Switching from aged-based patrols

[bs1964]

Long-time reader, first-time poster.

 

Our troop as traditionally used the new scout patrol (NSP) method and has basically aged-based patrols. I am considering transitioning to a mixed-age, permanent patrol system.

 

Any tips or best-practices in making this transition?

[FScouter]

An NSP can be permanent. After the boys have been in the NSP for a few months and have advanced 2 or 3 ranks, the patrol is no longer new. Now they are a regular patrol.

 

Tip: no one likes to be told who their friends will be. Let the boys decide which patrol they want to be a part of.

[Beavah]

Ah, another scouter returnin' to the program. Good on yeh.

 

You don't mention your troop size, but here are some ideas for the switch.

 

Get your senior scouts together and get them on board and helping. They are going to be your PLC, so you want them involved so that it's as much "theirs" as yours.

 

In keepin' with FScouter's advice, go ahead and collect a piece of paper from every boy with (a) a list of 2-3 people they want to be with in a new patrol, and (b) anybody they don't want to be with.

 

Work with your senior scouts and let them design the new patrols with just some guidance from you. The boys usually know who works well together better than us old codgers, eh? The guidance I'd give is: 1) good mix of skills so there's some older scout leadership and some guys comin' up in every patrol; 2) guys who work well together personality-wise / are friends; 3) roughly same number of kids per patrol on every outing (so yeh might have some patrols that are a bit bigger, but with less frequent participants).

 

For your first cycle, don't be afraid to have your senior scouts self-select leadership positions with your guidance. It'll take six months of workin' together before the boys are able to get to know their new patrol-mates to be able to vote intelligently.

 

When you bring in new scouts, do the same process, but it helps to have the parents fill out a "who to be with/not be with" form too.

 

Lots of troops don't really do patrol competitions anymore, partly because of the age-based thing. Mixed age patrols benefit from competitions and points... they make it valuable for the older boys to coach the younger ones, and provide ways for the younger ones to earn their stripes / feel like contributors. Best if you introduce this again, and even keep track over months.

 

 

 

[Mike F]

We used almost exactly the method described by Beavah about 3 years ago. There were some rocky stretches in the trail, but it has worked great. The guys have really learned how to lead - starting in the patrol when the PL and older members take on the responsibility of bringing up the new guys. That's a whole lot more responsibility than just being the "phone call guy" with a bunch of same-age peers.

 

Real world results:

- SPLs with enhanced experience as PL of mixed group have been much stronger and effective.

- Same for all other senior leadership positions.

- Campout participation is up about 300%.

- Participation by high school age scouts (who used to hide in Venture patrol) has gone from almost non-existent to about 60-70% on any given outing. (Why? Because now they know they have real responsibility and job to do.)

 

Our mistakes in implementation:

- Not communicating clearly enough with adult leaders and parents.

- Not working with Instructors and PLs quickly enough to keep guys advancing toward First Class. (These guys need to be thoroughly prepared to move forward with advancement activities.)

 

As always, your milage may vary.

 

-mike

[SemperParatus]

The previous troop I was involved in had a pretty good PLC. Here is how they did a patrol revamp.

 

It was a rather large troop (80+ kids). They created a big board with 8 patrols. Within each patrol, they had slots for 2-3 Eagle/Life Scouts, 2-3 Star scouts, 2-3 FC scouts, 2-3 SC scouts and 2-3 TFs. Each scout's name was placed in a hat and as their name was drawn they walked up to the board and wrote their name in a slot corresponding to their current rank. Their was a lot of talking going on during the process as kids made deals to hold slots open or close them up. After all scouts were accounted for, we allowed up to 2 trades per patrol. A trade had to be requested by the scouts involved and could be made between the same rank or 1 rank higher or lower. There were a couple of trades, but not too many. Scouts could always request a transfer to another patrol, but none did. It seemed to work pretty well - best buddies stayed together, for the most part the patrols were pretty equal in experience and skills, and everybody felt it was a fair system since everyone got to go with people they wanted. Even the last kid's name from the hat had choices from at least five patrols since enough slots were provided based on the distribution of ranks in the troop.

