Chapter 9 - Junior Leader Training Needs Assessment

About the Survey

This survey of attitudes and experiences relating to Junior Leader Training was distributed to 215 Scoutmasters by the San Francisco Bay Area Council (SFBAC) and by the author. The Troops were largely from the SFBAC. A small group were already familiar with the White Stag Program.

Objectives

The objective of this needs assessment survey was to:

• Determine the needs for Junior Leader (boy) Training from the point-of-view of Scoutmasters.
• Compare these results to the needs we have assumed.
• Determine what needs we ought to and those we cannot meet.
• To improve our program to better meet these needs.

Respondent Characteristics

The survey was distributed to 215 Scoutmasters; of that number, 38 responded, or 17.4%. Two of the 38 responses were eliminated. One leader professed that after "five or six years as a registered leader," he had never heard of junior leader training. A second response was eliminated because the leader's responses showed overt bias and hostility of unknown origin.

Of the 36 Scoutmasters whose answers were tabulated, they range in age from 29-72 years old; four are 60 or older, ten are 39 or younger. Their average age is 47.2 years old. They have completed an average of 14.4 years of school. All are high school graduates. Six have Ed.D. degrees of other postgraduate degrees.

A great majority of those responding have previous or concurrent leader experience. Half were Assistant Scoutmasters (14); seven have or are members of the district or council training teams. Five were Cubmasters, nine were Weblos Leaders, four were Committee Chairmen.

Assumptions

Before the survey, the White Stag program made a number of assumptions about the need for Junior Leader Training. They include:

• Scoutmasters who are knowledgeable of and value junior leader training (JLT) will have greater tenure, education and leadership experience or training than most Scoutmasters.
• The troops of these Scoutmasters will have at least two if not three patrols of 6-8 boys, and additionally a leadership corps of older, senior boys.
• The Scoutmaster will expect his boy to complete some rank (or badge) advancement during the course.
• The troop will not actively meet during the summer.
• The Scoutmasters follow-up of the boys' learning at a JLT event will be minimal (1-2 hours per boy in the following month), and the Scoutmaster will expect the boy to be rather self-sufficient in his application of the leadership training.

It was one of our desires to use the survey to find out if these assumptions were valid.

Rationale

The survey was conducted to answer a number of questions:

• Why do Scoutmasters who send boys to Junior Leader Training (JLT) do so?
• What benefits do the Scoutmasters expect their troop or the boys to derive from the experience? How does the Scoutmaster use this experience?
• What are the characteristics of these Scoutmasters?
• How did the Scoutmasters first learn of the JLT program?
• How knowledgeable is the Scoutmaster of what JLT is?
• What does the Scoutmasters expect his boys to learn?
• How dependent is the Scoutmasters upon JLT to complement or supplant his own JLT efforts?
• What JLT does the Scoutmaster conduct himself?

Survey Responses

Here is a summary of the responses to the survey.

Top Leaders Trained

	Percentage of top leaders trained	Tenure	Wood Badge Trained
Nationally[1]	65.5%	2.5 years	15%
Locally	56.2%	n/a	n/a
Respondents	84%	4.3 years	44%

[1] Information for 1986 provided by John Larson, National Director of Training, Boy Scouts of America, in a personal letter to the author.

Sixteen (44%) of the Scoutmasters responding indicated they have also completed Wood Badge training, the highest training available to a Scoutmaster. This is very high, as it is reliably estimated only 15% of all Scoutmasters are Wood Badge trained. These results for voluntary respondents to the survey are somewhat predictable, and more follow-up should be done to develop a more representative sampling of leaders.

The results do substantiate our assumption that Scoutmasters who use JLT are more trained and experienced, and this will be discussed again later.

Two-Deep Leadership

Nearly every troop (97.2%) has "two-deep" leadership, or at least one Assistant Scoutmaster. Of these troops, 70% of them have A Scoutmasters who are also trained. Both of these figures are extraordinarily high in our experience, which reinforces the evidence that this sample is a select group.

Troop Leadership Corps

Do you have an active Troop Leadership Corps (TLC)?

Troop Size

What are the ages of your boys and what is the size of your troop?

Total boys represented in the 34 troops indicating size is 941. These results support our thesis that the troop that uses JLT will have at least two patrols.

Boy Retention

Does your troop readily retain older Scouts?

JLT Participation

Despite the large number who profess a belief in the value of JLT, only 47.2% (17) leaders have sent boys to a JLT program in the past year. One Scoutmaster sent 3 boys to Brownsea II, and 13 participated in the troop sponsored Junior Leader Orientation Workshop (Scoutmaster Handbook, pp. 250-269). Another reported a total of 12, while most Scoutmasters sent only one or two boys.

Boy Leader Training

Are your boys adequately trained for the leadership they currently hold?

