For Parents & Guardians

Parental support is a key factor in helping a participant to complete an Award, here are some hints and tips to guide you.

• Parents/Guardians and other family members can mentor and instruct - but can not be assessors for any of the Sections, except, under certain special circumstances, on Adventurous Journeys.
• Your encouragement will help them complete their Award more than they may let on!
• Service Section activities can not be for family members, they must be for people outside the family.
• Participants work under an Operating Authority (someone licensed to deliver The Programme) this is usually a school or youth group. Each Operating Authority has a coordinator who should be your first point of contact for any queries regarding your young person's Award.
• All the planning and decisions around The Award Sections is up to the particpants, if they get stuck then please feel free to guide them towards a decision but don't let them get you to make that decision for them, decision making is all part of The Award experience.
• If your participant has a problem or question and contact needs to be made, please encourage them to approach their Coordinator in the first instance, however if they need to make contact with our National Office we prefer the participant to talk to us directly, rather than ask a parent to do it for them, as it is far easier and quicker to resolve issues directly than through a third party. This doesn't mean parents cannot call the National Office, we are more than happy to answer your general queries about The Award.