National Youth Leadership Training

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National Youth Leadership Training
Owner	Boy Scouts of America
Country	United States
Founded	2003
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National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) is a youth leadership development training program of the Boy Scouts of America (BSA) conducted at the council level. It is intended to be in-depth training covering a number of leadership ideas and skills for Boy Scouts and Varsity Scouts.

Contents 1 Youth leadership training continuum 2 Origins 3 Course 3.1 Organization 3.2 Training 3.3 Activities 4 Program controversy 5 References 6 See also

[edit] Youth leadership training continuum

Youth leadership training is conducted at three levels:^[1]

• Troop Leadership Training (TLT) is unit level three-hour training session for all new Scout leaders. TLT is designed to introduce the Scout leader to leadership and give him the initial skills to be an effective leader.

• National Youth Leadership Training (NYLT) is run at the council level as a week-long course, generally for the senior Scout leaders.

• National Advanced Youth Leadership Experience (NAYLE) is the national level course, conducted at Philmont Training Center. It builds upon the skills learned in NYLT and expands on team building and ethical decision making skills.

• Youth Staff Development Course is a program of the Northeast Region that trains youth staff members for council level NYLT courses. YSDC is in the development phase and will eventually be offered in each of the four regions.

[edit] Origins

NYLT is the most current junior leader training program offered by the Boy Scouts of America. Beginning in 1974, the program was named Troop Leadership Development. That program incorporated for the first time eleven specific competencies of leadership. Junior leader training programs had until that time focused primarily on Scoutcraft skills. The eleven competencies were adapted from the White Stag Leadership Development Program.^[2]

Back in the 1960's the armed forces of the United States became concerned about the quality of leadership among noncommissioned officers. Experiments were carried out in noncommissioned officer schools at Fort Hood in California.^[3] Several Scouters from the Monterey Bay Area Council learned of this program and designed a junior leadership training experience using some of the competencies or skills of leadership identified in this Army training, and it was known as the "White Stag" program.^[4][5]

In reaction to other changes to Scouting, including advancement rules that no longer required Scouts to take a hike before obtaining the first class rank, the Boy Scouts introduced Brownsea Double-Two in 1976. This week-long course was a "back-to-basics" program for Senior Patrol Leaders that was "program- and action-oriented."^[6]

In 1979, the next iteration of junior leader training was introduced in the Troop Leader Training Conference. It was published "to eventually replace Troop Leader Development (#6544) and also provide the Scoutcraft skills experiences of Brownsea Double Two."^[7] While the stated aim was to consolidate the two programs, many councils continued to put on both programs or used elements from the previous programs, producing inconsistency in how junior leader training was delivered nation-wide.^[8]

In 1993, another revision was issued titled Junior Leader Training Conference. The leadership competencies introduced in the 1974 TLD program were dramatically changed, including deleting a great deal of material previously described as Manager of Learning and re-naming it Effective Teaching. Other changes were made to the competencies Setting the Example, Controlling the Group, and a number of new reflection activities were added. This syllabus was revised again in 1995.^[9]

In 1989 Pine Tree Camp, the Junior Leader Training Conference of the former Viking Council in Minneapolis, Minnesota served as the proving grounds for a redesign of the Junior Leader Training Conference, a week-long leadership development program sponsored by local Councils for the top youth leaders of Scout troops. The Pine Tree's Syllabus was adapted for national use in 1996.^[10]

After successful regional pilot courses, NYLT was mandated to be used in place of all other JLT programs in the nation, effectively creating a standard of training that would be consistent around the country. The consistency is achieved by removing responsibility for presenting much of the core content from the youth, instead relying on projectors and computers to present PowerPoint slides and videos. Councils are allowed to use their traditional names for their junior leader training programs only if they include National Youth Leadership Training in the program name.^[11]

The content contained in the Boy Scouts of America junior leader training program has evolved as the business world's models for leadership training have changed. In the 1960s, concepts of participatory leadership were evolving from trait-based leadership to Rensis Likert's System 4 leadership model and Blake and Moulton's Managerial grid model. The Boy Scout's junior leader training program similarly evolved, adapting comparable principles from the White Stag program in the late 1960s.^[12]

Since then, the program has evolved to keep pace with changes to the adult Wood Badge program, which now emphasizes the stages of team development based on the principles described by Bruce Tuckman in 1965 as forming-storming-norming-performing.