Either the leaders have very high standards for the boys and they are not readily satisfied, or JLT is not doing what the Scoutmasters want it to do for them. Eight leaders who have sent boys to JLT do not believe it adds to the boys' retention in the troop.

Troop JLT Program

Do you have an active Junior Leader Training program?

Patrol Leader Qualifications

What qualifications do you expect Patrol Leaders to have?

One leader each felt it important that a Patrol Leader take initiative, run patrol meetings without an adult present, be able to set goals and have a year's tenure.

Senior Patrol Leader Qualifications

Nearly all Scoutmasters simply felt the Senior Patrol Leaders' (SPL's') qualifications were those of the PL but expanded and better. His leadership ability was mentioned significantly more often, as was his ability to plan, organize and lead meetings and outings without adult supervision. One leader each suggested setting the example, participation in JLT, and Life rank.

PL/SPL Training Time

Scoutmasters indicated they spend an average of 2.24 hours per month training their PLs and 2.75 hours training their SPL's. One Scoutmaster gave "10" for both; another "5" and "15". While 32 of 36 respondents reported that they spend some time each month training their junior leaders, only 17 previously reported that they have an "active" troop JLT program.

JLT Participation

How many boys do/would you send to a JLT event?

Would you send boys to a weekend JLT event?

Would/Do your boys attend a week-long JLT in place of or in addition to summer camp?

Learning During Junior Leader Training

Leaders expected greater boy management skills training from the JLT than advancement skills training, though a small group (7, or 19.4%) consistently looked for basic skills instruction at a JLT event. The basic skills were mentioned by leaders as a significant requirement for leadership positions, but most expect to teach those woodskills within the troop. Many more emphasized qualities of leadership.

A great proportion checked "planning/organizing hikes," while only one independently added "planning/organizing troop meetings." The latter was mentioned many times as a desired outcome earlier in the survey.

Advancement During Junior Leader Training

Would you have/Do you expect your boys to complete advancement during the JLT Course?

It is a pleasant surprise that most leaders do not expect advancement to take place during JLT. Among those that do, some feel that advancement is important only as a spin-off of secondary effect of the training.

Payment for Training

This question was posed to help develop an assessment of how much cost is a factor in a boy's JLT participation.

Who would pay for the boy's training if he attended a district or council JLT event? (Check all applicable.)

Feedback from Staff

What information would you expect to receive from the JLT course staff about your boys' performance?

"Attitude," the areas a boy leader "needs work" or help on, his overall "performance," along with "cooperation," are the attributes identified by leaders as those most important to an assessment by the Scoutmaster of the boys' performance.

We must clarify our objectives in order to report boy's achievement of them, because we do not do a good job of that now. We must clarify for ourselves what we reasonably expect in a week. We must also find a meaningful way to communicate the boy's completion of the objectives to the home Scoutmasters.

Our feedback to leaders now is entirely reliant on the initiative of the course leader or Scoutmaster. There is not a consistent format or effort. A standard NCR form, in the manner of a "report card," is definitely needed.

Junior Leader Training Application

Upon a boy's completion of a week long JLT event, when would you expect him to be able to assume a new position?

One leader, also a Brownsea II Scoutmaster, wrote:

"I think JLT programs are always valuable to the Scout as far as his personal development. Most of the time, the information gained doesn't get implemented at troop level for several years...I find my junior leaders get discouraged very early in trying to implement what they have learned at (a) JLT course because the average Scout they are trying to lead tends to goof off a lot of time. So (I) feel application is much more effective in groups such as Philmont Treks, Jamborees, or Order of the Arrow than it ever is at the troop level."

Troop Summer Activity

Does your troop actively meet during the summer?

Junior Leader Training Follow-up

How many hours do you think you (would) spend, if any, helping the boys in the troop apply what was learned at the JLT course during the month after attendance?

The average response (32 total) is 4.39 hours, compared to an average of 2.5 hours regularly spent training boy leaders. This is higher than we had assumed, and indicates greater interest and motivation on the Scoutmasters' part than we expected. It also means that feedback would be extremely valuable and useful.

Previous Junior Leader Training Exposure

Have you previously heard of these leadership development programs?

If Yes, how did you hear about the program?

Certainly word-of-mouth is a strong influence for those who send youth to White Stag. This may also indicate the more formal channels of communication do not adequately communicate the availability of the White Stag program.

General Comments from Scoutmasters

"Scoutmasters Handbook, Chapter 13, pp. 246-260 (Junior Leader Orientation Workshop) if followed will do the job for any Scoutmaster."

"In my opinion successful completion of a JLT course should be a prerequisite for advancement to Star Scout."

"JLT is a very necessary part of Scouting, but I feel formal JLT should be restricted to Scouts in or about to assume leadership positions, including leadership corps."

