What Are Some Of The Implications For Programme Implementation ?

The way of explaining the promise to the young people requires attention. They need to understand the implications of making a promise – that they are giving their word and that they are giving their word to do their personal best. It should therefore be presented as an important act, but not something that they need to feel apprehensive about. Another factor to be borne in mind concerns when a young person should make the Scout promise. Evidently, he or she will need to have had time to become familiar with the Scout law and its practical application in the group (i.e. that he or she will be expected to make an effort to develop and to adhere to the group’s code of living), and to decide whether or not he or she wishes to formally join Scouting. From a young person’s perspective, making the Scout promise is not simply about whether the code of living seems reasonable or not. Doing so is also a decision to continue to take part in activities with the young people that he or she has come to know. 

External factors apart (schoolwork, other interests, etc.), whether a young person decides to make the promise or not will therefore also depend on how interesting the activities seem and, especially, on the extent to which the young person feels integrated in the group. On the whole adolescents are likely to want more time than pre-adolescents to make up their minds. At the same time, from an educational perspective, a balance needs to be struck between giving the young person time to make up his or her mind, and the need for the real educational process to start. Until a young person makes the Scout promise, he or she is more or less a visitor to Scouting and cannot experience the richness of what Scouting can offer. In addition, the prolonged presence of “visitors” (i.e. those who simply turn up occasionally for activities) is disruptive for the young people who are committed to Scouting, to the group’s projects and life together.

Making the promise is a personal act of commitment. The adult leader’s task, therefore, is to encourage the young person, but not to force him or her before he or she is ready to do so, nor to withhold the right to make the promise, nor to ignore the matter altogether. A simple way of encouraging the young people would be to propose several dates over a period of several months. The adult leader needs to consider how to make the moment of making the promise a significant one for the young person – a small ceremony at the end of a camp, for example. 

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What Are Some Of The Implications For Programme Delivery ?

Preparing adult leaders in this respect involves emphasising the educational function of the Scout promise. A key aspect in this respect concerns the concept, and implications, of “doing one’s best”. As this concept is closely linked to personal progression, it is discussed in further detail in the chapter on this aspect of the Scout Method.

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What Are Some Of The Implications For Programme Development ?

The young people make the Scout promise upon entering each new age section. The fact of doing so is a symbolic commitment to embark on a new phase in the voyage of development and to share the way of life inherent in the Scout law with a new group of people. The wording of the promise and law therefore needs to reflect the progression in the maturity of the young people from one age section to the next. For the law and promise to fulfill their educational functions, the young people that the Scout association addresses need to have developed the capacities to understand and to agree to do their best to adhere to a code of living. In other words there is a minimum level of maturity below which a child is unable to voluntarily agree with a code of living if the child is unable to think beyond his or her own immediate needs and desires and does not yet distinguish him or herself from other people with their own needs and desires. By the same token, the kind of social interaction required for teamwork cannot take place either – and thus the Scout Method cannot function. 

The minimum level of maturity required for the Scout law and promise (and, indeed, for the entire Method to function as a whole) is an essential point to bear in mind when a Scout association is considering the minimum age at which a young person may join the Movement.

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What Is Promise Intended To ?

Through the promise, the young person accepts Scouting’s invitation to develop by making a voluntary decision to accept the Scout law and to assume the responsibility of that decision through personal effort. Making the promise is the first symbolic step in the process of self-education. Making the promise does not imply that the young person must have proved to be a “perfect” Scout. It is a starting point, not the finishing line. The fact of promising to “do one’s best” refers to making a personal effort to the extent of the young person’s capacity. From an educational perspective, the effort is as important as the achievement of the objective. The effort is a personal one, and progress can only be evaluated in terms of how the young person was
before.

By making the promise in front of peers, the young person makes his or her commitment public. This not only makes the personal commitment “official”, it also symbolises a social commitment to the others in the group. By their presence, the others in the group show that they accept him or her as a member.

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What Is Promise ?

The Scout promise is a pledge that every young person makes before a group of peers when he or she chooses to join the Movement. By making the Scout promise, the young person acknowledges that he or she is familiar with the Scout law and makes a personal commitment to do his or her best to live according to this code of living.

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