Scout-like organisations are organizations that resemble Scouting in some way. Scout-like organizations have been created both prior to and after the origin of the Scout Movement and are characterized by use of or similarity to part of the Scout Method.
The Scout Movement is a pluralist movement, not a single organization. Since its origins, the Scout Movement has been composed of many Scout organisations. However, WOSM and WAGGGS, to protect their founding organizations, register only one Scouting organization per country,[1] although that organization can be a federation of several organizations.
Terminology used in this article: The terms "aligned", "non-aligned", "Scout-like" and "breakaway" used in this article reflect the usage of WOSM, WAGGGS and their member national organizations. WOSM, WAGGGS and their member national organizations refer to organizations that had a common origin or were once associated with them in some way but are no longer associated with them as breakaway organizations. A breakaway organization may also be a Scouting or Scout-like organization.
Aligned and non-aligned Scouting organisations
Since its inception in 1907, the Scout Movement has spread from the United Kingdom to 216 countries and territories around the world. There are at least 520 separate national or regional Scouting associations in the world and most have felt the need to create international Scouting organisations to set standards for Scouting and to coordinate activities among member associations.
There are over 80 Scouting associations or umbrella federations that are not aligned with any international Scouting organisation, including the Eclaireurs Neutres de France. There are also many single groups that are not affiliated with any regional or national association and the majority of these are in Germany, where Scouting is very fragmented. Membership in non-aligned Scouting organizations worldwide is roughly 300,000 to 500,000 individuals.
Scout-like youth organisations
The Scout Movement was well established for both boys and girls internationally by 1910.[2] Subsequently, some Scout organizations began other Scout-like organizations for younger children, such as Wolf Cubs. Robert Baden-Powell insisted that his Wolf Cubs were not junior Scouts and must have an identity and program distinct from Scouts.[citation needed]
Some Scout organizations changed away from traditional Scout programs, schemes, ideals and identity and, while retaining “Scout” in their name, they are now Scout-like organizations.
Other Scout-like organisations are faith-wide like the Camp Fire. TUXIS and Trail Rangers movements were Scout-like organisations which originated about the same time as Scouting; however, these organisations were unable to recover from the disruption of World War II and post-war competition with the Scouting movement. A uniquely Canadian Scout-like organization existing since the 1920s is the Junior Forest Wardens which uses forest rangers and forest fire lookouts as role models rather than frontier and military scouts. The Junior Forest Wardens has more direct ties to ecological conservation, and is popular in British Columbia and Alberta. South Africa's Voortrekkers are an Afrikaner youth movement founded in 1931 as some Afrikaners found it difficult to participate in a movement founded by their Boer War opponent, Lord Baden-Powell. In 2003 Navigators USA was formed to enable people to take part in Scouting-like activities which was open to all children and communities. There are over 64 chapters in the US, with new ones being started up[when?] in Uganda and in the United Kingdom.[3]
Parade of Boys' Brigade during Celebrations of Hari Merdeka 2013 in Likas, Malaysia
In many parts of Europe the socialist Red Falcons form the International Falcon Movement - Socialist Education International (IFM-SEI). The Woodcraft Folk is the UK associate of IFM-SEI. These organisations adapt many of the methods of Scouting in a socialist orientation. Examples are the Children's Republic, camps run by the SJD-The Falken in Germany in the 1920s, however unlike the concurring Pioneer Movements, IFM–SEI works to further democracy.
The Scout Movement is a pluralist movement not a unitary organisation. Before the formation of national Scout organisations and long before the formation of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1922, the Scout Movement had been well established for both boys and girls and Scouting was the purview of the world's youth. Boys and girls and adult leaders formed their own Scout patrols and only later were local Scout associations and national Scout organisations formed. In his book, Scouting for Boys, Robert Baden-Powell had not intended Scouting to be containable by any one school of thought.
The Boys' Brigade Scouts, Church Scout Patrols, Church Lads Brigade Scouts, London Diocesan Boy Scout Corps, Chums Scout Patrols, YMCA Boy Scouts, Boys' Life Brigade Scouts, Salvation Army Corps Boy Scout troops (later formed into the Life-Saving Scouts), early Scout patrols, Scout troops and local Boy Scout associations such as the Battersea Boy Scouts (which became the British Boy Scouts in May 1909) and Baden-Powell's Boy Scout organization formed separately with some later affiliating or amalgamating.
