“It’s all fine, Sir!” – how to help your pupils get their Duke of Edinburgh’s Award back on track
Between the initial enthusiasm of signing up for DofE and the focus of expeditions, Coordinators and Managers can spend a lot of time trying to help students organise and complete their other Award sections. Nick Ashbee, Head of Education at Energy Sparks reminisces on how he tackled this challenge as a teacher, and shares our programmes that can help you address the volunteering section…
As the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award coordinator at my school, January/February was the time when I would do a quick check on students’ progress across the Award.
There was always that teacher inkling that there were probably a few who had not started – or at least not logged – any evidence of their skills or volunteering activity…despite their youthful and confident assurances that everything was under control! (This was the same inkling that struck a month before every geography course work submission deadline.)
And so, through quick exchanges with students in the corridor at break time and after school, I would identify gaps or where efforts had stalled, and then it would be all about supporting them to get going again.
For me that meant quick meetings with the librarian, Head of PE, and other colleagues who might be in need of an extra pair of hands for the next three to six months – perhaps to help run an after-school club or to support younger readers.
Like many coordinators, I wanted to help my DofE participants complete their volunteering sections before their after-school DofE sessions became expedition-focused and the smell of methylated spirits and boil-in-the-bag meals permeated the school as students practiced their campcraft.
I knew that some students’ enthusiasm for completing the other sections would wane once the expeditions were over in June and July, so this term was the last chance to get students back on track.
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If you have students who need to get going quickly on their volunteering section, and your school is signed up with Energy Sparks, then we can help!
We have recently launched our new Duke of Edinburgh’s Bronze and Silver Award volunteering programmes; these have been structured to help participants get started and then have some flexibility that allows them to focus their efforts on what they want to do, so they have some ownership and responsibility too.
By completing and logging activities on our website, participants can have a clear record of their progress to help with their evidence log.
You can find more details here. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact education@energysparks.uk.
