The Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme

 

Air cadets across Merseyside are discovering the challenge, adventure and fun in participating in the Duke of Edinburgh Award Scheme. The scheme is open to anyone between 14 and 25 and is available in 3 levels: Gold, Silver and Bronze. Each level requires willing cadets to develop new skills, reach new physical standards and complete an expedition.

 

The Duke of Edinburgh's Award (DEA) is a wide-ranging programme involving an awful lot of cadets in the Air Training Corps. In fact the Corps is the single biggest supporter of the award. You should ask one of our squadron's officers about participating in the award; it is a lot of fun and often its stuff at ATC that you enjoy doing that can count towards it.

 
  The DEA scheme is available to everyone aged between 14 and 25 to take part in, and is divided into three levels: Bronze, Silver and Gold. At each level you have to complete four sections (except for Gold which has five). Those sections are:
  1. Service
  2. Skills
  3. Physical Recreation
  4. Expeditions
  5. Residential Project (Gold Only)

Award Levels

 
  Each of the levels show an increase in the length of time it takes to complete them, and also the difficulty. You can go through each level separately, or if you are feeling particularly adventurous you can go straight in at silver or gold level. After completion of each level you will receive a corresponding badge which you can proudly wear on your uniform.

1- Service

 
 

This section of the award can take quite a while to complete (3-12 months depending on level) but is not really very hard once you get into it. Just choose something you enjoy doing! If you like working with animals try helping out at the local animal shelter, if you like children, the local youth club or Sunday school. It all counts! If you're having trouble, speak to your squadron staff, they should be able to point you in the right direction.

2- Skills

 

 

 6-18 months can sound a little daunting at first but when you look into it you see that really its not that hard at all. How many of you do an activity such as fencing, sailing, or even playing a musical instrument, they all count. What about shooting with your squadron? You can do that for your D of E award as well.

3- Expeditions

 
  With the sections aim to encourage the spirit of adventure and discovery this is often the most fun part of the award. You can either carry out an expedition (a journey with a purpose) or an exploration (a purpose with a journey).

Both can be carried out by horseback, riding, cycling or on open water as well as the traditional method, by foot. The length and duration of the expedition varies between award levels.

On completion of the expedition you have to submit a presentation, written or spoken to the assessors about your journey and what you discovered about the topic you were studying along the way.

Before you go on the expedition you first have to complete the training necessary for the chosen method of transportation and complete a practice expedition. It is also possible to do some other kind of adventurous project as long it meets the guidelines set in the award office.


4- Physical Recreation

 
 

If you're in the Air Training Corps then you should have no trouble finding something to do. Does your squadron do canoeing, swimming, cycling, squash or any other physical activity throughout the year? If the answer is yes (and I'd be surprised if it isn't) then just how hard can it be to take part in one of these?


5- Residential Project

 
  This section is aimed to broaden your experiences through involvement with others in a residential setting. There are four categories which a project could fall into: service to others such as work with youth or relief organisations or community projects; activity based weeks such as creative or outdoor adventure courses; personal training for example coaching / instructional courses or leadership courses; and finally conservation or environmental work. The project should last at least 5 consecutive days away from home in an unfamiliar environment.

This is often one of the most enjoyable and challenging part of the entire scheme.


Duke of Edinburgh's Award and the ATC

 
  The DEA was first introduced on a trial basis in 1956 and a few years later was opened to the entire Corps. Since then hundreds of thousands of cadets have gained awards and a large proportion of cadets now take part in the award scheme.

Although once you have started you can do different sections with different groups other than the ATC, a lot of what the average cadet does can count towards the award.

Participant Testimonial

 
  "Having completed my bronze and 75% of my silver and some of my gold, I can say that it is one of those things that has to be done whether in the ATC or not. Also make sure you take advantage of being in the ATC, but don't go over the top, half of the sections I completed were through ATC, by doing it all with cadets can get a bit boring and can defeat the aims of the award. One further piece of advice would be to start from Bronze and do all three awards instead of going directly to Gold at 16. You have ten years to complete all three awards which is plenty of time even with a year break here and there, and besides you will have a better time doing all three and in the end it looks better on your C.V. to have all three, it shows commitment and determination."

                                    


     For further Information:

    www.theaward.org

SGT D Chapman