Leadership Training

The Boy Scouts of America has a new Online Learning Center. In due time this new learning center will become the gateway to all of the BSA's online training resources. Registered members of the BSA may provide their member numbers (as part of the user profile) to receive credit for completing these courses online. Any registered member of the BSA may create a user account and view the courses. These courses are designed to help members develop skills crucial to fulfilling their leadership roles in Scouting.

Fast Start Training is your first training course. Should be taken immediately after registering, and before meeting with any youth member. Take this course online by visiting the BSA Online Learning Center.

[ BSA Online Learning Center ]

Basic Leader Training comprises two parts:

1. New Leader Essentials for all unit-level leaders
2. Leader Specific training, based on the leader's unit-level position.

Basic Leader Training is designed for maximum flexibility. The sessions can be delivered over time—training on one or more evenings a week or month—or in a one-day training event that incorporates all program areas. It is suitable for large or small groups and may be presented to leaders of one or more units each time. Each council and district may decide the appropriate delivery method, keeping in mind that the focus is to remove roadblocks and achieve 100 percent trained leaders.

New Leader Essentials: As the first section of Basic Leader Training, New Leader Essentials is a 90-minute introductory session that highlights the values, aims, history, funding, and methods of Scouting and provides new leaders with a look at the resources available to them. New Leader Essentials need only be taken once.

Leader Specific Training: Once a volunteer has a solid overview of the BSA's values-based program, he or she can begin training for a specific Scouting position through Leader Specific training. This training provides the specialized knowledge a new leader needs to assume a leadership role. Because each course is designed for a specific leadership position, the training time varies. Leader Specific training has been developed for the following positions and their assistants:

Youth Protection Training has been revised and is now available in the BSA Online Learning Center. Once you have entered the Online Learning Center the new Youth Protection Training is found under the "General" tab.

The new Youth Protection Training is presented in four segments. The main goal of this course is to prepare you to confidently apply the Youth Protection Policies in many different interactive situations that may arise in your day-to-day experience in the Scouting program. The "Course Introduction"  discusses how through our standards, guidelines, and training, we work with you toward a safer world for our children. The "Policies" segment focuses on how our guidelines are designed to prevent the four elements necessary for child sexual abuse to occur. The segment on "Recognizing & Reporting Abuse" brings into focus the categories of child abuse and how to recognize the abuse. Reporting requirements and policies are also covered in this segment. The final segment on "Scenarios" presents interactive situations to which you are asked to respond. Depending on your response different outcomes are presented.

Youth Protection Training Resources

A new focus is placed on how to effectively utilize the resources and policies of the BSA in this new version of the Youth Protection Training. The successful completion of this course will automatically be recorded in your personal Scouting record maintained by the BSA. In addition you will be able to print out a card certifying your completion of the training similar to the one below.

We can expect more great training courses to be presented in the Online Learning Center. By taking the new Youth Protection Training you will become current in your knowledge and become familiar with how the process of learning by online training works.

[Visit the BSA Online Learning Center]

Introduction to Outdoor Leader Skills: Instructors of this outdoor session will bring to life the pages of the Boy Scout Handbook to help deliver the promise of Scouting to yourself and the youth you serve. It will increase your comfort level and give your confidence as a trained leader. The program will also give you the opportunity to work with other Scout leaders from your area, meet new friends, and reinforce skill techniques with fellow unit leaders. "Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills," teaches the skills required for the Tenderfoot, Second Class, and First Class ranks. Because emphasis is placed on a leader's previous knowledge of the skill rather than course attendance, a new leader can complete this course at an accelerated pace.

Designed specifically for Webelos den leaders and their assistants, the Outdoor Leader Skills for Webelos Leaders course teaches outdoor-related skills through demonstration and hands-on practice. Webelos den leaders should attend this training before conducting Webelos overnight camping with the boys and parents of the den. In addition to covering basic camping skills, this training features planning campouts and finding resources.

The council and/or district usually offer Outdoor Leader Skills for Webelos Leaders several times each year. Check with your pack trainer, unit commissioner, district training chair, or local council service center for dates and locations.

Participants who complete this training course will

• Understand the focus of the Cub Scout level of the BSA outdoor program.
• Gain the skills needed to plan and carry out a successful Cub Scout-level overnight activity.
• Learn more about the resources available from the BSA for carrying out this activity.

This training is required for any adult who is in charge of planning a pack campout.

In the second section, we review the boating safety unit, Safety Afloat, and cover the nine defenses for safe boating activity. Please note that review of either or both of these units online is considered helpful but does not meet all the BSA qualifications for conducting water-related programs. For more, and before conducting any waterfront or boating activities, contact your local council.

http://olc.scouting.org/info/saf.html

BSA Online Learning Center

Trainer Development Conference: Scouters responsible for training may be members of district or council training teams who train leaders in Cub Scouting, Boy Scouting, Varsity Scouting, and Venturing. They may also be Scouters who train commissioners and district committees. They may be pack trainers. The Trainer Development Conference is designed to develop and improve the skills of both veteran and prospective trainers. Youth and adults are equally welcome.

The Trainer Development Conference incorporates numerous contemporary training techniques and emphasizes the importance of experiential learning, or “learning by doing.” In most instances,the training sessions not only demonstrate good training methods, but give participants an opportunity to interact and practice what they have learned. An ongoing learning activity, the “BSA 500”game, is featured and used continuously throughout the conference to emphasize and reinforce the experiential learning.

Wood Badge: Upon completion of Leader Specific Training, an adult is eligible to attend Wood Badge for the 21st Century. As the core leadership skills training course for the BSA, Wood Badge focuses on strengthening every volunteer's ability to work with groups of youth and adults and is less focused on outdoor skills, which are more effectively addressed in other training courses. Offered over two weekends, plus two patrol meetings between weekends. [Wood Badge fact sheet]