THE TRAINING PROGRAM OF

THE LOCAL COUNCIL

by Lorne W. Barclay-Director Dept. Education, National Council

The key which unlocks the chest of your community's boyhood is the training program of the local councils. There are men in every community who are potential leaders of boys, but the mysteries of boy life must be unlocked for them so that direction in action and life may be given. The training program will furnish the inspiration and methods for the intensive growth of Scouting. The recruiting of institutions, troop committees, scoutmasters and assistant scoutmasters will mean nothing to the future of the community's boyhood without a thorough-going, well planned and enthusiastically administered program of training. The technical aspects of the Scout Program as well as the general lack of understanding and appreciation of the problems of youth on the part of the grown ups make necessary, even imperative, their training in leadership.

The constitution and by-laws of the local council present the responsibilities of the training and leadership committee see pages 90, 91. The proper functioning of this committee must occupy much of the scout executive's attention. No small part of his own training will be evidenced by his success in this department of his work. The training program should have as its objective training of men to lead boys, and boys to lead boys and train the community to serve its youth. Such a program must contemplate the instruction of all who are to serve as leaders in the local work especially scoutmasters and patrol leaders.

Training Troop Committeemen

The initial training of the troop committeemen comes through personal contact between the executive or his representative and the committeemen, either as individuals or in a group, when the troop is inaugurated or when a new committee is appointed. The executive can do well to give time to educating the officers and the general membership of the institution using the program. The proper understanding on the part of the local institution of their responsibility in the way of leadership and support is fundamental and essential. The lack of permanency in many troops is due to the lack of understanding on the part of the institution of its responsibility in the initiation of the work. It is, therefore, important that the representatives of the institution in the form of the troop committeemen should be thoroughly conversant with all their responsibilities not only to the scout movement but to the institution itself as well as to the group of boys.

After the troop committeemen have had their initial training relative to their duties, a series of two or three conferences of committeemen in general may be profitably held. The main purposes of such a conference are to impart further knowledge and give inspiration to the troop committeemen in carrying forward the work. The element of inspiration is most important because the continuation and development. of the work depends upon the interest of the institution and its troop committee and stimulation is therefore valuable in keeping them active in their responsibility. In local communities where troop committeemen are assigned to specific duties, such as are suggested in the HANDBOOK FOR SCOUTMASTERS, pages 196-201, conferences can be held for those assigned to the same tasks throughout the community. The frequency and the program of these sessions should be determined at the discretion of the local council training committee. The offering of a training course for committeemen has been well worked out by the El Paso, Texas, Council-Mr. G. O.

Everman, Scout Executive. The following is the plan of the course:

The training of scoutmasters and assistants is the biggest item in the local council's training program. Many methods have been devised to help meet the need for training such as the plan suggested in the SCOUTMASTERS' HANDBOOK on Training by Apprenticeship. Then there is the method of the training school and the scoutmasters' round table. But even with the many efforts along this line, the training of the volunteers is still a problem. How during their leisure time, to train volunteer workers who already are crowded with their own regular duties is a problem which challenges the best thought and educational effort.

Busy men-persuaded to give some of their leisure time because of their interest in meeting boy needsdoing a task so exacting as to really require of them careful study and preparation-standards having to compete with business, home, recreation, fatigue, inertia-the most casual thought reveals that maintenance of interest will clearly call for the most attractive methods. Dr. H. W. Hurt makes the following pertinent and significant suggestions.

"It seems clear that insofar as possible the training should: a) Conserve the scoutmaster's time. Meetings

should Be Brief.

b) Partake of the atmosphere of recreation. Some entertainment should always be provided.

c) Should be suited to the need and speed of the individual.

d) As much as possible be done through channels other than mass meetings (though a regular social and conference session is doubtless valuable); e. g.

correspondence—visitations—per

sonal conferences-home reading, etc.

e) It is unsound to put new men and old, year after year, through the "same course of intellectual sprouts." Some method of grading and division must be introduced.

f) The older men should be utilized to train the newer, with suitable recognitions to both. Training Course Diplomas are sound policy.

g) The genius and versatility of the local executive will be taxed to study his men and find the kind of training they most need.

h) In group sessions the Conference or discussion method-the pooling of experience, is very valuable. Indeed an executive will find it worth while in morale and instruction value to collect such methods, mimeograph or print them and distribute them from time to time to his Scoutmasters.

i) If the material to be "gotten over" to the Scout-
master is outlined quite fully, mimeographed
and given to the man, you have made possible
a recurrent appeal to the eye as well as the one
appeal to his ear.

j) The correspondence Course material developed by
the National Staff, or similar material, may be
used by the Executive or his Director of training,
to reach scoutmasters otherwise inaccessible.
k) The Local Council should supply the scoutmaster
with needed literature.

Analysis of the Scoutmaster Job

Whatever the method of instruction or training or preparation-what are the things that need to be "gotten over" to him?

This can be best approached by analyzing out his duties and needed qualities which are fixed by the nature of his work.

Clearly there are three divisions of scoutmaster need: (1) Things he must BE

(2) Things he must KNOW

(3) Things he must DO and certainly this is the order of their importance.