Age Ranges

Stevie OakesDesencadenados2August 6th, 2010

Criteria for Section Age Ranges

• Personal Development Stages• Existing Social Groupings• Peer Groups• Balance between Sections• Flexible• Length of Scouting Experience• Oriented towards Senior Section• Adult Resources

AIM

Areas of Personal Growth

Individual Journey

Gender

Other Considerations

At this difficult age, what is good for an adolescent of sixteen is not so good for a boy of fifteen and may even be bad for one of thirteen or fourteen...Even though Scout education has the same ambitions for older and younger boys … the details of the action vary according to the different stages of development of the child.

Baden Powell (Aids to Scoutmastership)

Existing Social Groupings

• School transitions• Young Peoples natural groupings

Peers Groupings

• Similar age and shared interests• Balance between too wide or too narrow

an age range• Too Narrow - Weaker on Leadership; More

difficult to pass on skills• Too Wide - Difficult to provide activities to

interest all (especially the older members); Proper shared responsibility less likely

Flexible

• Overlap between sections

• Adaptable to individual needs

• Adapted to differing needs of sexes

• Adaptable for local circumstances

Length of Scout Experience

• Difficult to sustain interest over too long a period

• Decision to join- taken by parents at younger ages- taken by young person at older age

• Adolescents put off if there is a large proportion of children

Oriented Towards Senior Sections

• Aim is for “young people… as responsible citizens to improve society”

• Can only be achieved when young people become adults

• Objectives of Senior Section determines the programme of younger sections

• Positive impact on adult leadership- Avoid having Scouters who are too young

- Improve leader recruitment through retention

Adult Resources

• Sufficient quality and quantity of Scouters

• Efficient adult recruitment and training

• 3-4 years is considered to be the best because:

• It allows young people to work together with others of a similar age in natural age groupings

• Young people are in each Section long enough to allow a team system (Patrol System) to develop and for Scouts in the Section to pass on their skills and knowledge to the younger ones.

• The span of ages in a Section is not too large, and it has been found that:

each young person is more involved in decision making each young person has more frequent opportunities for

leadership activities and events are more relevant to every member of

the Section

• The length of time in any Section is not too long, so there is less chance that individual members will lose interest and drop out

Pre-Adolescence

• Ability to interact in social groups begins.

• Concrete operations able to engage in co-operative play and act on instructions. Can understand and work in a team.

• Becoming more independent in school, can look up own facts and reason through own decisions.

• Beginning to understand family relationships.

• Beginning to be less egocentric more able to relate to others as different to ourselves.

Early Adolescence

• Begin to make the decision to stay or go

• Social groups become fragmented.

• Intimacy and loneliness are an issue.

• Self understanding and self esteem really develop

• Beginning to think in a more abstract and idealistic way. Future oriented thought problem resolution.

• Interest in own bodies developing.

Adolescence

• Begin to hypotheses make plans, form an objective point of view, see things from another's point of view.

• Reflective thinking should be encouraged. Metacognition (thinking about thinking) begins.

• Autonomy and attachment very important, parents beginning to lose some control.

• Friends becoming more important than family.

• Depression and suicide, eating disorders, interrelationship difficulties.

• Develop a concept of their own uniqueness. Uncertainty regarding their own identity.

Post Adolescence

• Physical Growth completed.

• Sexual intimacy playing a huge part in life.

• Relationships founded on intimacy and complementarity.

• Building a respect for the concept of spirituality.

• Career path choices.

• Financial responsibilities.

• Independent living.

• Abstract thinking maturing.

• Legal responsibility.