Conclusions

The learning from this respondent group focuses on seven key areas:

1. Advancement is not a key result that leaders expect.
2. Troop leaders believe junior leader training is important.
3. Leaders are uninformed for the most part about JLT courses.
4. Few leaders actually carry out their own JLT program, despite their professed belief in it.
5. Most troops among the respondents are active during summer months.
6. Unit leaders look for and need their boys to be trained in some skills of immediate value to the troop.
7. Scoutmasters are willing to and do spend time with a boy helping him apply what he learned at a JLT event.

Experienced, motivated leaders, which this group comprises, make up our primary target audience for youth leadership development. Themselves relatively highly trained, they recognize the value of JLT and endorse the youth's application of what they learned in the home unit.

Scoutmasters Do Not Conduct Own JLT

The results substantiate our assumption that Scoutmasters who use JLT are more trained and tenured. Nonetheless, over half of these Scoutmasters, even the most well-trained and experienced, do not conduct their own Junior Leader Training.

Despite the large number (31, or 86%) who profess a belief in the value of JLT, only 17 (47.2%) leaders have sent boys to a JLT program in the past year. Nearly the same number of troop leaders (16, or 44.4%) say they have an active troop JLT program. All others do not.

A majority (23, or 63.8%) felt their boys were inadequately trained for the leadership position they currently hold. Only ten leaders (29.5%) felt their boys are adequately trained; three (8.3%) did not respond.

The fact that Scoutmasters do not conduct their own JLT within the troop is an important finding because the National Council of the BSA, in it's program design and support literature, assumes they do. Post 122 is filling a critical gap for these Scoutmasters because of the quality program it provides. We could do a much better job if we provided more direct feedback to the leader after the event.

Training Expectations

The most outstanding requirement for patrol leaders (mentioned by 14 leaders) is a knowledge of the "basic Scouting skills" (camping, cooking, and so forth). Other attributes gathering repeated mention include helping other boys with advancement; having a positive attitude, a desire to lead; and Scout spirit or motivation (five mentions each).

Nearly all Scoutmasters simply felt the Senior Patrol Leaders' (SPLs') qualifications were those of the PL but expanded and better. His leadership ability was mentioned significantly more often, as was his ability to plan, organize and lead meetings and outings without adult supervision.

It is a pleasant surprise that most leaders do not expect advancement to take place during JLT. Among those that do, some feel that advancement is important only as a spin-off of secondary effect of the training.

Leaders expected greater boy management skills training from the JLT than advancement skills training, though a small group (7, or 19.4%) consistently looked for basic skills instruction at a JLT event. The basic skills were mentioned by leaders as a significant requirement for leadership positions, but most expect to teach those woodskills within the troop. Many more emphasized qualities of leadership.

Scoutmasters have expectations of immediate application and benefit to the troop. Whatever JLT does, it must give the boy a few tools he can take home and use right away, otherwise the long-term benefit to the boy may be not be realized. Only a few Scoutmasters think of JLT as a benefit primarily to the boy.

Scoutmasters indicated they spend an average of 2.24 hours per month training their PLs and 2.75 hours training their SPL's. They indicate they will spend an average of 4.39 hours with the new boy leader upon his return from the JLT experience helping him apply what he learned.

This is more time than we had expected, and indicates greater interest and motivation on the Scoutmasters' part than we expected. It also means that positive feedback to Scoutmasters will be extremely valuable and useful, both for the boy and our program as a whole.

"Attitude," the areas a boy leader "needs work" or help on, his overall "performance," along with "cooperation," are the attributes identified by leaders as those most important to an assessment of the boys' performance.

We must clarify our objectives in order to report boy's achievement of them, because we do not do a good job of that now. We must clarify for ourselves what we reasonably expect in a week. We must also find a meaningful way to communicate the boy's completion of the objectives to the home Scoutmasters.

Our feedback to leaders now is entirely reliant on the initiative of the Phase or Post Advisor. There is no consistent format or effort. Something is definitely needed, such as a standard NCR form, in the manner of a "report card," to get the information on performance back to the home leader.

Week-End vs. Week-Long

All of our programs are currently week-long events. Nineteen leaders, or 52.7%, said they would send boys to a weekend JLT event, and 88.8%, or 32 leaders would send boys to a week-long event. Given the above response, we certainly ought to consider some kind of weekend course as well, since the Scoutmasters who would send boys to the weekend course are not the same as the Scoutmasters who send boys to the week long event.

Fees Not a Hindrance

A large number of the troops that send boys to JLT also pay some of their enrollment fees as well. Apparently, our concern that a boy might not attend due to cost is not well founded.

Timing of the Event

Half of those troops that do not meet actively during the summer still do or would send boys to a JLT event. It would seem that the timing of the event between June and August seem is not critical.