Scout units. Contact us to find out more!