Many groups have formed since the formation of the Scouting "Boy Patrols." Some maintain that the WOSM is far more political and less youth-based than ever envisioned by Lord Baden-Powell. They believe that Scouting in general has moved away from its original intent, because of political machinations that happen to longstanding organisations, and seek to return to the earliest, simplest methods. Others are a result of groups or individuals who refuse to follow the original ideals of Scouting but still desire to participate in Scout-like activities.
As the Scout Movement already existed as a pluralist movement, the formation of Baden-Powell's The Boy Scouts Association was a breakaway organisation from the Scout Movement.[2] An early schism within the Scout Movement occurred from April 1909, when the Battersea Boy Scouts broke away after a brief affiliation with the Baden-Powell Boy Scouts organisation and was reconstituted as the British Boy Scouts and grew to comprise an estimated 25 percent of all Scouts in the United Kingdom but rapidly declined from 1912.[citation needed]. The Battersea Boy Scouts broke away because of perceptions of bureaucracy and militaristic tendencies in Baden-Powell Boy Scout organisation. The British Girl Scouts were the female counterpart of the British Boy Scouts. The British Boy Scouts allied with Scout organisations in the United States, Italy, Hong Kong, Canada, South Africa, Australia, New Zealand, South America and India and, in 1911, formed the 'Order of World Scouts' (OWS). In the United Kingdom, the British Boy Scouts with several smaller organisations, such as the Boy's Life Brigade Scouts, formed the National Peace Scouts federation. The OWS and British Boy Scouts survive to this day. The later formation of the World Organization of the Scout Movement in 1922, particularly by excluding many Scout organizations, was another breakaway organization from the Scout Movement.
In 1916 a group of Scoutmasters in Cambridge, led by Ernest Westlake and his son Aubrey, who believed that the movement had moved away from its early ideals and had lost its woodcraft character, founded the Order of Woodcraft Chivalry. The order survives to this day in England.
In the years following the First World War, the Commissioner for Camping and Woodcraft John Hargrave, broke with what he considered to be the Scouts' militaristic approach and founded a breakaway organisation, the Kibbo Kift, taking a number of similar-minded Scoutmasters and troops with him.[4] This organisation was the direct antecedent of the Woodcraft Folk.
Many of the Woodcraft Folk's founders including the prominent Leslie Paul had been Boy Scouts and Scout leaders who left Scouting to join the Kibbo Kift but then formed the Woodcraft Folk in 1925.
Baden-Powell Scouts were formed in 1970 in the United Kingdom and later elsewhere, when it was felt that the "modernisation" of Scouting was abandoning the traditions and intentions established by Baden-Powell. Another modern breakaway group is the ChristianAmerican Heritage Girls, formed in 1995 in response to the perceived growing liberalism in the Girl Scouts of the USA.[5] In Canada and to some extent in the United States, there is a Traditional Scouting movement, seeking to take Scouting back to the way it was in Baden-Powell's days.[6]
Scouts-in-Exile
Scouts-in-Exile groups were formed overseas from their native country as a result of war and changes in governments. For the Scouts-in-exile groups, serving the community outside their homelands, there is resentment that they were not recognised during their nations' totalitarian periods. These groups often provided postal delivery and other basic services in displaced-persons camps.[7] A number of exile Scout groups have their own national and multinational organizations, hold regional and world jamborees, issue training materials, and furnish leadership.
Scouting, also known as the Scout Movement, is a worldwide youth social movement employing the Scout method, a program of informal education with an emphasis on practical outdoor activities, including camping, woodcraft, aquatics, hiking, backpacking, and sports. Another widely recognized movement characteristic is the Scout uniform, by intent hiding all differences of social standing in a country and encouraging equality, with neckerchief and campaign hat or comparable headwear. Distinctive uniform insignia include the fleur-de-lis and the trefoil, as well as merit badges and other patches.
Woodcraft Folk is a UK-based educational movement for children and young people. Founded in 1925 and grown by volunteers, it has been a registered charity since 1965 and a registered company limited by guarantee since 2012. The constitutional object of this youth organisation is "to educate and empower young people to be able to participate actively in society, improving their lives and others' through active citizenship."
Cub Scouts, Cubs or Wolf Cubs are programmes associated with Scouting for young children usually between 7 and 12, depending on the organisation to which they belong. A participant in the programme is called a Cub. A group of Cubs is called a "Pack".
The World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts is a global association supporting the female-oriented and female-only Guiding and Scouting organisations in 152 countries. It was established in 1928 in Parád, Hungary, and has its headquarters in London, United Kingdom. It is the counterpart of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM). WAGGGS is organised into five regions and operates five international Guiding centers. It holds full member status in the European Youth Forum (YFJ), which operates within the Council of Europe and European Union areas, and works closely with these bodies.
