By the time Venture Scout age is reached, the desire to collect badges and other adornments which characterises the younger age range of the Scout Movement has usually abated, often together with the eagerness to pass tests and so on. Within the Venture Scout section there are but two progress markers of which the Queen's Scout Award is the highest and best known. The other one is the Venture Award that should be readily - but not easily - achieved by the average Venture Scout.
The award scheme is in practice quite simple but surprisingly enough its implementation seems to create problems in some units - probably because of its extreme flexibility. To quote the training scheme handbook - " ... to achieve the Venture Award a Venture Scout must have made personal progress and widened his/her experience and skill in each of the following areas of personal growth: Activity, Community Involvement, Creativity, Independence, International Awareness, Leadership, Outdoors and Environment, Relationships, Values."
The policy of this unit is to try to arrange programmes whereby members can satisfy many of the requirements of the award simply by participating in normal activities but there are still areas which require a definite individual section. One such area is in the section titled creative pursuit. In discussing training progress with members this is often an apparent stumbling block. In fact when constructively approached most members can find something within their interests and activities that can be used to satisfy this award requirement and I suspect that the biggest problem is modesty! As a rule people seem reluctant to admit to some of their interests but on probing into this "Forbidden territory" I have been favourably impressed by what unit members get up to in their spare time! The range of musical talent in the unit for instance is quite spectacular.
With the increasing popularity of the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme we like many units now run Bronze, Silver and Gold Duke of Edinburgh Awards in parallel with the Venture and Queen's Scout Awards. There is a real danger though of not considering properly the spirit and intentions behind the scouting awards (the Venture Award in particular) and allowing the approach to qualifying for either to degenerate into a mere tick-list exercise. The spirit of the Scouting Movement is active participation in all aspects of the unit's day-to-day life and this can sometimes be forgotten if the onus is placed on gaining the more individual biased D of E award.
If you were to ask most past members of the unit what they did to gain their Venture Awards they will rarely mention any particular activity but the reply will most likely be "I just took part in the Unit's programme." This is the essence of the Training Scheme - it's about indirect assessment. Being a member of an active and (usually!) well organised Unit with an imaginative and well balanced programme, you cannot fail to attain these awards. Remember, the standards set are about a best personal effort, not an absolute measurable! It is all about personal growth.
VSL