{"alias":"blogEntry","byline":"","standfirst":"In our pilots trialling Scouts for 4 and 5 year olds, what is the family-model? Who\u2019s involved? Is it still Scouts? What\u2019s working? What\u2019s not? A leader who\u2019s been involved from the start, tells us all about it.","content":{"layouts":[{"type":"singleColumn","areas":[{"items":[{"gridType":"gridImageBlock","gtmId":"gtmId","gtmClass":"gtmClass","image":"/media/5236/early-years-children-outdoors.jpg","width":960,"height":720,"altText":"","caption":"","link":null},{"gridType":"RichTextBlock","content":"\u003Cp\u003EFamily Scouting has been running in the US for a number of years where they found 75% of parents go on to take up leadership roles and 61% of the young people are new to Scouting.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EIn the family-model being trialled through the Early Years pilots in the UK, parents / carers are asked to come together and take the lead delivering the programme to their children. A Scouting volunteer supports the unit providing coaching for the parents to enable them to deliver programme resources, and linking the unit to other local opportunities and activities across the Scout District. Membership is expected to be between 6 and 10 children per unit.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EDan Breeze is a leader at a pilot trialling the family-led model. A Beaver Leader too, Dan got involved when the Group Scout Leader at his Colony in Bradford expressed interest in the pilots trialling Scouts for this new younger section. The GSL sensed that with Dan being a Primary teacher, together they\u2019d have the capacity to take on the challenge of giving the pilot a shot. Their meetings kicked off last September and will run until this July.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EHere, Dan shares his insights into how the family-led model works and how their group has been going.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E1. What is the family-led model?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThe family-model is where a family member stays with their child and gets involved with the programme that we\u2019re running. I think the idea is that the families eventually take on more of a leadership role but at the minute it\u2019s more that they\u2019re just getting involved with their children and interacting and learning the skills for life that we\u2019re teaching \u2013 they\u2019re developing with the children.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe take the lead on the programme-planning, to make sure that there\u2019s that Scouts element and we talk quite a lot about the Promise so the Promise weaves into quite a lot of the sessions. And the adventure side of things \u2013 being in the outdoors, learning about the outdoors \u2013 it\u2019s all very much entwined with the programme, as well as matching the Early Years Foundation Stage goals.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E2. How many young people are involved?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe currently have five young people but ideally, we\u2019re looking to get eight families involved so we\u2019re still developing the numbers.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E3. Where and when do the meetings happen?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe meet at a local church once a week between 5.30-6.30pm. Before we started, we actually put it out to the parents to see what time they\u2019d prefer and that\u2019s what they suggested but we\u2019ve had a bit of frustration getting the numbers we\u2019d like. We\u2019ve had lots of interest but getting people to actually sign up has been more of a challenge and part of that, we think, is because of the timing. 5.30 can be a tricky time for parents but then again 6-7pm was too late for the young people. The other thing that put some parents off was staying with their kids throughout the session because of other commitments or having to take care of other family members.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E4. How were volunteers recruited? What got them interested in volunteering?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EMany of the children in the group are actually siblings from our current Scout Group, so we approached those parents first and then their friends. Parents felt that there was something missing for this age group, that sort of nurturing environment for them. They say there are lots of swimming lessons and activities like that but not enough social interaction, and the parents themselves have really enjoyed being part of the pilot as well.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E5. What sort of people are volunteering? Is there a mix? We\u2019ve heard that quite a few grandparents have gotten involved in some family-led models, which has been great for developing those intergenerational relationships. Have you got any grandparents volunteering?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe\u2019ve got four mums and one dad. Not any grandparents in our group \u2013 we\u2019ve offered that as an opportunity but there haven\u2019t been any getting involved yet.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E6. And how are they going? Have you had much feedback?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe\u2019re still developing getting parents more involved with the leadership and running different activities but on the whole, they\u2019re really positive about the experience. Both the parents and children are really enjoying it and enjoying being part of it together. We have one child who\u2019s a Beaver who comes with her brother every now and again and it\u2019s really nice to see her teaching some of the skills she\u2019s learnt at Beavers, and getting involved in a mentor-type-role.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E7. Do the children tend to cling quite closely to their parents?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAt first, we saw that happen but then as time has gone on, we\u2019ve seen their independence grow. Also, we\u2019ve found that because they\u2019ve all got like a one-to-one helper, all the activities happen twice as fast as we expect them to. And so, in our programme planning, we\u2019ve had to add to the programmes that have been set out. If the children hadn\u2019t had the parents there, that extra support, things would have taken that extra bit of time.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E8. Do you find that because of that support and because it\u2019s their parents, that the young people are more engaged, and perhaps easier to manage?