Can schools learn a few things from the scouts?

According to John Lawlor, chief executive of Scouting Ireland, schools can learn a few things from the scouts.

 

Lawlor believes that schools are stuck in a Victorian time, where a good class is a quiet class, and claims that scouting offers a model for Irish education in the 21^st century . In the scouts, kids learn to work in teams, solve problems and support each other and the professional world is looking for people who have these skills.  

 

These days the scouts are a lot different to what they were before. No longer do they just focus on tying knots or learning how to make a campfire, and gone are the days of the military style uniform and slogans like “Dib, Dib, Dib... Dob, Dob, Dob.”

 

According to Lawlor, scouting follows an educational programme that liberates the students. He also believes that if you give children control it will increase their motivation: “When I was 14 and in the scouts, they made me a patrol leader. I was given a cash book and keys to the scout hut. I had to learn budgeting, and plan a weekend for the patrol.”

 

The chief executive feels it is a recession-proof escape from the world of computer games and “one of the benefits of scouting is that it is non-competitive. There are no sub benches, where young people are stuck on the sidelines. Everybody gets to take part. They enjoy incredible freedom in a safe environment.”