filling out forms at the moment. apparently I have to have an interview – what can I expect??

Filling out forms in what context? for your children to join, as an occasional helper or to become a warranted leader?
I’m a Scout leader

LabWormy off of here is a Scout Master. He may be able to help (though he’s not a frequent poster).

leader!

Probably best you avoid that particular exclamation for a start…

😉

Is it an interview within group or the warrants committee?
I didn’t have an interview at group level just filled out crb forms etc, but had to go before the warrants committee for an interview, they wanted to know a bit about me, my scouting background, why I wanted to be a leader, strengths weaknesses nothing to taxing and nothing to worry about.

Is it true they ask about religious beliefs?
I have considered volunteering but will comfortably fail this bit and I am not going to church.

One of the things is you can’t be an atheist, you have to have some form of faith. There’s no requirement to be practising.

Junkyard, some sort of religious belief is necessary to be a leader, not necessarily the established church though. I would check that the group you consider joining are not church sponsored, they will have the church name on the group flash (e.g. 4th Ipswich All Saints Scouts), they may have problems accepting a Rastafarian/Muslim/Buddhist leader.

It’s Cubs now, they have dropped the Scouts bit at the last rebranding/uniform change.

Today’s warrants committee’s have moved on a lot.

Find the group that is right for you and get involved.

I was a VSL for a few years and found it an amazing experience

Seeing occasionally some of the young people that came through the unit is very rewarding indeed.

One of the things is you can’t be an atheist, you have to have some form of faith. There’s no requirement to be practising.

Tosh! my eldest son is a leader and bigger anti god person you couldn’t get! Great with the kids tho.

its all good the panel of old folks that interviewed me just looked disappointed when i said no religion still got the job

He’s a frequent lurker though.

Our District does not have an effective appointments panel, so I can’t give any specific advice.

But I’m sure there will be nothing to worry about. It should be about what the District/group can do for you in terms of training and help and they should go through the role description to make sure that you are signing up for the right appointment.

There are only two real “exclusion clauses”. The obvious one (CRB) and the atheist bit.

The atheist issue does tend to tie some people up in knots … but the universal get out answer is “I’m still searching” (assuming you can cope/need-to-cope with a little hypocrisy).

Enjoy the training, it can be a great organisation.

“escouts” is the STW equivalent and a great resource. There will be people on appointment panels, or new appointments who have just been interviews who will be able to give you first hand advice.

escouts is indeed a great resource and a friendly place to ask any questions or gain advice.

He’s a frequent lurker though.

😆

Question: how do they get away with the religion thing? Can’t be many jobs where you’d be allowed to specify that.

Is “humanist” a valid cop out?

(just interested. Not about to embark on a STW anti-religion borefest)

I think a club is exempt GrahamS – pretty sure you can insist the priest believes for example and they are employed 😉

Yeah fair point, though I guess you could argue that for a priest religious belief is sort of a “qualification” for his “job”.

Seems more odd (to me) that they can be as general as saying “you must believe in some kind of religion, but we don’t mind which one”.

Wonder how Wicca would go down? 😀

The only poll I know on the subject is a “front page poll” on escouts, where about 70% of leaders want the atheist bit removed.

Many I know think it is anachronistic. I lobby against it on training courses etc. I suspect most people don’t care.

I guess it is legal as it does not discriminate over goods, services or employment just membership of what is a effectively a private club.

I see that recently the leader of the Scottish scouts has put his head over the parepit on the subject.

Don’t know about Wicca, but Buddhists confuse/confused HQ cos it looks and smells like a religion but has no “higher being” as such, not even an invisible pink unicorn.

A Rasta scout leader might be fun,depending on which branch of rastafarianism of course, should be vegetarian, weed smoking , music loving, — might attract a few people 😉

A lot of people bring up the religion issue, I wouldn’t be surprised to see it removed some time in the future.

I might have a wee problem with making a pledge/oath to god to defend the queen and country…well i suppose I could lie on all fronts

@Junkyard.

I would not let that put you off dipping your toes in the water. There are many roles available, most of which require one to make the promise:

Role Comparison Table

Doh … too late to edit.

Should have read “……most of which do not ….”

My girlfriends cousin is a ‘helper’ at brownies, she’s a staunch atheist and there’s a bit of a fuss now as the old leader (brown owl?!) is leaving and she’s the obvious replacement but lack of faith is getting in the way.

where do they stand on Pastafarians?

Surely they couldn’t successfully argue that it is not a *real* religion, could they?

Dave

Ta but I then just get to support someone who has taken the pledge

Its ok I would rather avoid any organisation with overt religous [ or regal that bit was new to me] tendencies

Shame though as the local one is possibly closing down due to no one to run it.

I help out at Cubs/Beavers as and when required as a parent helper, wife is a Guide leader at a unit attached to a church – both of us atheists, neither had a problem with occassionally attending the odd service to help support the kids.

The organisation is about the kids, letting a group fold as you are so precious about your own beliefs strikes me as putting the cart before the horse. With time, the religious bit will be quietly dropped – the Australians are well down that road already.

Meanwhile, I’m just hoping that the Lego jet engine is still at Rolls Royce as I’m rota’d to help the night they go there for a tour round….

Is cubbing/scouting/guidimg etc back in favour now?

We moved a few months ago, and have been emailed that the only way to get my kids (5 and 7) in any of the district troops before they become too old is to become a leader.

Its ok I would rather avoid any organisation with overt religous [ or regal that bit was new to me] tendencies

Tangent: Speaking of the Queen, I really liked this:

😀

Our group do a prayer at the end of each meeting ( I suspect I would drop it if I was to become section leader rather than assistant), we also attend church two to three times a year, St Georges day after a parade around the local town, and Rememberence day which I have no qualms with, we have also started to get invited to the district carol service where last year our group sung the band aid song, amongst so alternative carols, not what you would expect to sing in a church and most of the older congregation didn’t seem too happy to start but joined in by the end. We even got called up to do an encore.

Getting your child a place by becoming a leader isn’t something I agree with but it is a practice that happens alot. Scouting as a whole is short of leaders, a lack of leaders means a lack of places for the kids so becoming a leader creates more space.
I started as a parent rep when my son was in Beavers then I became an occasional helper in Scouts then an assistant Scout leader now my boy is in cubs I have started to help them as well as the Scouts and also perform roles on county and district projects.
Our scout group are bursting at the seems, Beavers are full and need another leader or two in an ideal work so we can take on a few more kids, cubs is full, scouts when I started was under strength now we have 24 kids and growing. It is getting more popular helped by bear grylls and changing opinions of scouting in general.

Don’t fall for the it’s only a couple of hours a week line, none of our leaders just do a couple of hours a week, it’s addictive.

letting a group fold as you are so precious about your own beliefs strikes me as putting the cart before the horse

do you think they will listen if i say this?

There are lobby groups out there trying to get it changed:

Humanists

You can always add a bit of weight to their campaign.

It is not a world scout imposition either, so for instance, the Danish scouts get away with out much more than this (translated) line in their Laws: “To seek her or his faith and respect the faith of others”.

There is also a good conspiracy theory that BP himself wrote an alternative promise called the “Outlander’s Promise”, which has since been suppressed. It goes along the lines of:

On my honor I promise to do my best:
To render service to my country;
To help other people at all times;
To obey the Scout Law.

To the best of my knowledge UK HQ deny this, but the rumour persists.