Introducing the New DofE Residential Requirements
The Residential section is a key part of a young person’s Gold DofE – giving them the chance to challenge themselves, gain valuable life skills, embrace new experiences, have fun and meet new people.
Participants find themselves in a new environment, surrounded by people they’ve never met. Together, they take on challenges, expand their horizons, and work as a team to make a meaningful difference.
Since August 2023, we’ve been reviewing the Residential section to understand its benefits and the challenges it presents. Through a combination of virtual and face-to-face focus groups, with DofE Leaders and participants, eDofE data analysis and surveys, we’ve gained valuable insights into the real and perceived barriers young people face when embarking on a residential as part of their Gold DofE.
We’re pleased that our review has shown that the Residential section continues to be a valuable part of Gold DofE programmes. Our key themes of being away from home, in an unfamiliar setting and undertaking a shared purposeful activity are still considered essential to the experience.
But many of our Leaders and participants across the UK felt that reasonable adjustments could be made to support young people’s individual needs and help overcome barriers to taking part, whilst still meeting the intended outcomes.
Based on these insights, we’re making some changes to help ensure the Residential section is inclusive, accessible and has in-built flexibility. With no changes to the fundamental elements of the section, the updates we’re making are focused on increasing access – so that more young people can benefit from experiencing a residential as part of their Gold DofE.
These will come into effect from 1 February 2025.
The key changes to the section are:
- The ‘Considerations’ will now become ‘Requirements’, in line with the updates we made to the Expedition section in 2023.
- Flexibilities are available within the Residential Requirements to ensure that participants with specific individual needs can access the section.
- The Residential Requirements will offer everyone the option of splitting the residential into two equal blocks.
- There will be more flexibility around who a participant can know on a residential, provided the majority of young people are unknown to each other.
- We’ll introduce a consistent approval process for residentials through eDofE.
The refreshed Requirements will offer more choice to participants, making sure those young people who might otherwise have had limited options can choose a residential that meets their needs.
Running DofE Residentials
Read and understand the new Residential Requirements in full here. The Requirements have been written for participants, but also provides useful information for DofE Leaders and parents and carers. We have created the guidance in partnership with our UK Youth Ambassadors to contain information they believe is essential for participants to know ahead of their residential.
Running DofE Residentials also has a section for Approved Activity Providers and organisations wishing to offer DofE participants residential opportunities. This describes the best practice to ensure that an opportunity aligns with the Residential section’s Aims, Outcomes and Principles.
Watch Back: Increasing access to DofE Residentials: What the latest changes mean for you
We had a fantastic response to our webinar, Increasing access to DofE Residentials: What the latest changes mean for you, with 460 colleagues from our network joining us across two sessions.
These sessions, held in January 2025, were designed to help DofE Leaders understand the changes to Residentials. Jackie Bull, the DofE’s Director of UK Operations, was joined by DofE staff involved in the research and development of the updated requirements to explain what’s happening, why these changes were made, and to answer questions from attendees.
