With the changes brought in as part of the Volunteer Experience, the Wood Badge is now optional and available to all adult members.

If you are part way through completing your Wood Badge, you can still carry on to the award if, it will be your first Wood Badge. You will now only complete one Wood Badge as an adult in Scouts though you may be asked to undertake some additional learning if you change your role or take on an additional role. So, if you are currently on the journey, please do carry on. Any learning completed previously would be transferred across to your completed learning in the new system provided that it was validated.

At the moment (Nov 2024), to complete the award, you will need to complete any of the remaining modules that have migrated at Transformation. This includes any where the learning may have been completed but was not validated prior to Compass Freeze on 7th November 2024. Not all modules appear in the current scheme, some have been dropped / replaced by elements within Growing Roots and you may have some of those to complete. These will appear in the “My Learning” area of your membership.

Whilst you only complete one Wood Badge, there are currently two paths to follow:

• A Section Wood Badge for all members who work with our youth Sections in delivering our Programme; Section Team Leaders and Section Team Members
• A Manager Wood Badge for all members who are responsible for leading other volunteers; Lead Volunteers (Group, District and County), Team Leaders (District and County)

Some of the learning is common to both paths such as the completion of Growing Roots others, are separate and ensure that the learner is able to apply the learning in their area of volunteering.

So, the Sectional Wood Badge requires your completion of migrated modules and the Managers Wood Badge, the Independent Learning Units and Skills Areas.

The Wood Badge is included within the My Learning area of your membership and accessed by clicking “Wood Badge & Skills” on the top menu.

Your District (County) Volunteering Development Team will be the best people to contact if you are unsure which scheme is right for you.

More Information

If you want to find out how to

• select Wood Badge learning,
• add a Wood Badge to your profile
• complete the Improve Skills and then Submit for Assessment for a particular skill or
• check your progress

All Member Training

To learn more about the Wood Badge (Scouts.org.uk), click below.