Contact us

Youth shaped scouting

Young people working in partnership with adults has always been something we have been proud of. Youth shaped scouting not only improves the way we scout, but also the young people involved. Learning to speak up, be heard and work towards improving something you are passionate about is an incredible learning experience for the youngest beaver right the way through to our eldest network member. 

youShape logo

We want every young person to shape their own adventure, take on responsibility, develop skills, make decisions and influence their own scout programme.

There are lots of things that you can do to help this happen; from introducing section youth forums to encouraging young people to record video vlogs to share and reflect on past activities and decisions made in the section. These can be in fun and exciting ways. 

Youth involvement includes young people doing the following:

  • sharing their ideas

  • learning from and teaching each other and adults

  • taking part in decision making

  • assisting with planning the programme, including activities and camps

  • becoming more involved in all aspects of scouting

 

Why is youth involvement important?

Young people need to become more actively involved in every aspect of Scouting, which will allow the Movement to continue to grow and meet the needs of young people.

It will also help leaders to keep their section growing and interested. We don’t know what the needs and interests of young people are until we ask them, and improving youth involvement will give leaders more opportunities to find out what young people actually want.

The youthshape pledge

Youth involvement toolkit

There are lots of activities available to support you to enable young people in the section to share their views and shape their Scouting experiences. See the key youth involvement messages for each section. There are activities for all five sections and these can be found in the links below:

Squirrels

 

Take a look at...

  • Youth shaped beaver scouting

    A beavers youth forum is the perfect way to get young people involved in all aspects of scouting, from thinking about programme ideas to planning camps and events.

    Read more

  • Youth shaped scouting in the scout section

    A Troop Forum is a meeting of all members of the Scout Troop, either collectively or in smaller groups, and provides an opportunity for everyone to give their views on the programme and running of the Troop.

    Read more

  • Explorer Unit forums

    Every explorer scout unit should establish a unit planning forum to provide the opportunity for all of the explorers to have their say.

    Read more

  • Youth shaped scouting in the scout network

    Scout networks are meant to be run by their members, for their members, and district or county scout network committees are a really useful way of making this possible.

    Read more

  • Wear their necker

    Wear their necker is a fun, exciting and empowering project to celebrate youth shaped scouting.

    Read more