Guide to Advancement

[cstewart]

What do any of you think this means. 

Thinking of making this a ticket item for Woodbadge.

I think Section 7.0.1.6 Training for Counselors, Means that Training for Counselors is mandatory for merit badge counselors! What do you think after reading the section?

This is in the front of Guide to Advancement

Mandated Procedures and Recommended Practices
This publication clearly identifies mandated procedures with words such as “must”
and “shall.” Where such language is used, no council, committee, district, unit,
or individual has the authority to deviate from the procedures covered, without the
written permission of the National Advancement Program Team.
Recommended best practices are offered using words like “should,” while other
options and guidelines are indicated with terms such as “may” or “can.” Refer
questions on these to your local district or council advancement chairs or staff
advisors. They, in turn, may request interpretations and assistance from the
National Advancement Program Team.

This is what I would like information on meaning from forum users.

7.0.1.6 Training for Counselors
The council or district advancement committee must assure
counselors understand the Boy Scouts of America’s aims,
methods, and mission. It is also important they know how
Scouts can learn and grow through the merit badge process.
To enhance the merit badge counselor experience, the
presentation “The Essentials of Merit Badge Counseling”
was developed. It can be downloaded from www.scouting.
org/advancement and featured in merit badge counselor
training events, or delivered as part of a wider experience
covering several levels of Scout leader training. Where a
counselor corps is organized into groups based on the
popularity or subject matter of badges, with “head
counselors” for each group (see below), there is also an
opportunity for “on-the-job coaching.” This is helpful where
individual counselors need a better understanding of the
merit badge plan.

[Eagledad]

A committee member in our troop was frustrated by the counselor misinformation throughout the district, so she created a course for counselors the scouts in our troop were using. The course was so successful that district asked her to teach one course each year. Well they wanted more courses, she said only one. She started the course teaching the Aims, Methods and Mission before moving on to the rest of the training. She would answer many of the participants questions by referring to the Aims, Methods and Mission so that they would not get side tracked on advancement as the primary goal.

That was 15 years ago, so I don't know what District is doing now. But I would say it's a worth while ticket item depending on how you plan to repeat the course. What would you consider to be the completion of the ticket item?

Barry

Edited February 5, 2018 by Eagledad

[ascouter1999]

Your answer makes is sound like you know me? Not sure atm what I would consider as completion of the ticket item. Would mostly depend on if others agree with what I think that the section is saying on guide to advancement. As it stands now national says that they do not mandate training for counselors. But I believe that this section of guide to advancement says that training for counselors is required. I also believe due to experiences I have has as a merit badge counselor that counselors should be trained yearly online.

[RememberSchiff]

@ascouter1999 welcome to scouter.com

[Eagledad]

I was also the staffer (ASM) at Woodbadge who approved ticket items. You need to have a clear explanation of when each ticket item is finished. Like the end of the first course. Or 3 courses. Or whatever. The shorter, the better. 

[RememberSchiff]

@cstewart , I moved your topic from the Issues and Politics forum to here, the Advancement Resources forum.

[gblotter]

In our council, a monthly in-person training class is offered to become a new merit badge counselor. At the conclusion of that class, attendees are given the paperwork to be added to the MB counselor list. That seems to work as a gatekeeper process. Unless you are transferring in as an experienced Scouter, I don’t know how else you would get added to the list (in our council).

[Hawkwin]

46 minutes ago, gblotter said:

In our council, a monthly in-person training class is offered to become a new merit badge counselor. At the conclusion of that class, attendees are given the paperwork to be added to the MB counselor list. That seems to work as a gatekeeper process. Unless you are transferring in as an experienced Scouter, I don’t know how else you would get added to the list (in our council).

Can you not take the class online and complete the application to become registered or will the council ignore/decline such submissions? Seems like requiring an in-person class, especially for individuals that are not registered volunteers (e.g. professionals that are simply wishing to help their local community by being MBC for their area of expertise), would significantly reduce the applicant pool.

[gblotter]

1 hour ago, Hawkwin said:

Can you not take the class online and complete the application to become registered or will the council ignore/decline such submissions?

Our council is quite lacking in online training opportunities (so ironic given that we live in the heart of Silicon Valley). I only see the monthly in-person MBC training offered in the regular council advertisements. Regardless, the MBC listing for our council is extensive (more than 100 pages long).

[Hawkwin]

1 minute ago, gblotter said:

Our council is quite lacking in online training opportunities

The MBC training is put out by National, not council. You can (and I did) take it from https://my.scouting.org/

 

[gblotter]

Just now, Hawkwin said:

The MBC training is put out by National, not council. You can (and I did) take it from https://my.scouting.org/

It's really interesting that the online MBC training does not get advertised at all by our council  - only the in-person training. I can only assume they want to introduce a gatekeeper function with the in-person training. I know from other situations that our council is generally focused on trying to improve the quality of merit badge counseling, so perhaps their emphasis on in-person training is part of that.

[Hawkwin]

And I am with you on that aspect. But, I would hate to limit your options by forcing non-scouters to attend an in-person class. I can imagine that there are at least a few merit badges my son would not have earned (or be working on) if his MBC had to attend an in-person class. You mentioned that in your council, the MBC list is long but what about per district? I know in my district, we don't have a counselor for every MB. Even when we have one in the district, there are those MBC who will ONLY work with their local troop.

And of course no one wants to have to visit another district just to work on a merit badge.

[gblotter]

3 hours ago, Hawkwin said:

You mentioned that in your council, the MBC list is long but what about per district? I know in my district, we don't have a counselor for every MB.

Our district MBC list is quite long, too. I know some names have been on the MBC list for literally decades, so who knows how involved these folks are at the present time. Many parents sign up as a MBC to help out when their son first joins a troop. I'll bet many would be surprised to learn their name is still on the list so many years later.

3 hours ago, Hawkwin said:

Even when we have one in the district, there are those MBC who will ONLY work with their local troop.

This happens A LOT in our district/council. I have made exceptions, but I confess to being "that guy" who prefers to work only with my own troop.

Edited February 26, 2018 by gblotter

[Hawkwin]

36 minutes ago, gblotter said:

so who knows how involved these folks are at the present time

Well, they are required to keep their YPT current as well as re-register every year so either they are still active or your list has not been updated. My guess is that your list likely has not been scrubbed recently (or perhaps longer). You should see some people fall off every year if for no other reason than they forget to reregister or complete their YPT as required.

 

41 minutes ago, gblotter said:

I'll bet many would be surprised to learn their name is still on the list so many years later.

Can't happen if your district is maintaining their list correctly. No one should be on that list that does not have a current YPT or that has hasn't registered in the last year.

You might want to ask someone to scrub your list. There could be quite a few adults on that list that don't have YPT that could be meeting with scouts....

[Hawkwin]

http://councils.scouting.org/filestore/pdf/34405.pdf

As a merit badge counselor, I agree to

• Follow the requirements of the merit badge, making no deletions or additions, ensuring that the advancement standards are fair and uniform for all Scouts.

• Have a Scout accompanied by his buddy during all instructional sessions.

• Keep my Youth Protection training current.

• Renew my registration annually if I plan to continue as a merit badge counselor.