Stages of Development NSO’s use various combinations

P

P

P A P

A P

P A

Pre-adolescents Adolescents Post-adolescents

<11 14>11 - 14

The Guides & Scouts of Norway

P P P A

7-8 9-10 11 - 16 17 - 25

The Guides & Scouts of Norway

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

PreAdolesence

Adolesence

7 - 8 years

9 - 10 years

11 - 16 years

17 - 25 years

Zveza Tabornikov - Slovenia

P P P A

6 – 11 12 – 15 16-20 21-27

Zveza Tabornikov - Slovenia

0200400600800

10001200140016001800

PreAdolesence

PostAdolesence

6 - 11 years

12 - 15 years

16 - 20 years

21 - 27 years

CNE - Portugal

P P P A

6 – 10 10 - 14 14-18 18-22

CNE - Portugal

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

PreAdolesence

PostAdolesence

6 - 10 years

10 - 14 years

14 - 18 years

18 - 22 years

Savez izvidaca- Croatia

P P P A

7 – 11 12 - 15 16-20 21+

Savez izvidaca- Croatia

0

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

PreAdolesence

Adolesence

7 - 11 years1071

12 - 15 years

16 - 20 years

21 +

Partio Scout - Finland

P P P A

7 – 9 10 - 14 15-17 18-22

Partio Scout - Finland

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

PreAdolesence

PostAdolesence

7 - 9 years

10 - 14 years

15 - 17 years

18 - 22 years

Partio Scout – FinlandProgramme Reviewed – New Ages 2009

P P P A A

7 – 10 10-12 12-15 15-17 18-22

Skátarnir - Iceland

P P P A A

7 - 9 10-12 13-15 16-18 19-22

Skátarnir - Iceland

0

100

200300

400

500

600700

800

PreAdolesence

PostAdolesence

7 - 9 years

10 - 12 years

13 - 15 years

16 - 18 years

19 - 22 years

FIS – Italy

P P P A

8 - 12 12 - 16 15/18 18 - 22

FIS - Italy

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000

PreAdolesence

PostAdolesence

8 - 12 years

12 - 16 years

16 - 22 years

Beginning and end age of NSO

• Italy Start @ 8 End @ 22• Portugal Start @ 6 End @ 22• Iceland Start @ 7 End @ 22• Finland Start @ 7 End @ 22• Czech Rep Start @ 7 End @ 24• Croatia Start @ 7 End @ 21+• Norway Start @ 7 End @ 25• Ireland Start @ 6 End @ 21• Slovenia Start @ 6 End @ 27

Main considerations/issues in agreeing the start and the end ages

• Iceland looked at the existing age ranges, and at the environment that children in Iceland live in. E.g. the school system and so on.

• School starts at 7 in Finland and it was felt that 7 (starting to read and write) is a good place to start. 22 was a kind of compromise of when you really become adult (the legal age is 18).

• 24 was felt to be a good age in Czech Republic as most people are leaving university and finding a job.

main considerations/issues in agreeing section ages ranges

• In Finland tradition guided the younger age. Developmental psychology played a big part in choosing the others, although explorers upper age limit adheres to the age of consent in Finland, so that the Rovers are all legally adults.

• In Iceland having short periods with a link to the previous section was important. Also it is in line with the school system which makes it easier to operate

relationship between the ages in the section and the formal school system

• In Iceland the first three are the same as in the formal school system.

• In Ireland they overlap with the school system

• In Finland too it was thought that it might be good to counter the big shift in school by not having a shift in scouts at the same time. It is in operation only a number of months and there are no facts as yet on how (if) it works

advantages/disadvantages of these age sections

Advantages:- Everyone has

suitable programme- Easier for leaders

with one stage of development

- Sections gel very well- Methods work better

Disadvantages:-Many sections in the local group

-Sticking with school system may have caused too big an upheaval for some

Being a Rover and/or being a Leader

• Many rovers are also leaders.

• Portugal and Italy say you can not be a leader until 22, when the youth programme has finished. They have very good results.

• Belgium, Czech Republic and Poland have some leader training programmes from 15 years. Iceland has wood badge training from 19 years.

• Statistics world wide show that leaders who join after 21 stay longer, get better trained, and provide better educational programmes.

• Contributions from: Katrin Kelly, WOSM ERO Johanna Virkkula, Partio Scout, Finland Jón Ingvar Bragason, Skátarnir, Iceland Joao Armando Goncalves, CNE, Porgugal Petr Vanek, Junak, Czech Republic www.partio.fi/Suomeksi.iw3 www.scouteguide.it

Thank you for you attention and remember…..

Happiness, as Sir Henry Newbolt says, is largely gained by ‘Happifying’. So remember, spread the word……..

So let’s get out there and HAPPIFY!!!