[OldGreyEagle]

In the troop I serve reorganization takes place like this:

 

The boys are told where the patrol "areas" are in the hall. Then the boys assemble in the different areas with the boys they want to be with, they elect a patrol leader, come up with a name, cheer, etc. The PLC had criteria for how many Eagles, Life, Star could/had to be in a patrol but that folded quickly. The boys go where they want, why argue with that?

[fling1]

Great Question! I have mulled over whether this could work for us, also. Our troop is too small to make the shift, I think, but I'll be watching this thread closely!

Beavah, I observe your point about patrol competitions -- it would make almost no sense with our 3 patrols.

Semper, OGE, your posts sound like this was a process that got repeated on a somewhat regular basis. Am I right about that? Or was it a one-time switchover from age-based to mixed-age patrols?

OGE, you said that there had been a structure for how many star, life, etc. per patrol, but that was abandoned in order to facilitate putting friends together. How did you prevent the re-emergence of age-based patrols if there was no mandate to include some of each rank?

For mixed-age patrols, is a periodic re-shuffle typically part of the model? If so, this is unexpected for me. I think of these as "permanent" patrols, as in *permanent*.

Mike, thanks for the solid metrics! Very persuasive.

Good discussion. Where's Barry? ;->

[SemperParatus]

fling,

 

In this case, it was a one-time change. The patrols had become a bit ragged - some were very small, some were very large, there had been a large influx of new scouts the prior two years, the scouts felt the patrol arrnagements were getting stale, and just about everybody wanted a change. They had always been mixed-age, it was just that over time the patrols had become rather 'unequal' in terms of size, experience, etc. So, the PLC decided to take action.

 

 

[OldGreyEagle]

The Troop "reorganizes" every year in the spring. Its done at the same time as the SPL election. I didnt like the idea at first but have grown to tolerate it. What is the overall idea of a patrol? Is it to have a group of boys together who want to be together or is it a scientifically engineered collection of youth based on objective criteria such as age, rank, IQ, etc? We had a patrol named the Pyro's, their patrol "standard" was a miniature fake fire, replete with battery operated fan blown nylon flames. It was so popular the next year the Pyro II's were born, same standard and 60% same membes, as the otherr had aged out. The past few years we have had the Sons of Liberty (Liberty is the name of a local High School) and they have been around for 3 years, have won quite a few Camporee and Klondike competitions). Then we have patrols that exist for one year, the Great Plains Walking Herbivores were one, (used the buffalo patch), the Bushies were another (used the Pinr Tree patch). I think the members of the Bushies patrol wanted to see if the adults would censor them but we said fine and it confused them and they were stuck with the name for a year. Then there were the O. B. S. or Official Boy Scouts which ticked off quite a few of the other scouts.

 

Funny, now that I think about it, we haven't had a bobtail or moose patrol in the troop for a 'coons age

[Trevorum]

Our troop tried this transition 2 years ago and it was a disaster. We ended up reverting back to age cohort patrols. However I like Sempers system. Wish I had asked his advice back then!

[FScouter]

"How did you prevent the re-emergence of age-based patrols if there was no mandate to include some of each rank?"

 

Why would one want to prevent an age-based patrol?

 

Personally, I like the term "buddy-based patrols".

[Beavah]

For mixed-age patrols, is a periodic re-shuffle typically part of the model? If so, this is unexpected for me. I think of these as "permanent" patrols, as in *permanent*.

 

Nah, it's a one-time deal. I think OGE is talkin' about da shuffle that often happens with same-age patrols, but I could be mistaken. Alumni can come back after 20 years and their good ol' patrol is still there. Gives real meanin' to the Gilwell song, eh?

 

To keep the system goin', each year when you admit new scouts yeh follow a similar process, but for just the new scouts, so they join a "permanent" patrol as new members. Keep good friends together, load things slightly to fill in the ranks of a smaller patrol, try to "match" personalities. Da kids get it; they'll do this fine if yeh let 'em. It can help if you have some webelos contact before crossover, or you make the new guys "guests" of a patrol for a month just to see personalities, but it's not that big a deal.

 

Trevorum, I'd be curious about your "disaster", eh? Every unit I've seen that's switched from mixed to age cohorts has made a mess of things, so I'm wonderin' what your trippin' point was comin' back.