To be frustrated by DofE requirements

[Frenchcremefraiche]

My daughter has just turned 15 and is trying to complete (well, START tbh!) her Bronze DofE.

On paper it's fine: learn something and do some volunteering.

In reality it's really, really hard! All suggestions appreciated!

There are so many exclusions to the skill requirement. She doesnt get home from school until 6 which limits evenings. Not that there are many lessons/groups after school anyway. Then there are so few activities that count as a skill on the weekend. Anything vaguely "sporty" doesnt count as a skill even if it's something she's never done before and is going to classes to learn it (eg ice skating). She's been doing online guitar lessons but because she started those before DofE, they dont count. There is a minimum hours requirement and Ive found a few in person classes but they arent long enough. It needs to be something in person because it needs to be signed off so teaching herself or doing something at home wont count.

Then volunteering, because of her age, very few places can help. Any informal groups that are willing to take her want a parent present because they cant take responsibility for her / arent DBS checked etc which I get but obviously she doesnt want me hanging about. It has to be a regular thing so she cant organise eg an afternoon litter pick. Plus she needs someone to sign it off anyway. She looked at helping at a local beaver/scout group but one said no and the other has her ex boyfriend helping so she said no. In her naive 15year old way she wont help at brownies because they are "sexist".

Any suggestions on what she can do? She's on the verge of having to quit because she cant meet the requirements.

She doesn’t sound mature enough for DofE.

Some volunteering options you can do in schools (school agreeing obviously!) my school is a boarding school so lots of students need to volunteer in house, so to speak.

• Help out in the school lap techs. Ours sorted equipment, tidied trays etc…
• Clean white boards, just go round from class to class on a lunchtime or 2.
• Organise a litter pick/ lost property/ recycling group at school (crisp packets can be a good one as there are often lots in a school and usually not collected / recycled)
• Help out in the school library
• volunteer to help with the junior sports teams
• if the school has a primary prep part then offer to be a play buddy for the younger years if break times are the same.

For the skills - online courses definitely count. https://www.dofe.org/do/skills/?id=1 . The IBM ones look useful https://www.dofe.org/shop/ibm-course-packages/ . There is also no reason it has to be a new skill, continuing her guitar lessons should absolutely count.

Food banks accept DoE award kids as volunteers I've heard. Not all but worth a try.

I’ve signed off cooking for loads of kids and never been there in person. Just photos taken each week. Tbh as long as she has someone to act as the assessor then her school doesn’t even need to agree to it- how will they know? They are being v picky.

Same with a litter pick- she could do it weekly, keep photos of her doing it weekly, then ask someone local in the community to sign it off.

Dont ask permission from school- just do it. There is no such requirement for face to face supervision from d of e themselves

Apologies if this has been suggested already but could she volunteer as a mother’s help type thing for a neighbour? I did this for my bronze albeit 25 years ago now - went round for a couple of hours, played with the little girl for a bit, gave her her dinner (the mother was around of course and prepared it), bathed her and got her ready for bed. If she lived near me and offered this I’d be delighted to take her up on it!!

Also there are often parents and teenagers asking about volunteering opportunities on our local Facebook groups, and they will get various good suggestions from other parents or from local groups who can offer placements. parkrun is a great one but they do need to be able to get there.

My DS has just finished his bronze.

The volunteering was easy - he did it at his primary school after school club and helped out. Also, speak to your local old people's home and ask if they'd like a weekly volunteer - so many residents are very appreciative of someone to have a game of scrabble with or chat to. If there's a sport she already does then she could help with it. A local charity shop often take people, particularly independent ones.

For the skill, she can join a group at school. My DS did a languages group that they ran (and they had to go into a primary school and do language lessons). An evening languages online course? Learning sign language? There are so many free online courses where you get a certificate at the end. Plenty of free courses on Open University!

Look at volunteering at parkrun or junior parkrun, a consistent hour a week, lovely people and can easily be signed off :)

Is she learning the guitar online via a teacher or via YouTube? Or similar?

Because I can see how teaching yourself via YouTube wouldn't count tbh.

I used guitar for mine too but I had proper lessons and my goals were based on taking exams. I'd been learning since I was 10 so you really can develop an existing skill.

I really feel that the devil.is in the detail here.

