Young Leaders programme adult information - The Duke of Edinburgh's Award
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By running the Young Leaders programme, you help put young people at the heart of your DofE centre. Working alongside them, you’ll help them develop leadership and personal skills.

Young Leaders work with their adult DofE Leader to choose which activities to support. They give peer-to-peer support and help other participants achieve their DofE.

Taking part in the programme is free for you and the Young Leader.

Training

Before they get started, Young Leaders do online training with the DofE. This includes the Young Leader Introduction Pathway and an online group Action Planning Session with DofE staff and other Young Leaders. The training is designed to help them make the most of their role.

After training, the Young Leader will agree with you what activities they’ll help with. They’ll also do the Inclusion module and at least one extra module of their choice to support their role.

At the end of their six to 12 months as a Young Leader, they’ll attend an Exit session to achieve their Young Leader Certificate.

Resources

You’ll find all our Young Leaders resources in the Resource Centre. This includes the tools you need to nominate and support young people and info on what Young Leaders can do.

Young Leaders programme resources

If you have any questions, speak to your Operations Officer or email [email protected].

How to nominate Young Leaders

Step 1
  • The DofE centre chooses up to four Young Leaders through their chosen method.
  • In eDofE, the DofE Leader selects ‘Invite for Young Leader’ on the young person’s participant profile.
Step 2
  • The young person gets an email inviting them to complete the online registration form.
  • For under 18s (16 in Scotland), parental permission is automatically requested.
  • After completing the form, the young person gets confirmation that we have their registration.
Step 3
  • When we have parental permission, Young Leaders get details for their new eDofE Young Leaders account within a few days. They log in and add their basic information to change the status from ‘new’ to ‘active’.
  • Their learning platform account is created the day after their eDofE account becomes active.
  • Young people access the learning platform using their email address as their username and using forgotten password to set up their account.
  • They can then see their Introduction to the Young Leader Pathway.
Step 4
  • Young people attend an online action planning session and get a pin badge in the post.
  • Young Leaders meet with their DofE Leader to agree what activities they’ll take on.
  • Based on this discussion, Young Leaders pick their extra training modules to support their activities.
Step 5
  • Young Leaders finish their chosen extra modules on the learning platform.
  • Young Leaders do their activities under the guidance of their DofE Leader.
Step 6
  • Young Leaders can exit the programme after six months and finishing at least one extra module.
  • Young Leaders book onto their Exit session via the learning platform.
  • After finishing the online Exit session, they get their Young Leader Certificate.

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