THE BEGINNING OF WOOD BADGE
On the morning of Sept. 8, 1919, 19 men dressed in short pants and knee socks, their shirt-sleeves rolled up, assembled by patrols for the first Scoutmasters' Training Camp held at Gilwell Park in Epping Forest, outside London, England. The camp was designed and guided by Sir Robert Baden-Powell, a 61-year-old retired general of the British Army and the founder of the World Scouting Movement.
When Baden-Powell was looking for a token to award those who went through the Gilwell-based training course, he remembered the Zulu necklace that he had found when on campaign in South Africa during 1888, and the leather thong given to him by an elderly African at Mafeking. He took two of the smaller beads, drilled them through the center, threaded them onto the thong and called it the Wood Badge.
The first sets of beads issued were all from the original necklace, but the supply soon ran short. Subsequently, one exercise on the early courses was to be given one original Acacia bead and be told to carve the other from hornbeam or beech. Eventually beech wood beads became the norm and for many years were made by Gilwell staff in their spare time. Again in the early days, Wood Badge participants received one bead on taking the practical course at Gilwell, and received a second bead on completing the theoretical part (answers to questions) and a set period of in-service training.
THE HISTORY OF WOOD BADGE IN THE UNITED STATES
Although an experimental course was conducted in 1936, Wood Badge training was officially inaugurated in the United States in 1948. Since that time it has grown and developed, thereby becoming an integral part of the training of volunteer leaders in the Boy Scouts of America.
For 10 years, Wood Badge courses were conducted by the Boy Scouts of America exclusively for the purpose of training representatives from councils in methods of training and how to help with the leadership training programs of their own councils. Participants were required to subscribe to an agreement of service to this effect.
Since 1958, qualified local councils have been authorized to conduct their own Wood Badge courses to provide advanced leadership training for scoutmasters and other Scouters who support troop operations. With regional approval, two or more local councils may also cooperate in conducting this training experience through a cluster-council Wood Badge course.
In the late 1960s, the principles of leadership development were introduced experimentally into Wood Badge. By 1972, they had become an integral part of the program. The skills of leadership were emphasized in Wood Badge as a means of fostering the growth of up-to-date leadership knowledge, skills, and attitudes among Scouting's leaders. By the late 1970s, Wood Badge had evolved. Revisions completed in 1979 provided a continued emphasis on leadership skills, balanced by both Scoutcraft and program activities.
The course content was revised in 1994 to incorporate key elements of Ethics in Action introduced into Boy Scout training and literature between 1991-1995. Boy Scout Leader Wood Badge reinforces and supplements the materials included in the Scoutmaster Handbook, the Scoutmasters' Junior Leader Training Kit (1991), the Junior Leader Training Conference Staff Guide (1992 and 1995), Continuing Education for Scout Leaders (1993), the Train the Trainer Conference (1993), and Scoutmastership Fundamentals (1994). A new version of Wood Badge was introduced in 2003, which further instilled its relevancy and legacy in preparing and training leaders to provide advanced training in the most current methods of the Boy Scouts of America.
Read more about the history and elements of Wood Badge on our course website or on the Wood Badge website at www.woodbadge.org.
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