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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Horus Kol (talk | contribs) at 12:23, 6 February 2007 (rewrite - scoutcraft was around before BSA). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Scoutcraft is a term used to cover a variety of knowledge and skills required by people seeking to venture into wild country and sustain themselves independently. The term has been adopted by Scouting organisations to reflect skills and knowledge which are felt to be a core part of the various programmes, alongside community and spirituality.

Robert Baden-Powell, the founder of the Scouting movement, first began forming his idea for a programme of training young men in Scoutcraft whilst serving in the military. After the Second Boer War, during which he put many of his ideas into practice, Baden-Powell set about writing a new book, Scouting for Boys, which was published in 1908. This was removed from his earlier, more military orientated works, but kept the idea of Scoutcraft as a core part of the Scouting programme.

Scoutcraft is still a core part of many organisations' programmes. The Scout Association of the United Kingdom lists the following benefits of Scoutcraft:

• 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

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 Campsite
• Signaling
• Swimming
• Tent Pitching
• Use of Compass
• Using Axe in Camp
• Wildlife

See also

References

1. "Scoutcraft and Adventure" (html). ScoutBase UK. The Scout Association. 2005. Retrieved 2007-02-06.

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