There have been several occasions in the last year where Unit Councils have faced challenging situations which are not currently addressed in the Scouts Australia Youth Program Handbook. As a result, the following guidance is being provided to all Queensland Units until such time as a nationally consistent position is provided through an update to the Program Handbook.
Key Points:
- When a Unit Council awards an achievement, they are considered complete and count towards the Youth Member’s Peak Award progress without further review.
- A fundamental element of the program is “Personal Best”, so no two peak award efforts will be identical
- Moderation / Quality Assurance must happen EVERY TIME an achievement is signed off – NOT at the end of the Peak Award.
- If a member of Unit Council has a real (or reasonably perceived by others) Conflict of Interest or may be otherwise biased in their decision making, they are to remove themselves from Unit Council for the topic on which they are conflicted.
- If a Unit Council is unable to function, the Unit Council is to seek the support of their Adult Leaders (including Group/ District / Region Leaders) who can provide advice and / or seek another Unit Council to make a decision on the original Unit’s behalf.
- If a Youth Member disagrees with the decision of Unit Council they should initially discuss this with their Unit's Adult Leaders to understand how the current the decision was made. The Adult leaders will (as appropriate) then either :
- Support the Youth Member to update and resubmit their achievement to the Unit Council,
- Provide coaching to Unit Council to review their decision, or
- Seek support from their section’s District or Region Leader (who may ask another Unit Council to review and decide on behalf of the original Unit Council).
The Unit Council is a function of the Youth Program.
The primary functions of the Unit Councils are to develop programs, review plans and award achievements and activities within the Youth Program. How this operates in practice varies between sections under the “Youth Leading, Adult Supporting” principle.
It is important to note that when Unit Councils award an achievement (such as a Special Interest Area (SIA) or Outdoor Adventure Skill (OAS) stage), they are considered complete and count towards a Youth Member’s Peak Award progress without further review. If a Youth Member completes all of the individual components required of the Peak Award, then the Peak Award is awarded. There is no additional review stage when an application for the Peak Award is submitted. It is therefore important that the Unit Council ensures that the required achievement standard has been met and appropriate process followed at the time of awarding each youth program achievement.
It must be noted that Unit Council is the decision-making body. Actions of individual members, eg those who approve achievements in Scouts | Terrain, should be reflective of the Unit Council view. Individual members of Unit Council cannot award an achievement without the Unit Council meeting to make that decision (whether that be in person, by technology or correspondence). While Scouts | Terrain is the electronic record keeping system of achievements, any awarding of achievements in Scouts | Terrain by individual Unit Council members without agreement from the entirety of Unit Council are therefore considered invalid and should be reset to “Improve” by other Unit Council members.
The Unit Council will review activities as part of the Plan> Do> Review> cycle and may identify behavioural issues amongst participants that are great learning opportunities for self-improvement. Unit Councils can provide this feedback appropriately. However, all issues relating to reportable incident must be managed by Adult Leaders using the appropriate policy and procedures as required for that situation.
- Example, a “youth on youth assault” is a reportable incident and must be reported and managed (including any disciplinary outcomes) by that process. It is totally inappropriate for the Unit Council to manage or determine outcomes in this situation.
Conflicts of Interest
A “conflict of interest” occurs when a person may have a real or perceived bias when making a decision. For Unit Councils, this could include (but not be limited to):
- An Adult Leader solely approving or verifying an achievement award for their own youth.
- A youth member approving or verifying an achievement for themselves.
- A youth member approving or verifying an achievement for a person they are in a relationship with.
- Any person being part of an achievement decision where they are unable to be objective and impartial in their decision making due to past interactions with the person submitting the award.
- Example: a youth previously bullied the Unit Council Member.
- Example: the adult leader doesn’t like a youth’s behaviour and has an actual or perceived bias against the youth.
These examples are not all deemed to be conflicts of interest in every instance but highlight areas where potential conflict should be considered.
It is important for the Unit Council to operate without any undeclared Conflict of Interests, and for the Unit (and broader Scouting Community) to have confidence in its’ fairness and objectivity when deciding when to award an achievement. If a member of Unit Council has a real (or reasonably perceived by others) Conflict of Interest or may be otherwise biased in their decision making, they should excuse themselves from Unit Council for the topic on which they are conflicted.
The action by a Youth Member of identifying this situation and abstaining from Unit Council is to be congratulated as it demonstrates a level of maturity and desire to maintain the integrity of the Unit Council process, as well as a prime example of “living by the Scout Promise & Law”.
If an Adult Leader identifies that a Unit Council member (youth or adult) is conflicted for the decision at hand, it is appropriate for that Adult Leader to provide respectful counsel and encourage the conflicted Unit Council member to abstain or remove themselves from Unit Council for the duration of that decision. This may result in the Unit Council not having sufficient participation and unable to function for that decision (refer next topic).
When a Unit Council is unable to function
There may be times when a Unit Council cannot make decisions due to conflicts of interest or insufficient members attending. In these situations, the following principles should be followed:
- The Unit Council should consider if deferring Unit Council to the next available opportunity is appropriate (example, Illness is preventing sufficient Unit Council members attending)
- If an Adult Leader is conflicted, they should seek another Adult Leader to replace them (either from within their Group, or their section’s District or Region Leader).
- For all sections, the adult leaders within the home formation (most commonly the Group but may be District for older sections) should provide coaching to the Unit Council and guide the Unit Council towards an appropriate action.
- The home formation leaders may also support their Unit Council to seek assistance from the next formation up – for Joeys, Cubs, Scouts and Venturers this will be the relevant section District Leader or Region Leader; for Rovers this will be Queensland Branch Rover Council. In this instance another Unit Council will be identified and asked to review the achievement award submission and make the decision on behalf of the original Unit Council.
Disagreements with Unit Council Decisions
There may be occasions when a Youth Member disagrees with the decision of Unit Council about a decision on their achievements. If this occurs, the Youth Member should initially discuss their disagreement with their Unit's Adult Leaders to understand how the current the decision was made. Following this initial discussion, the Unit’s Adult Leaders are to then (as appropriate):
- Assist the Youth member to resubmit their award achievement to Unit Council with any required additional detail after performing any required actions; and / or
- Assist the Unit Council with their decision-making process; and / or
- Seek the assistance of the District / Region sectional leaders who may
- provide support, guidance and coaching to the Unit Council, and / or
- ask another Unit Council to review and make a decision on the achievement award.
If the matter remains unresolved and further support and escalation is required, the Unit’s Adult Leaders are to contact the Sectional Branch Commissioner for a review. The Branch Commissioner may seek the counsel of the Assistant Chief Commissioner Youth Program as required and appropriate.
Questions?
Questions from Adult Leaders about this guidance should be made to the appropriate sectional Branch Commissioner or Branch Advisor initially. If required, further advice can be obtained by them from the Assistant Chief Commissioner Youth Program, National Youth Program Team and others as required.