What is Wood Badge?

The program is divided into 5 central themes:
Learning Outcomes:
Course Delivery:
The Wood Badge Ticket:
Who is Qualified?
What’s in it for YOU??
A Brief History of Wood Badge and Gilwell Park

Wood Badge For The 21st Century…  Is the ultimate leadership training program for the adult leaders of the Boy Scouts of America. Similar courses on the corporate side cost thousands of dollars per attendee and may not offer the same depth.

Wood Badge For The 21^st Century…  Is a leadership course designed for all adult Scouters.  It is hoped that every Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Varsity Scout, and Venturing leader, as well as council and district leaders and professionals, will take the Wood Badge course within two years of becoming a Scouter.

Wood Badge For The 21^st Century…  Is the ultimate leadership training program for the adult leaders of the Boy Scouts of America. Similar courses on the corporate side cost thousands of dollars per attendee and may not offer the same depth.

Wood Badge For The 21^st Century…  Is a leadership course designed for all adult Scouters.  It is hoped that every Cub Scout, Boy Scout, Varsity Scout, and Venturing leader, as well as council and district leaders and professionals, will take the Wood Badge course within two years of becoming a Scouter.

Wood Badge For The 21^st Century…

• Is open to every adult leader.

• Is based on contemporary leadership concepts used in the private sector.

• Is a cost-effective leadership program.

• Is designed for use in Scouting as well as in the workplace and other volunteer organizations.

• Is a common foundation of leadership skills to be used throughout all program areas.

• Is experience-based learning as well as classroom learning.

• Will be delivered  over two three-day weekends.

The program is divided into 5 central themes:

• LIVING THE VALUES

• BRINGING THE VISION TO LIFE

• MODELS FOR SUCCESS

• TOOLS OF THE TRADE

• LEADING TO MAKE A DIFFERENCE

Learning Outcomes:

 As a result of attending Wood Badge, participants will be able to:

• View Scouting globally, as a family of interrelated, values-based programs that provide age-appropriate activities for youth.
• Recognize the contemporary leadership concepts consistent with our values-based movement.
• Apply the skills they learn from their participation as a member of a successful working team.
• Revitalize their commitment by sharing in an overall inspirational experience that helps provide Scouting with the leadership it needs to accomplish its mission on an ongoing basis.

Course Delivery:

The curriculum is structured to reflect the natural progression of a unit program, building through a series of unit meetings and culminating with a monthly highlight outing.  While the majority of the training is set within the structure of a Boy Scout troop, the delivery method offers a natural bridge to teach leadership lessons applicable to any of Scouting’s programs, including Cub Scouting, Varsity Scouting, Venturing, and District.

The Wood Badge Ticket:

The primary purpose of the Wood Badge experience is to strengthen Scouting in our units, districts, and local councils.  The Wood Badge “ticket” represents the participant’s commitment to complete a set of personal goals relating to that individual’s Scouting position.  These goals will significantly strengthen the program in which the participant is involved.  In addition, the ticket gives participants an opportunity to practice and demonstrate a working knowledge of the leadership skills presented during the course.  Participants should complete their Wood Badge ticket no later than 18 months after the course.

Upon completion of the Wood Badge ticket, as certified by a ticket counselor, the participant will be presented with the Wood Badge certificate, neckerchief, woggle, and beads at an appropriate ceremony.

Who is Qualified?

Course participants must have completed the training courses appropriate for their position within the unit, including the following:

• Boy Scout Leader Fast Start Orientation

• New Leader Essentials

• Position-specific training such as Scoutmaster and Assistant Scoutmaster

• Leader Specific Training

• Introduction to Outdoor Skills (for Scoutmasters and assistant Scoutmasters)

In other words, if you wear a “trained” patch for your position, you are qualified – and encouraged – to participate in the Wood Badge course.

What’s in it for YOU??

Wood Badge will help you improve your role in Scouting.  It will help you focus on your responsibilities, identify a goal, help you work toward that goal – and give you the tools to reach it.  But Wood Badge is more than that.  It teaches how a group develops and how the leader can assist in that process.  It is about the interrelationship of all members of the Scouting family.  It helps identify the connections between the district, the council, and the individual unit.  It shows you how to tie Scouting’s values into unit meetings with outings.  Wood Badge is more than a classroom – it is games and hands-on projects.

You will come away with an appreciation of Scouting’s heritage as well as a dream for the role you will play in its future – the impact you will make on a youth in your own unit at home.

A Brief History of Wood Badge and Gilwell Park

The Beginning of Wood Badge:

Baden-Powell took the first steps in the training of Scouters by organizing a series of lectures for Scouters in 1911.  He made great strides by devising and instituting Wood Badge training in 1919. Wood Badge recipients now number more than 100,000 throughout the world.

The object of the Wood Badge course is to demonstrate as practically as possible the aims and methods of Scouting.  Upon successful completion of the course, the participant receives a parchment certificate and the Wood Badge – two wooden beads worn on a leather thong around the neck.  These beads replicate the beads found by Baden-Powell during a campaign in Africa in 1888.  They belonged to Dinizulu, an African chieftain.  In searching for a suitable recognition for those who completed the first course in 1919 Baden-Powell remembered the beads and decided to present a bead to each participant.  At that time, the course was called “Wood Badge”.

The Wood Badge may be worn only with an official field uniform of the BSA.  The Scouter to whom it has been awarded may also wear the tan neckerchief with its patch of Maclaren tartan at the back.  The Wood Badge neckerchief may only be worn with the accompanying leather neckerchief slide or woggle.

Wood Badge Training Gets a Permanent Home:

In 1919 W. F. de Bois Maclaren, a district commissioner in Scotland, purchased Gilwell Park and presented it to The Scout Association of Britain.  He wanted “to provide a training ground for the officers of the Scouting movement.”  Consequently, Gilwell Park became the permanent home of Wood Badge training in England and annually welcomes Scouters from around the world.  The ax and log symbol associated with Wood Badge is actually the totem of Giwell Park. Recently, The Scout Association has announced that it would relocate its headquarters from London to Gilwell Park.

In 1929, at the Third World Jamboree at Birkenhead, England, Sir Baden-Powell was made a baron by his king, and became Lord Baden-Powell of Gilwell.