The course was renamed using Youth in the title rather than Junior based on feedback from the youth themselves who prefer the term "youth."^[13]

[edit] Course

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The NYLT program is to be conducted in a one week program, but can be split over two weekends. Most NYLT courses are conducted at council-level camps, primarily because these camps are established and have proper facilities for a week-long course. Courses range in size from 40 to 180 Scouts, generally forming one to four troops, with four to six patrols in each. The content learned at any NYLT course is outlined in a national-level syllabus. It stipulates that, "Each of the core sessions outlined in the syllabus must be presented, with no additional content sessions" and that "The core sessions must be taught in the order that is laid out in the syllabus and with in the six-day time frame." Some councils nonetheless implement small variations in the material taught and may add in other events or special activities not required in the NYLT outline.

[edit] Organization

NYLT is run by youth leaders under adult supervision. Adults perform administrative services and ensure guidelines are met including health and safety. The course presentation and instruction is the responsibility of the senior youth leader who acts as the senior patrol leader. Assistant senior patrol leaders are usually directly responsible for staff issues. The quartermaster is responsible for food and equipment. Instructors are responsible for the primary presentation of sessions although the other youth leaders may conduct some presentations.

Participants are organized as a standard Boy Scout troop. They are grouped into patrols of eight or so boys and elect their own patrol leader. A staff member is assigned to each patrol as a troop guide to coach and mentor the patrol leader.

[edit] Training

The training, information, and skills taught in the National Youth Leadership Training course are to comply with the NYLT syllabus, where many of the leadership tools and information is found. Training includes subjects like event planning, communication, team development, teaching, leadership styles, setting goals, and problem solving among the many skills covered in the program. The idea is to work as a proper troop would work for an entire month, boiled down to one week. Some courses included in the North East region are ran on weekend courses. This is includes two weekends with a week in between. The training itself is often conducted with a lesson in presentation style usually followed with a demonstration or an exercise to allow the participants to practice what they have learned.

[edit] Activities

The NYLT course is not completely course work and classroom study. Throughout the course, team games and other activities are used to exercise the skills that the participants learn in the lessons. Patrol competitions are also included in the course, such as a lashing game, a geocache game, and many other activities. Even so, the activities, like everything used in the NYLT course is not without reason. They all have leadership skill building in mind. Awards are sometimes given for these activities and other things deserving recognition, such as an Honor Patrol award, a best campsite award, a best spirit award, and best troop guide award. Also, to get the participants to have enthusiasm they give out spirit totems. These are given at the discretion of the course staff.

[edit] Program controversy

Some Scout leaders have found the requirement to use computers, projectors, screens, and sometimes battery-based power sources within a Scout camp environment as an impediment to conducting a successful program.^{[citation needed]} Most Scout camps only have power available in a few central locations, sometimes forcing the program to be presented indoors. The electronic equipment sometimes also requires the presentations to be made to the entire troop, unless duplicate equipment is available, contravening the use of the Patrol Method intrinsic to Scouting.^[14] The change from teaching specific competencies of leadership to leadership concepts from industry has also lessened some Scout leaders interest in the program, while some have expressed concern video presentations are not a good way to keep participants engaged.^[15] While the NYLT program was changed to more closely align with the current Wood Badge program, some feel that the adult leaders and the youth have different needs and the youth may not be able to relate to the more abstract concepts of the newer NYLT program.^[16][14] In contrast, the White Stag Leadership Development Program, the model on which the Boy Scouts of America's junior leader training program was based in the 1970s, has continued to teach specific competencies of leadership in a hands-on environment fully utilizing the Patrol Method.^[17]

[edit] References

[edit] See also

• White Stag Leadership Development Program