Duke of Edinburgh

[Reading Mum]

Just to note, the expedition doesn't have to involve walking (although this is normally the most popular type)

1.Must be by the participants’ own physical effort, without motorised or outside assistance
Participants will undertake the expedition by their chosen method of transport – sometimes by bike or canoe, but in the majority of cases walking.

http://trekco.com/the-duke-of-edinburgh ... uirements/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

DD's cohort are either walking or canoeing. The canoeists didn't enjoy the capsize practice in Brecon over October half term much - cue a few of them pondering whether maybe walking isn't so bad after all

[Guest55]

I think the D of E is now very far from what was originally designed. It seems to be a tick box exercise with many students using interests they already have rather than learning new ones.

It is far better for a student to arrange their own volunteering and follow interests just for 'interest'.

[Worried_Adult]

DS1 has the opportunity to take part in the Bronze level of the Duke of Edinburgh through the school this year. I was just wondering what people’s experiences of this were and whether you felt it worthwhile / beneficial for your child. DH thinks it sounds a bit woolly, but we know that DS needs to do more extra curricular and have additional things on his CV other than exam results.

It’s better just to wait until year 10 and do the silver because you can skip the bronze. Also to do the gold you have to do the silver award so there is no real point for the bronze - saves money to!

[KB]

DS1 has the opportunity to take part in the Bronze level of the Duke of Edinburgh through the school this year. I was just wondering what people’s experiences of this were and whether you felt it worthwhile / beneficial for your child. DH thinks it sounds a bit woolly, but we know that DS needs to do more extra curricular and have additional things on his CV other than exam results.

It’s better just to wait until year 10 and do the silver because you can skip the bronze. Also to do the gold you have to do the silver award so there is no real point for the bronze - saves money to!

This comes back to why you are doing it.
You can start at any level but if you haven't completed the previous level there are additional requirements.

The original purpose was to give opportunities to less advantaged groups of young people, particularly to encourage those in inner city areas to get involved in the community and to experience and challenge themselves in the countryside.
Sadly, as Guest says the participants are now faced with high costs and it's become more of a middle class activity.

If its being done as intended then there is very much a point to working up through the levels as it encourages the young person to take on new challenges gently and gradually extend themselves and gain new experiences.

I was very disappointed when accompanying one of my DC to receive their Gold award. Most of them were from two public schools and the Duke of Edinburgh himself had asked his staff to pick out people for him to talk to who had done exciting overseas expeditions.

[loobylou]

Just as an aside, it seems that some organisations can manage to offer DoE without significant costs to the participants.
My ds is half way through his bronze and preparing for silver expedition in the spring. His motivation for doing it was that everyone in the boys' brigade he attends is doing it and doing the expedition was quite exciting and interesting. As far as I can recall we've not paid anything as they want everyone to be able to afford to go. They do manage to get money from things like the Jack Petchey awards which maybe goes into this.
However, if he was doing it for any other reason I would be discouraging him. He's also loving his volunteering and o don't think would have arranged it off his own back - I'm confident he'll continue after the 6 months' requirement.

[KB]

It depends a bit on if it's being run by volunteers or paid staff and also if the leaders pay their own way on expeditions or if participants cover their costs.
Also of course on the nature of activities and expeditions.
Generally if you can do it through organisations like boys brigade or Explorer scouts it will be less costly and ( generalisation warning !!!) less of a tick box exercise.

[loobylou]

It depends a bit on if it's being run by volunteers or paid staff and also if the leaders pay their own way on expeditions or if participants cover their costs.
Also of course on the nature of activities and expeditions.
Generally if you can do it through organisations like boys brigade or Explorer scouts it will be less costly and ( generalisation warning !!!) less of a tick box exercise.

Yes it definitely feels like less of a tick box exercise than the school version that some of their friends are doing.
Ours is run by volunteers and it seems that the BB has covered cost of the campsite etc but I assume costs will get significantly higher as he progresses through the awards, even just the cost of getting to the expedition site.

[KB]

If leaders have mini bus insurance/ license that can keep costs down. Particularly if they can borrow a mini bus from another local organisation if they dont have their own.

There are also costs for assessors which tend to ve greater for higher levels - both in terms of kevel of award and height of expedition!

It sounds like your group have managed to get well organised with a focus on costs.