Scoutcraft

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Scoutcraft is a term used to cover a variety of

Origins

For Europeans, Scoutcraft grew out of the

As the nineteenth century moved on, Scoutcraft began to be adopted by parts of some military forces, as the way in which wars and battles were fought changed. The American scout

After the Second Boer War, Baden-Powell enjoyed a celebrity status for his command at Mafeking. He set about writing a new book, Scouting for Boys, which was published in 1908. This was removed from his earlier, more martial works, but kept the idea of Scoutcraft as a core part of the Scouting program. Some critics accused Baden-Powell of trying to create a pseudo-military organisation, but he was quick to distance himself and Scouting from his earlier military experiences, and instead pointed out the importance of self-reliance, duty and thoughtfulness which his new program promoted.

In order to test that a new member had earned the title of Scout, Baden-Powell devised a number of tests for them to complete, including knot-tying, animal tracking, first aid, navigation, and fire-lighting. Other tests listed by Baden-Powell include having sixpence in a bank, and knowing about the Union Flag and its significance — these latter tests are generally not included in Scoutcraft in more recent times.^[2] Similar books were published in America by Ernest Thompson Seton, a pioneer of the Scouting movement in the United States.

Scoutcraft is still a core part of many organisations' programs. The Scout Association of the United Kingdom lists the following benefits of Scoutcraft:^[3]

• encourages self-reliance, resourcefulness and confidence in their own ability
• develops skills to be used in the outdoors
• provides training for what to do in emergency situations

Skills

An example list of Scoutcraft skills, taken from 1964's Boy Scout Handbook (sixth edition) includes:

• Camp Cooking
• Camp Health
• Camp Preparation
• Cleanup
• Edible Wild Plants
• Finding Directions
• Fire Building
• First aid
• Hiking
• Knowing Trees and Shrubs
• Lashings
• Map Reading
• Map Sketching
• Preparing Firewood
• Selecting [a] Campsite
• Signaling
• Swimming
• Tent Pitching
• Use of [a] Compass
• Using [an] Axe in Camp
• Wildlife

See also

• Batoning

References