B.P. on Leadership & the Scouting Method
Baden-Powell on the patrol system, Scouter roles, training, and the game of Scouting.
Where is it written that troops are boy-led?
Reader Bill Macfarlane, Scoutmaster of Troop 8 in Pittsfield, Massachusetts, writes: I was at Round Table the other day and overheard a rather heated discussion about “boy-led” troops.
B.P's Blog - A Picture of Bad Scouting
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Retention of Older Scouts
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - The Tsar and Scouts
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Keeping Notes
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Scoutcraft
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - I Was A Boy
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Scouting Spirit
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Reluctant Scoutmaster
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Leadership
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Adventure
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Sunday in Camp
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Synthetic Scouting
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Jollifying Scouting
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Camping and Hiking
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - The Scouter as Fisherman
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Bad Camping
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Health
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Scouting - Game, not Science
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Out of Patience
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Transition
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - What is Scouting?
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Camping
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Camping Again
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Development of the Patrol System
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Listen
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - The Game of Scouting
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Where Drill Fails
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Self-education
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Real Camping
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Physical Exercises
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Nature Study
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Standard Cloth
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Camping Season
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Scout Shorts
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Importance of the Patrol Leader
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog- Calm and Cheery
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s -Blog - Don't
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'S Blog - Playing the Game
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Patrol System
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - First-class Scout
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - The Origin of Scouting for Boys
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - The Patrol Spirit
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Patrol Reports
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B-P's Blog - Decentralization
OUR principle of decentralization is the accepted method for the administration of the Boy Scout Movement.
B.P.'s Blog - Real Attraction of Camping
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
Scouting in a Dirty Old Duck Puddle.
Aids to Scoutmastership Baden-Powell writes: The Scoutmaster guides the boy in the spirit of an older brother….
Scouting, Sidelines, and New Interpretations
It is scarcely necessary for me to go over the old ground of our principles; they have been the same ever since the Movement started.
B.P.'s Blog - Uniform for Scout Officals
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - On Camping
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - The Need for a Refresher
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'S Blog - Education
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'S Blog -In Camp
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'S Blog - Discipline
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'S Blog -The Value of Camp Life
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'S Blog - First Aid
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'S Blog - Efficiency Badges
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'S Blog - Our Aim in Boy Scouts
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Camps
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Training Scouts
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
B.P.'s Blog - Object of Camping
During his lifetime Robert Baden-Powell, founder of the worldwide Scouting movement, wrote many books and articles directed to Scouters.
Teacup Storms and How to Avoid Them
“I SHAN’T play any more in your yard,” was the refrain of a charming song, which was very typical of the child who does not, after all, like the way the game is played, so it “cuts off its nose to spite its face,” and goes and tries for another game elsewhere, or goes and “tells Mother.
Mentoring Scouts
…the business of the Scouter — and a very interesting one it is — is to draw out each boy and find out what is in him, and then to catch hold of the good and develop it to the exclusion of the bad.
Centennary of the Boy Scouts of America
Sir Robert Baden Powell had a very simple idea: The aim of the Scout training is to improve the standard of our future citizenhood, especially in Character and Health; to replace Self with Service, to make the lads individually efficient morally and physically, with the object of using that efficiency for service for their fellow-men.
Four Steps to Scout Advancement - Introduction
First in a series of articles about the four steps to Scout Advancement.
Movement or Organization
It is a movement, because it moves forward.
Escaping the Classroom
Individual active instruction and personal evaluation are at the heart of Scouting but classroom style instruction is the universal default method of sharing knowledge.
Is your Advancement Program Aimed at "True North"?
Is your Troop’s advancement program aimed at ‘true north’? Here’s some statements derived from Andy’s (at Ask Andy ) answer to a Troop where the Scoutmaster is seriously off course: Every Scout can advance in rank according to each Scout’s preference for velocity, and no one will attempt to either slow him down or speed him up–this is entirely each Scout’s personal decision.
Scoutmaster's Reward
Even the happiest man in the world still has difficulties to contend with.
Scout Factory
Our educational system is heavily influenced by the industrial revolution.
Standardization
The short passage below has had more influence on what I do as a scoutmaster than anything else.
