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Two of the effects physicists describe apply to our work in Scouting:
The Observer Effect
Changes that the act of observation makes on the phenomenon being observed. A tire pressure gauge releases air from the tire thus changing the pressure we are testing.
The Proximity Effect
When two atoms come into proximity, the highest energy, or valence, orbitals of the atoms change substantially and the electrons on the two atoms reorganize.
When we are working with youth leaders both the observer and proximity effects are in play. because there are two immutable facts about youth leaders:
1. Youth leadership will, nearly always, defer to adults.
2. The presence of adults changes the dynamic between youth leaders and the Scouts they are working with.
Our observation of and proximity to what Scouts are doing effects what they do. These effects are not all negative or unwarranted but we ought to understand their power.
When we are camping and the patrols are set up close enough for adult to see and hear everything that they do a patrol leader really doesn’t have a fighting chance of exercising much leadership. When we sit at a table with the patrol leader’s council they haven’t much chance of talking and debating openly. When we stand at the back of the room as a Scout instructs a skill or leads an activity they have one eye on us and one eye on the work they are doing.
Please don’t mistake this advice as being an either/or choice – I am not saying that Scouts should always be on their own regardless of the activity or the level of their behavior. When safety or proprietary are in question we step in. We also have to account for age, the nature of the activity, ability and temperament of the Scouts in question. We don’t have the same expectations of a fifteen-year-old and an eleven-year-old and we want to have pretty close observation of potentially risky activities.
Once we understand these effects we can challenge ourselves to give our Scouts as much latitude as possible to do their work away from our sphere of direct influence and we’ll avoid undermining our youth leadership.
I’ve learned that adults in various roles attend the PLC in our troop, and now I’m realizing that they are using the PLC as the main communication forum from the committee to the youth leaders (such as letting them know about upcoming deadlines for district or council events they may want to attend that are new since their planning meeting). Rarely did the SPL or SM come to committee meetings until the past couple of months. I’m assuming that we should always have an SM, ASM, or youth leader present at the committee meetings to relay that info to the PLC instead of adults flooding their meeting instead.
Our habit is that the Scoutmaster attends committee meetings to connect the committee and the patrol leader’s council. I also have some members of the committee who occasionally address the patrol leader’s council as needed, individual members of the patrol leader’s council work directly with some of the committee from time to time.
If Adults are ‘flooding’ the patrol leader’s council meetings the Scout’s probably don’t have a fighting chance to work independently. It’s up to the Scoutmaster to orchestrate how the committee relates to youth leadership. My rule of thumb is simple, brief and preferably written communication to them from adults and taht adults are at their meetings only by invitation, not as a matter of course.
Youth protection has two primary planks. One is two deep leadership, which is accomplished when you have two registered and youth protection trained scouters, or a trained scouter and a parent, at the “activity”, which used to mean a camping trip, but now is being narrowed to mean any meeting. Do the two adults always have to be in the room? No, but at least on site, or in the building.
The second plank of youth protection is one-on-one contact between adults and Scouts is prohibited. Under this principle one adult can be in a room with two or more scouts. This principle holds also when driving to a camp site, one adult can take scouts, but must have two or more, never just one (unless they are a parent and child). Scoutmaster conferences must be held in eyesight of someone else.
I like to hold scoutmaster conferences with boys by walking around the church parking lot and talking, even if it is a “for advancement” requirement. I thought that doing this in the parking lot, in the open and public, where anyone and everyone could see us, was OK. But the boys asked our committee chairman why I was out there alone with a scout one day, and was that right? We adults conferred, and realized that we did not want to have even the appearance of impropriety, and decided that if I do a walking around conference again, I will have an ASM standing at the door or sitting in a car to observe. Amazing how the boys brought that up.
I did a bit of editing to clarify YP practices – CAG
I have only been to one Camporee (a whole council camporee) where I couldn’t see the guys from a distance passing back and forth. Unless a Patrol decides to go and hide, they will be obvious, especially if the camporee is in a large field. Your venue may provide other challenges.
Typically my Patrols would wonder off around time for opening ceremony and then on to the first activity. We adults sit in camp after all the Scouts were gone, cleaning up breakfast and drinking coffee and stuff. We then eventually wander off to take a look around. Typically, when a Patrol sees us they will wander over and check on us and see what we are doing. Often they are curious as to whether we have found something fun to do or something good to eat. Since I actually read the camporee materials (like the SPL probably didn’t 🙂 ) I’ll try and give them a hint about something they might want to do or check out. We adults then wander back to camp and relax until lunch in our cushy chairs in the shade.
I generally treat a camporee like summer camp. There are hundreds of Scouts and leaders all over the place and the Patrols stick together. The Scouts are probably safer and better off than down at the mall or even at school.
This is a really timely topic, as I was just thinking about all the adults in the room for our troop meetings. Also I’ve been pondering whether adults are needed in the room for PLCs and patrol meetings. How does Youth Protection factor in? And we have a camporee coming up–do we need an adult staying with each patrol all day as they move from event to event?
I’ve been pondering whether adults are needed in the room for PLCs and patrol meetings. How does Youth Protection factor in?
You don’t have to be in direct supervision every single moment; be nearby, accessible, and ready to respond when asked. Youth protection is about no one-on-one contact between Scouts and adults. Check in from time to time to be sure things aren’t going south behavior-wise.
And we have a camporee coming up–do we need an adult staying with each patrol all day as they move from event to event?
I would not have adults go with patrols, but that’s me. You make this decision based on the age and experience of the patrol. If you judge they need to be supervised get an older Scout or two to go along if possible, if that’s not possible send and adult with instructions to observe from a distance and not to offer advice or instruction unless asked.