Information for Parents, Teachers & Youth Workers

About The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award

The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award was started in 1956 and has been so successful it is now the world’s leading youth achievement award.  The award gives all young people the chance to develop skills for work and life, fulfil their potential, and have a brighter future, which is more important than ever given the current economic environment.  It is widely recognised by employers and further education establishments, as they are requiring young people to have more than just formal qualifications (Tess 2012)

Award Solutions is all about young people’s personal and social development and about encouraging young people to reflect and evaluate the skills and experiences they have gained from participating in the award and transferring them into everyday life, thus developing their confidence and self-esteem.

There are three different awards, Bronze, Silver, and Gold and each award has four sections five at Gold; all must be completed to gain an award.

1. Volunteering is all about making a difference to other people’s lives. This can be achieved as a group or individually and is about inspiring young people to make a difference in their community.
2. Physical is about achieving greater physical fitness through participation and improvement in physical activity.  It is sure to make them feel healthier and to have fun along the way!
3. Skills is about developing practical and social skills and personal interests by participating in an activity which they could be currently doing or trying something new.
4. Expedition section is about developing a spirit of adventure as the young people in groups plan and train for an adventurous journey. They learn to work together as a team, to make decisions and to become self-reliant.
5. Residential (Gold only) this section is about the young people working within a team environment with people they do not know in a residential setting.

Award Solutions can provide plenty of ideas of different activities that young people can participate in to complete a section.

Young people with additional needs.

We have a vast experience of working with young people from a variety of different backgrounds from young people with learning or physical needs through to young people on the verge of exclusion from school. We believe that all young people should have the opportunity to participate in the award and have adapted expeditions to make them accessible to all young people. We are a recognised approved disability specialisation by D of E.

Support to Schools, Colleges, Universities, Youth Groups

We offer a wide variety of support to your group from managing the whole of the expedition section for you to providing additional staff to train, supervise or assess your expedition group. We are a staff team with over 25 years of expedition experience and are happy to talk through with what your requirements are and provide free impartial advice.

eDofE

We also have experience of managing the eDofE system and can provide group or one to one tuition in setting up and managing the system. Once we have it all sorted out you’ll be amazed how easy it is to run and get under control.

Other Awards

We also deliver a number of other awards that can be used as a section for the award.

National Navigation Award Scheme and the First Aid courses can be used for the skill section or as part of the expedition training to provide added value.

National Indoor Climbing Awards Scheme can be used for the physical section

We also deliver the Adventure Service Challenge Award for the pre D of E age range under (14) which will prepare young people for The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award when they are old enough.

Funding

As a registered Charity, we may be able to work in partnership with your organisation in applying for funding to deliver your project.

Volunteers

We are always looking for adult volunteers to help deliver our programmes. By having volunteers helps reduce our costs and enables us to work with more young people. To find out more please contact us to arrange an informal interview. We will require you to have a full DBR check and to provide two references.