The Kindred of the Kibbo Kift was a camping, hiking and handicraft group with ambitions to bring world peace. It was the first of three movements in England associated with the charismatic artist and writer John Hargrave (1894–1982). The Kindred was founded in 1920. Some members continued into Hargrave's Green Shirt Movement for Social Credit, which was established in 1931–32, and which became in 1935 the Social Credit Party of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. This was wound up in 1951.
Woodcraft League of America, originally called the Woodcraft Indians and League of Woodcraft Indians, is a youth program, established by Ernest Thompson Seton in 1901. Despite the name, the program was created for non-Indian children. At first the group was for boys only, but later it would also include girls. Seton instructed the children in his town in Connecticut in outdoor "Woodcraft" – knowledge and skills of life in the woods – and based much of the group's terminology and structure on the misconceptions about Native Americans that were common in that era. The program spread internationally to become the Woodcraft Movement and many of these programs still exist. Seton's Woodcraft scheme also had a strong influence on later youth programs and organizations, particularly, the Scout Movement.
The Scout Promise is a spoken statement made by a child joining the Scout movement. Since the publication of Scouting for Boys in 1908, all Scouts and Girl Guides around the world have taken a Scout promise or oath to live up to ideals of the movement, and subscribed to a Scout Law. The wording of the Scout Promise and Scout Law have varied slightly over time and from country to country. Although most Scouting and Guiding organizations use the word "promise", a few such as the Boy Scouts of America tend to use "oath" instead.
Gidsen- en Scoutsbeweging in België (Dutch) or Guidisme et Scoutisme en Belgique (French) (GSB) is the national Guiding and Scouting federation in Belgium. Scouting in Belgium started in 1911, and Guiding followed in 1915. The Belgian Scouts were among the charter members of the World Organization of the Scout Movement (WOSM) in 1922, and the Guides were one of the founding members of the World Association of Girl Guides and Girl Scouts (WAGGGS) in 1928. The federation counts 121,600 Scouts and 59,268 Guides.
Traditional Scouting is "old-fashioned" or "back to basics" Scouting in some form, often with an emphasis on woodcraft and scoutcraft activities. As a pluralist movement, there is no one set definition for the term, but most traditionalists share a common set of values and procedures. Traditionalists aim to return the Scout Movement to something approximating its original style and activities; rejecting the trend of modernizing the program in an attempt to widen its appeal and/or use the name "Scouts" for new programs for ever-younger children.
Lone Scouts are members of the Scout movement who undertake scout activities on their own or by distance communication, usually because they live in isolated areas or otherwise do not participate in scout activities with other scouts. A Lone Scout May have an adult Scout leader or counselor who may instruct and supervise them. They can follow the same program as other Scouts and may advance in the same way as all other Scouts.
Scouts' Day or Guides' Day is a generic term for special days observed by members of the Scouting movement throughout the year. Some of these days have religious significance, while others may be a simple celebration of Scouting. Typically, it is a day when all members of Scouting will re-affirm the Scout Promise.
Scouting in the United States is dominated by the 1.2 million-member Boy Scouts of America and the Girl Scouts of the USA and other associations that are recognized by one of the international Scouting organizations. There are also a few smaller, independent groups that are considered to be "Scout-like" or otherwise Scouting related.
The Scout and Guide movement in Denmark consists of about ten different associations. Most of them are members of two large federations, but there are also some independent organizations. Affiliated to Danish Scouting and Guiding are the organizations in Greenland, on the Faroe Islands and in Southern Schleswig.
Religion in Scouting and Guiding is an aspect of the Scout method that has been practiced differently and given different interpretations in different parts of the world over the years.
There are various controversies and conflicts that involve the Scouting movement. Scouting has sometimes become entangled in social controversies such as in nationalist resistance movements in India. Scouting was introduced to Africa by British officials as an instrument of colonial authority but became a subversive challenge to the legitimacy of British imperialism as Scouting fostered solidarity amongst African Scouts. There are also controversies and challenges within the Scout Movement itself such as current efforts to turn Scouts Canada into a democratic organization.
The Scout and Guide movement in Malta is served by three organizations:
The Scout and Guide movement in Jamaica is served by
Girl Guides is a worldwide movement, originally and largely still designed for girls and women only. The movement began in 1909, when girls requested to join the then-grassroots Boy Scout Movement.
There are many national organisations in the United Kingdom that have been established to provide services to people under the age of 18.
References
↑ "World Scouting"(PDF). scouts.org.uk. The Scout Association. Retrieved October 19, 2020.
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