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EYeah, parents support with the trickier tasks. That extra pair of hands is really helpful. But then again, we did Den Building the other day, and parents took much more of a hands-off approach; they left it to the children and went with their ideas. They were more instructive and didn\u2019t just do it for them. It\u2019s about developing those skills in the parents, coaching rather than doing.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E9. Are you encouraging them to stand back more and more?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EYeah, and to take more of a mentoring role rather than doing it with them. More of a helping role.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E10. Is it as much of a learning experience for the parents as it is for their children?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI think so. For some of the parents more than others. They\u2019re learning skills about how to support and help their children with their learning, which is a really nice thing to see \u2013 to see those children weaned off the reliance on their parents, and more and more as the programme\u2019s gone on.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E11. Do the parents receive any training beforehand?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENo.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E12. Is that something you think would be beneficial, if the programme were rolled out more widely?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EI think if it were rolled-out as a family-led model, it\u2019d be good to get them to a position where they\u2019re willing to lead. That\u2019ll need some form of training. But in saying that, one of our parents is a teacher so she\u2019s not really keen on taking on that leadership role because she does that at work, so it\u2019s about getting the balance of who\u2019s willing to take on that role and then giving them the support to be able to do that.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E13. What hasn\u2019t worked well and what needs improving?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EWe need to work out how we can really engage with the parents to take more of an active leadership role, because our parents are great, don\u2019t get me wrong, they\u2019re really supportive of all the work we do but if the family-led model were rolled out, I\u2019d be wanting the parents to be taking more of a leadership role. Because I personally feel like we\u2019ve been running a family-involvement model rather than a family-led model.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EAnd then also, we believe that the responsible adult being there has restricted some from joining. Although it\u2019s nice to encourage someone to stay, it\u2019s meant some children haven\u2019t been able to participate in the programme. It\u2019s created a barrier for some children to get involved, even though we\u2019ve said to families it could be any adult and we\u2019ve even then gone back to them to say they don\u2019t have to stay, but they\u2019ve still felt discouraged.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E14. So, in a way it\u2019s excluded certain children whose parents can\u2019t stay?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EYeah, there was one family we spoke to with seven children and it\u2019s just not possible for those parents with all their childcare demands.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003E15. All families have their own value systems and rules \u2013 have you seen any instances of these clashing with the Scout values?\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003ENot necessarily clashing. I\u2019ve personally found it\u2019s been about getting the balance between the role I play in a Colony as a traditional Beaver Leader and now \u2013 having the parents there as well and so balancing the element of who takes control. When is it my responsibility to encourage the right behaviour and when is it the parents\u2019 responsibility to step in?\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EBut as the programme\u2019s gone on, we\u2019ve found that balance, and we\u2019ve found that because we talk about the Promise an awful lot and the first few sessions were based around the Promise, the feedback from the parents was that they all really engaged with the \u2018Try your best\u2019 element. Apparently, that\u2019s what they talk about at home quite a bit, that \u2018Well, it\u2019s OK, as long as we\u2019re trying our best\u2019.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThat\u2019s the real benefit of adding the family element \u2013 the engagement at a family-level. Parents are fully involved and developing their skills as well as the children. And they\u2019re taking the messages back into families, engaging with the programme and talking about the messages at home.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EObservations from external evaluators\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EThis pilot was visited last month by external evaluators \u2018The Centre for Research into Early Childhood\u2019 who observed the quality of the programme was high and children were highly involved and motivated. Positive impact on the children (enhanced confidence, social skills and language) and also on parents was evident.\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003E\u003Cstrong\u003EShare your thoughts\u003C/strong\u003E\u003C/p\u003E\n\u003Cp\u003EA decision about whether or not to go ahead with Scouts for 4 and 5 year olds will be made by the Board over the summer. The decision will be informed by ongoing research as well as the thoughts and feedback of our members so \u003Ca rel=\u0022noopener\u0022 href=\u0022https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/32b8dca7f1cc4111b9038a2e0b546707\u0022 target=\u0022_blank\u0022\u003Elet us know what you think.\u003C/a\u003E\u003C/p\u003E","gtmId":"","gtmClass":""}]}],"config":null}]},"searchDescription":null,"pageType":null,"location":null,"versionDate":"21 January 2020","reviewDate":null,"furtherReading":[],"relatedLinks":[],"id":50759,"nodeName":"Thoughts from a leader trialling family-led Scouting","title":"Thoughts from a leader trialling family-led Scouting ","type":"blogEntry","image":{"url":"/media/5236/early-years-children-outdoors.jpg?width=800\u0026height=450\u0026v=1d9becd067f00e0","caption":"Early Years Children Outdoors","type":"jpg","size":107370,"width":960,"height":720,"altText":""},"assets":null,"headerOptions":{"headerTitle":"Thoughts from a leader trialling family-led Scouting ","headerSubTitle":null,"headerCta":null,"headerCtaText":null,"headerCtaLink":null,"headerBackgroundColour":null,"showSEOImage":false,"headerBackgroundImage":null,"quickLinks":null},"subHeader":"A leader at an early years pilot trialling the family-led model shares his insights into how it\u0027s going. 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