What We Know about the Impact of School and Scouting on Adolescents’ Value-based Leadership

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of the school environment compared to the Scouting environment on the leadership attitudes of adolescents. The ways in which the social context affects the development of leadership attitudes is of special importance in view of the guidelines issued by the OECD, UNESCO and European Union, which envision schools as places of social development. In order to examine the ways in which these different contexts affect leadership development, we used two instruments: the «Educational Context Perception Questionnaire» (ECPQ), for the analysis of the adolescents' perception of their educational context, and the «Socially Responsible Leadership Scale» (SRLS), which measures the Individual, Group, and Social Values of the adolescents, to which we added a dimension of Leadership Capacities. The study was conducted on a judgment sample, consisting of 600 students and 231 Scouts enrolled in upper secondary school in Rome (9th and 10th grades). Path-analyses were conducted to test, for the students and the Scouts, the effects of the ECPQ dimensions on leadership attitudes and capacities and to determine the relationships between the leadership dimensions. Findings revealed different effects among students and Scouts, of the educational context perception on their leadership attitudes and capacities, an effect of the Individual Values on the Group Values and an effect of the Group Values on the Social Values and Leadership Capacities.

Scouts’ Perspectives on Learning Experiences from a Pedagogical Innovation Scope

“…Within the "micro-societies" and Scout society context, it is relevant to remember the vision outlined by the Portuguese PASEO-a vision advocating an educational model that not only seeks individual qualification but also endeavours to foster democratic citizenship, thus aligning with the intents of the formal educational system. Beyond compulsory schooling, the young are expected to become citizens "who grasp and uphold democratic society's fundamental rights, guarantees and freedoms; who value the respect for human dignity, for full citizenship engagement, for solidarity towards other people, for cultural diversity and for democratic discourse", which links to other evidence from the international literature on Scouting [17,[22][23][24]29]. It is now more visible how the Patrol System can tangibly embody these ideals, constituting a noteworthy research finding, as a significant level of democracy within schools can not only be beneficial but also essential in fostering the development of democratic citizens, as suggested by Gutmann [30].…”

“…Employing active learning as its methodology, the movement seeks to instil moral values and cultivate leadership qualities among young individuals. Furthermore, it has been posited that the primary objective of Scouting is to nurture character growth, instil a sense of service, facilitate skill acquisition, foster self-confidence, and develop the ability to both collaborate and lead [23,24]. Du Mérac [23] highlights that the aims of Baden-Powell's Scouting educational model were "in line with and drawn from active learning methods and the Montessori method", seeking to provide an experiential educational environment which encouraged young people to make decisions and adapt through practical experience.…”

Análisis de las áreas de los niños y jóvenes fortalecidas al participar en el movimiento Scout según la literatura: una revisión sistemática

“…Esta intención incluso se denota desde la etapa escolar en el mejoramiento del desempeño académico de los Scouts en comparación con aquellos que no lo son, observando que al confrontar las calificaciones se encuentra una gran diferencia entre estos dos grupos (Asensio-Ramon et al, 2020;Kassman, 2017). Pero la calidad académica no es suficiente para la formación de futuros profesionales; también es necesario el fortalecimiento de otros factores reconocidos para desenvolverse con éxito en los contextos educativos o laborales, como son la responsabilidad (Saneka & Prest, 2019;Sepúlveda, 2015), las habilidades para la vida, el comportamiento adecuado, la capacidad de liderazgo y la resolución de problemas (Al-Safty, 2016;Hershberg et al, 2015;Rubat du Mérac, 2015;Terrazas, 2015).…”

Liderança dos alunos e Contexto escolar – estudo em Roma e no Porto

“…Nesta investigação, para o estudo do ambiente escolar foi traduzido o Questionário da perceção do contexto escolar (Educational Context Perception Questionaire), (Rubat du Mérac, 2013) Este instrumento foi construído inspirado no Questionário de Cultura da Investigação do projeto GLOBE (Global Leadership and Organizational Behavior Effectiveness) (House et al, 2004) e tendo em conta o contexto específico que se destinava a estudar. Originariamente a categorização dos itens fez-se em torno de 6 dimensões: abertura, horizontalidade das relações, reconhecimento mútuo, procedimentos equitativos, afiliação, ambiente agradável e orientação para as pessoas (Rubat du Mérac, 2013e 2015.…”