Evaluation of your Scout Group
Development Toolkit
The Development Toolkit enables you to easily measure the quality of your programme and identify areas your Group could work on to include in a Development Plan.
There are Development Toolkits below for each Section, Group, District and County and we would really encourage you to take some time as a volunteer team to work through them. They are easy to use and will greatly benefit the young people with who you work. One volunteer who had already completed the toolkit said, “The review highlighted the steps we need to take to continue to move the group forward it is a simple and easy tool to use and implement.”
We hope these Toolkits will provide a simple way to reflect on your Group, your young people and your programme and as you complete these, this will enable your District/County to identify training and development needs.
Please note: the Squirrels Toolkit will be uploaded as soon as it is completed.
Engagement Framework
The Engagement Framework describes four categories of engagement, from ‘Contact’ to ‘Maximising Potential’. Looking back over the past year, you are asked to assign each young person you work with to the most appropriate category, based on their engagement in your Scout Group. It is important to note that there is no right or wrong response, only your judgement based on the knowledge and experience of your young people you work with. The Framework is to be used as a self-reflection and planning tool and goes hand in hand with the Development Toolkit.
Why not do both of these exercises at the same time and use the levels of engagement to influence your Development Plan. Do most of your young people not engage? Why? Perhaps you need to amend some aspects of the programme. Or to notice why their engagement is so high and reflect that hard work in other areas of your programme.
One volunteer who has already completed the Framework said, “Whilst it was great to see that all in all most of our members are really engaged, I found it really important and eye-opening to identify those that aren’t. From this, we have been tweaking our programme to try and encourage more engagement from those lower down the scale. To be honest there have been some really easy wins and it is great seeing more young people arriving each week and attending all the events. I think using this tool has definitely brought ourselves as leaders more intune and we definitely feel more prepared for growing the engagement and with it the group.”
EA Uniformed Groups Engagement Framework Poster
