New NYLT age requirements effective 1 Feb 19

[John-in-KC]

I picked this up from the Wood Badge group at bookface. It’s apparently not open for negotiation.

_______________________________________________________

 

Subject: *** National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) syllabus UPDATES ***

BSA Scouting U is announcing updates to the current National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) syllabus.  These changes are effective on February 1, 2019:

The minimum age requirement to attend NYLT will change.  All participants must be 14 years old or 13 years old and have completed 8th grade; there cannot be any exceptions.  

For 2019 only, an exception will be granted for girls to attend NYLT without first achieving the First Class rank; they must still meet age requirements and first attend Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops (ILST.)  This will allow new troops to have trained youth leaders.

In most councils, NYLT will remain coed for the foreseeable future.  We suggest separate patrols for boys and girls, if you have sufficient numbers of each gender.

Beginning in 2020, all NYLT Course Directors/Scoutmasters are required to attend a Region/Area Course Directors Conference within 24 months prior to the start of his/her course. The individual who is listed as NYLT Backup Course Director/Assistant Scoutmaster on the "Request for Authorization to Conduct a National Training Course" form is also required to attend a Region/Area Course Directors Conference within 24 months prior to the start of the approved course.

Questions should be directed to David Ehrlich, Scouting U NYLT coordinator (dehrlich2@gmail.com), Tom Giugni, Scouting U, Vice Chair Leadership Development (tomgiugni@gmail.com) or Mark Nelson, Scouting U Team Lead, Leadership Development (mark.nelson@scouting.org)

Thanks! 

       Mark

Mark J. Nelson  |  Team Lead, Leadership Development

BOY SCOUTS OF AMERICA
Scouting University

1325 West Walnut Hill Lane  |  P.O. Box 152079   |  SUM  273
Irving, Texas 75015-2079
P 972.580.2203  |  M 508.455.7504
mark.nelson@scouting.org

Edited November 14, 2018 by John-in-KC

[Sentinel947]

This lines up at what I was told at the WoodBadge/NYLT CDC last month. 

[mashmaster]

This is good news IMHO.

[1tree]

On 11/13/2018 at 8:32 PM, John-in-KC said:

For 2019 only, an exception will be granted for girls to attend NYLT without first achieving the First Class rank; they must still meet age requirements and first attend Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops (ILST.)  This will allow new troops to have trained youth leaders.

What a laughable lie. Why not just admit that they feel guilty for those who are old enough but couldn't previously join? If it was so new troops could have trained leaders, then they would make exceptions for new troops. The simple fact is that few new troops have scouts who have attended NYLT. And now troops will have to make it out of the three year death zone before sending their first leaders. But hey - lets all congratulate ourselves for a job well done.

[qwazse]

On 2/3/2019 at 2:40 PM, 1tree said:

What a laughable lie. Why not just admit that they feel guilty for those who are old enough but couldn't previously join? If it was so new troops could have trained leaders, then they would make exceptions for new troops. The simple fact is that few new troops have scouts who have attended NYLT. And now troops will have to make it out of the three year death zone before sending their first leaders. But hey - lets all congratulate ourselves for a job well done. 

Guilt has nothing to do with it. Any SM of a new troop with natural teenage leaders with proven 1st class skills wants to those youth to get the training they need. If you believe in NYLT, you don't want your natural leaders languishing for a year. The only alternative would be to borrow a well-trained SPL for a few months to help get their troop up to speed. But, that simple boots-on-the-ground solution creates the very co-ed troop that the policy wonks are trying to avoid.

The alternative would be to rush your leaders obtaining 1st Class Rank. That may not be a bad thing, but it's no one-size-fits-all solution.