Podcast Clips
Episode 366 — SCOUTMASTERSHIP in 7 MINUTES
The place of advancement in Scouting: using Baden-Powell's 'Aids to Scoutmastership' to show that badges are tools for encouraging progress and character development, not measures of mastery; includes scout self-evaluation techniques and a hands-off approach to merit badges.
Episode 321 — SCOUTMASTERSHIP in 7 MINUTES
The 'Brown Sea Island moment' — using the story of Baden-Powell's 1907 Brownsea Island camp to illustrate the sense of wonder new Scouts experience, and how parents must be willing to let go so that transformative moment can happen.
Episode 304 — FOUNDER'S DAY
Clarke discusses Baden-Powell's biography on his birthday (February 22nd), World Thinking Day, the origins of Scouting, Tim Jeal's biography, and a closing passage written by BP shortly before his death.
Episode 304 — LISTENERS EMAIL
Follow-up thoughts on patrols: Clarke elaborates on why BP's patrol methods must be adapted to today's younger and more mobile Scouts while preserving the foundational ideas about character development through patrol life.
Episode 293 — SCOUTMASTERSHIP in 7 MINUTES
Peace scouting and Baden Powell's 1922 Sorbonne address on educating in love in place of fear, applied to contemporary acts of terrorism.
Episode 288 — SCOUTMASTERSHIP in 7 MINUTES
Using Baden-Powell's writings as a lens, Clarke argues that scouting's rules and measurement systems are useful but must not overshadow individual character development — true progress is measured one Scout at a time through conversation, not objective yardsticks.
Episode 266 — SOURCE CODE of SCOUTING: FINAL INSTALLMENT
Third part of the series tracing Green Bar Bill Hillcourt's connections to Baden-Powell, the disastrous 1970s program revision, Hillcourt's volunteer rewrite of the ninth edition Scout Handbook, and Clarke reading page nine — 'Your Life as a Scout' — as the distilled source code of Scouting.
Episode 265 — SCOUTING SOURCE CODE PART 2
Continuation of the Scouting Source Code series featuring a recording of Green Bar Bill Hillcourt describing his chance meeting with BSA Chief Scout Secretary James West, writing the Patrol Leader's Handbook, Scout Master's Handbook, Scout Handbook, and Field Book, and Clarke's own brief encounter with Hillcourt at the 1989 National Jamboree.
Episode 259 — SCOUTMASTERSHIP in 7 MINUTES
Listening to Scouts and Socratic Scouting — using Baden-Powell's 1922 article on listening, the Socratic Method, and guided discovery to engage Scouts as active participants rather than passive learners.
Episode 235 — SCOUTMASTERSHIP in 7 MINUTES
First of four installments on the basics of the patrol method: why the patrol method exists, how it develops character through peer interaction and self-government, and Baden-Powell's vision of cooperative independence.
Episode 234 — SCOUTMASTERSHIP in 7 MINUTES
Resolving difficulties between adult volunteers and scouts by assuming goodwill, gaining perspective, and focusing on the work itself rather than expectations of reaction — drawing on Baden-Powell quotes.
Episode 226 — SCOUTMASTERSHIP in 7 MINUTES
The Scouter as a guide: contrasting bus-tour versus hiking-guide leadership styles, and three leadership types — authoritarian (feared/commander), permissive (despised/trained man), and responsive (barely noticed/poet) — drawn from Baden-Powell and Lao Tzu.
Episode 146 — SCOUTMASTERSHIP in 7 MINUTES
First installment of a series on the four steps to Scout advancement — contextualizing advancement within Baden Powell's original intent: a scout learns, is tested, is reviewed, and is recognized.
Episode 56 — SCOUTMASTERSHIP in 7 MINUTES
Excerpts from the 1913 proof draft of the first Scoutmaster Handbook on discipline, reverence, dynamic leadership, and the ultimate aim of scouting.
Episode 30 — SCOUTMASTERSHIP in 7 MINUTES
Baden-Powell on trusting patrol leaders; troop meetings part 3
Episode 13 — AVOIDING EAGLE SCOUT DRAMA
Second of four installments: Baden-Powell's individualized achievement standard versus a single performance benchmark, and how embracing it reduces Eagle Scout drama.