History

Why do we need to have a new National Youth Leadership Training Course?

There are several reasons, chief among them was the material being used was dated (it was more than 30 years old). The focus on the old eleven leadership skills was command and control while today’s new leader must know how to work with a team. The new course still teaches individual skills but also centers on team skills.

Why is there a new name?

How was the new course developed?

BSA formed a National Junior Leader Task Force, which met in December 2002 in Dallas for a weekend. It focused on first creating a vision of what a “World-Class Leadership Training Program for Youth” would look like. It then considered what a trained youth leader looked like and outlined the skills that would need to be taught to make the vision come to life.

In April 2003, a “design team” of 15 task force members met for a week at BSA’s Florida Sea Base. It reviewed potential topics, selected topics and developed learning outcomes for each.  It then refined the content for each topic area as well as refined supporting activities and program elements.

            From that effort, a basic syllabus was written, putting the material into one voice by writer Bob Birkby (Scout Field Book, Scout Hand Book author).

            A series of pilots were conducted as the content was tested and refined.

June 2003 – Louisville Pilot Course
•         Test Core Content  ( skills were “Plug & Play” into existing syllabus)
•         Test Sequencing & Time Allocation
•         Develop specific Support Activities based on new Content 

July 2003 – Dallas Pilot Course
•         Validate or revise Core Content elements
•         Revise sequencing
•         Determine Topics for audio-visual support
•         Develop audio-visual plan

August 2003 – Detroit Pilot Course
•         Test content revisions
•         Test and revise sequencing
•         Test and develop supporting activities
•         Clarify course topic connections and linkages

            At that point, an intensive effort to refine the syllabus began until November.

            In December 2003, the more refined version of the syllabus was run by Sam Houston Area Council, which ran four troops at one time at one location, each with different staff and most operating independently. Some members of the design team observed and began to refine materials even further.

The Houston pilots also tested new audio-visual support material, introduced a new Global Positioning Device activity option (designed to be fun and teach the skill of teaching), reviewed the Detroit changes, confirmed the sequencing and linkages and tested some standard menus.

The audio-visual support was in the form of a DVD.

The schedules and plans for regional test of the more refined syllabus with the new audio-visual aids were finalized.  This summer, each region has authorized three or four councils to run pilots using the draft syllabus. Once results of the 14 regional pilot courses are completed this summer, final edits will be made and the syllabus will be ready for use beginning January 2005.

Give me an overview of the course?

The course models a month in the life of a troop – three meetings (one each day for the first three days) all leading up to a big outdoor experience (an overnight outpost camp).  The course uses the patrol method and presents model Patrol Leader Council meetings.

Patrols are challenged early in the week to present to the troop at the end of the week their “Quest for the Meaning of Leadership.” While the challenge is designed to have them go through the four stages of team development, it will help patrols and individual Scouts internalize the leadership skills and concepts being presented to them along the way.

Throughout the course, the staff will be modeling the concepts and skills that are the core content of the course. The focus of each session is not only knowledge but giving the youth a “Toolbox of Skills’ that equips them with the “how.”

What are the skills being taught?

Day One
Communicating Well, Part I
Finding Your Vision, Part I

Day Two
Setting Your Goals
Preparing Your Plans

Day Three
Forming Your Team
Problem Solving
Leading EDGE

Day Four
Teaching EDGE
Resolving Conflicts
Making Ethical Decisions

Day Five
Leading Yourself
Valuing People

Day 6
Finding Your Vision, Part II
Communicating Well, Part II
Creating A Future

The course begins with the patrols finding their team vision and ends with the individuals refining a personal vision of how to take the skills back to their home troop and communicate what he has learned.

Is there a post-conference “ticket” or similar requirement?

 Yes, in LaSalle Council

Will there be any training programs offered for course directors and other who will be challenged to bring the new syllabus to life in our home councils?

Yes.  Each region (and in the west, some areas) plan to conduct workshops similar to (and even in conjunction with) Wood Badge Course Director Development Conferences.  Those should begin in the fall of 2005.

Also, this summer, there will be four opportunities to see the syllabus and meet with leaders who have either helped write or conducted pilot courses (or both) at Philmont Training Center.  The sessions are entitled “JLTC for the 21^st Century,” a name chosen before JLT became NYLT. 

This conference will present the philosophy of the new council NYLT and its relationship to the other components in the JLT process. We will discuss how to use the Scoutmaster Troop Leader Training Kit and the patrol method to develop youth leaders who can most benefit from the new council program. The process of planning and conducting the council NYLT will provide additional opportunities for discussion and comment. Topics will include how to recruit and develop a staff, the role of the Scoutmaster in the process, and how to address discipline challenges and Scouts with underdeveloped camping skills.

Contact your council office to arrange an invitation.