Edited February 4, 2019 by qwazse

[Treflienne]

Apparently there is a further change to age requirements as of 1 March. According to https://www.scouting.org/programs/scouts-bsa/resources/nylt/

Quote

As of March 1, 2019, Scouts BSA members (male and female) must be at least 13. They must have completed Introduction to Leadership Skills for Troops. For 2019 only, an exception will be granted for girls registered in Scouts BSA to attend NYLT without first achieving the First Class rank. Boys registered in Scouts BSA will still be required to earn the First Class rank before attending NYLT.

This is very good news for my troop, as our top youth leaders are 13-year-olds.

[Eagledad]

As someone who was responsible for the Council Junior Leadership Development and NYLT (JLTC), the average 14 year old doesn’t have the maturity for the advanced course. Maybe the girls do, but not the boys.

Ideally, adult troop leaders observing the course would bring back more value to their troop. 

Barry

[Treflienne]

9 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

As someone who was responsible for the Council Junior Leadership Development and NYLT (JLTC), the average 14 year old doesn’t have the maturity for the advanced course. Maybe the girls do, but not the boys.

I agree that they would probably get more out of the course if they were older.   But my troop just elected a 13-year-old PL as the top youth leader in the one patrol troop (and she is, I think, the best choice they could have made) and she appointed a 13-year-old QM to help her who again I think was a good choice.   From my troop's point of view, I would rather they get the NYLT training this summer, instead of waiting until next year.   (And once 2020 rolls around they would have to be first class, and I am not encouraging a race to first class in a year.)     Why do we not have older scouts in top leadership positions?  Because the couple of 14-year-olds we have are terribly shy, and one is not fluent in English yet.  

21 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

Ideally, adult troop leaders observing the course would bring back more value to their troop. 

Is this typically allowed?   Is this encouraged?   I would probably learn a lot if I could observe the course.

 

[Eagledad]

3 minutes ago, Treflienne said:

 

Is this typically allowed?   Is this encouraged?   I would probably learn a lot if I could observe the course.

 

Not typically, but the situation is unusual. We had the scouts write ticket items (plan from skills learned during the course) and review them with their SM at the end of the course to develop a plan together. 

Barry

[Eagledad]

Our council once polled the SMs for the pros and cons of the NYLT cours. The number 1 con was they didn’t know how to support their scouts because they didn’t know what they were taught. Request the course directors to leave one minute at the end of each class for participats to write a note of what they can do for the troop with that lesson. Then instruct the SMs to sit with their scouts and create a plan from each note. 

Barry

[Sentinel947]

29 minutes ago, Eagledad said:

Our council once polled the SMs for the pros and cons of the NYLT cours. The number 1 con was they didn’t know how to support their scouts because they didn’t know what they were taught. Request the course directors to leave one minute at the end of each class for participant to write a note of what they can do for the troop with that lesson. Then instruct the SMs to sit with their scouts and create a plan from each note. 

Barry

That's where Wood Badge is supposed to play a roll, giving Scoutmasters the same tools their Scouts received at NYLT. Granted, attending Wood Badge is a commitment of time and money some Scoutmasters can't or don't want to make. 

My Scoutmaster when I was a youth hadn't gone to Wood Badge, and so he didn't understand what we were taught at NYLT, so I took NYLT, and never really got to use much of what I was taught in my troop until I became an adult. 

[Eagle94-A1]

2 hours ago, Eagledad said:

Our council once polled the SMs for the pros and cons of the NYLT cours. The number 1 con was they didn’t know how to support their scouts because they didn’t know what they were taught. Request the course directors to leave one minute at the end of each class for participats to write a note of what they can do for the troop with that lesson. Then instruct the SMs to sit with their scouts and create a plan from each note. 

Barry

When I staffed JLT, NYLT's predecessor course, the #1 complaint from the Scouts at the 6 month post-course conference, was that the SMs would not let the Scouts use what they learned to run the troop. Back in the day, the SMs had a precourse meeting they attended with their Scouts going, and they could attend the graduation ceremony and banquet. Most of the problem SMs didn't attend either. Strongly recommend it, especially for new SMs.