Adult Leader Training

Adult Leader Training

Adult Leader training comes in two flavors: 

  • General Training
    • Youth Protection Training (YPT) is required to register as an Adult Leader for all BSA programs! Your YPT certificate is good for 2 years from the date of course completion. It may be taken online or face-to-face (F2F). 
      • Online YPT is found HERE.
    • Wood Badge for the 21st Century
      • This advanced training course is taught in two places in Circle Ten Council:
        - At Circle Ten Camps (taught over two FULL 3-day weekends) 
        - At Philmont Training Center in New Mexico (taught over a Sunday-to-Saturday week in August) 
      • For more information about Circle Ten Wood Badge offerings, click HERE
  • Program-specific Training
    • BSA online training is available for most Adult Leader positions across all BSA programs. 
      • To see the list of position-specific training requirements by program, click HERE
    • Cub Scout Adult Leader Training
      • Position-specific training is taught at strategic times by Five Trails District and other Districts 
        Cubmaster-specific/Assistant Cubmaster-specific training, Den Leader-specific training for Lion, Tiger, Wolf, Bear, and Webelos/Arrow of Light Den Leaders. For the Cub Scout Leader-Specific Training flier, click HERE
        Note: Committee Chair/Committee Member training is available online at the link above.
        Note: Chartered Organization Representative training is available online at the link above. 
      • BALOO is camping-based training for Cub leaders to enable them to take their Pack or Den on an overnight family campout. It is taught at strategic times by Five Trails District, usually at Camp Wisdom, but it may also be taught by other Districts. For the BALOO flier, click HERE. This flier lists the online course pre-requisites for BALOO. 
    • Scouts BSA Adult Leader Training
      • Position-specific training is available online at the link below; training is available for Scoutmasters/Assistant Scoutmasters/Committee Chairs/Chartered Organization Representatives/etc. 
      • SALT (Scoutmaster/Assistant Scoutmaster Adult Leader Training) prepares an Adult Leader to lead Boy Scouts on their trail to becoming a First Class Scout. It is a pre-requisiste for IOLS (see below); attendees form Patrols that will camp together in IOLS. For the current SALT flier, click HERE
        Note: The online training in my.scouting.org (referenced above) has a series of courses which may be substituted for SALT, if desired. 
      • IOLS (Introduction to Outdoor Leadership Skills) is camping-based training which prepares an Adult Leader to lead Boy Scouts who will need advanced skills in order to complete their trail to First Class. It is taught at strategic times by Five Trails District, but is also taught in other Districts. Camping is done with the Patrol that you formed previously in SALT; it uses the same Patrol Method that you should use in your Troop. For the current IOLS flier, click HERE.
      • Merit Badge (MB) Counselor training is available online at the link below. 
    • Venturing Adult Leader Training is online at the link below. 

Options for training include both online and face-to-face opportunities. 

  • Online BSA training
    • Most online training is found HERE
  • Face-to-face opportunities are often run by ....
    • Units (Crews/Packs/Troops)
    • Districts (e.g., Five Trails District, but other Districts offer these courses, too)
    • Council 
    • National (e.g., Wood Badge, National Camping School, National Aquatics School, etc.)  
  • NEW: Finding training offered by other Districts or by Circle Ten Council that is listed in Camp-Master
    • To read this tutorial, click HERE

 

Interesting BALOO Articles

BALOO (Basic Adult Leader Outdoor Orientation) is for Cub Scout Adult Leaders who want to take their Pack and/or Den on overnight campouts. Bryan Wendell, the lead editor for Scouting Magazine has written an interesting article about BALOO. To read this article, click HERE. Scouting Magazine has an interesting BALOO article too; click HERE to read it.  

Requirement for Hazardous Weather Training

As of April 30, 2018, BSA now requires Hazardous Weather Training for all new direct-contact Adult Leaders. This is now a requirement to be "position-trained"! (Note: Existing Adult Leaders who are already "Trained" are grandfathered in, but are also strongly encouraged to take Hazardous Weather Training anyway!)

Which Adult Leader positions are considered direct-contact? Here is the list: 

  • Cubmaster (CM)
  • Den Leader (DL)
  • Webelos Den Leader (WL)
  • Tiger Den Leader (TL) 
  • Scoutmaster (SM) 
  • Assistant Scoutmaster (SA) 
  • Leader of 11-year-old Scouts - LDS (10) 
  • Crew Advisor (NL) 
  • Crew Associate Advisor (NA) 
  • Skipper (SK) 
  • Mate (MT)
  • Post Advisors (AA) 
  • Varsity Scout Coach (VC)
  • Assistant Varsity Scout Coach (VA) 

To take Hazardous Weather Training, do this: 

  • Go to https://my.scouting.org
    • Login using your user ID and password
      • Register for a user ID and password if you do not already have one (and remember it "forever"!)
  • Navigate to the BSA Learn Center 
  • Select Course Catalog (near the top)
  • Enter SCO_800 in the search field to find this course
  • Locate the course SCO_800 Hazardous Weather Training
  • Select Launch Course to start the course
  • Complete the course and then ... 
  • Notify your unit that you are trained by emailing them the certificate for this course

For further information, see this link HERE. Note that the list of direct-contact positions accidentally omits all "assistant" positions, which should be included! 

Note: The course is now retitled Weather Smart Training