This suggests online guitar lessons would count: https://www.dofe.org/opportunity-finder/article/mk-guitar-tuition-guitar-music-theory-lessons-bronze-silver-or-gold-skills/

Dd has just completed bronze. She volunteered at a charity shop in town for two hours each Saturday morning, she did this for six months. For her skill we found an online sign language course recommended on the DofE website. It cost £1. She could complete any time for an hour a week and it was signed off by an assessor at the end.

Dds school start when they are in year 9 so she had to wait until she was 14 to start in the charity shop. We walked around several one Saturday morning asking if they would take volunteers, dd put her name on a waiting list for one, and filled out some paperwork so she could start as soon as she was old enough. School did have options for volunteering within school at various clubs or in the library but dd didn't want to do that, so she motivated herself to ask in charity shops instead.

You can do an existing skill - she could focus on improving a particular aspect of her guitar playing. Or any other skill that she wants to do at home, and find a friend or a teacher who will assess her. We always have DofE kids bringing in home baking for us to taste as their assessor!

For volunteering, are there no clubs at school she can help out with? Year 7 homework/prep? Putting out chairs for assembly? Helping to coach a sports team?

Charity shops often make age exceptions for d of e candidates and use their own insurance.

Some of the more recent restrictions are absurd. Olympic sports like shooting are not sports according to DofE. Singing in a church choir is now not volunteering. I doubt Prince Philip would have agreed with either of these. Your child can, however, get someone to sign off on independent activities. Duolingo or baking could be a skill. Running can be a sport. Helping in the local church or library or visiting an old people’s home can be volunteering.

@Friendlygingercat I have a couple of online stores and a website so a checkable company presence

If your business is profit making, then this is one thing that isn't actually allowed - they are not allowed to volunteer for profit making companies. I think partly because it's not in the spirit of helping society and it may also break slavery laws(?). I only found this out because my older DD wanted to volunteer for her local gymnastics club, but it's a profit making organisation so couldn't.

At our school they just had to document their skill -my child did baking - then the teacher would look at the photos etc and sign it off.
But they didn’t tell us tgat till we spent ages looking for someone to sign it off, so its worth checking!

My two older kids had their DofE cut short by the pandemic, one completed bronze but not silver, the other didn't get to complete bronze.

They're got until their 20s. I did my gold sport at uni and finished my skill at evening classes. On my gold expedition, we had open candidates with us from outside our group (they came to all the planning meetings and practice expeditions.) If people still want to do it, they can. The only ones who would have been cut short by the pandemic would have been those who reached the upper age limit during the pandemic, which wouldn't have been anyone at school at that time.

In fact, it can be easier once you're over 18 - there are more volunteering options open to you and so on. I was glad I got my expeditions out of the way while still at school, but back in my day, the county organiser would help find groups for those who had that bit to complete.

Why doesnt she ask the library if she can do anything to help rather than reading stories! Has she asked all her school teachers/librarians if she can help at lunchtimes? Have you spoken to any of her friends parents to see if their kids have been told the same thing about dofe.

I suggest she doesnt do it as you still have the expedition to sort and how will you get her to presumably remote locations with early drop offs with all her kit without a car unless you both adopt a can do approach.

As a teacher I’ve signed off lots of skills for students entering my STEM competitions, I don’t need to sign each week, just that they have done the required hours (I think it is 13 in total) and have gained skills.

There is a miscommunication somewhere. At her age I would usually leave it to the teenager, but as wires have got really crossed, reach out to her tutor and ask for some assistance.

yes your school sounds very draconian!

My DS did cake decorating making for his skill - got a family friend to be the assessor and he would send pictures to her - voila, job done on the skill.

For volunteering he sent weekly postcards with a message and picture he had drawn on the front to the care home where his grandfather was - we then got the care home manager to sign off the volunteering.

My DS is cycling for his Bronze DofE physical activity. He takes a photo of his odometer when he sets off and one when he finishes. Emails the photos to his DofE supervisor who signs it off. Strava or similar would do the job of an odometer.

He is volunteering on the weekends at a local heritage railway though, through their Youth Development Club so admittedly, that is a bit niche.

I like the idea of a charity shop though. Might explore that for DS if he goes on to Silver.

Singing in a church choir is now not volunteering.

Could be a skill though.

Sorry if someone has already asked but maybe volunteering in the awful care home would actually be a good option. For an hour a week I’m sure it’s doable for her and might actually bring some joy to the people who have no option but to live there.

What about knitting or crocheting baby blankets or hats for your local birthing units? Or a few 1:1 language classes done online with a tutor?

Why on earth not! Why would they claim that learning can only happen with a teacher? Isn’t this award all about self development?