The document discusses the philosophy and principles of Scout advancement. It explains that advancement aims to help Scouts develop physically, morally, socially and spiritually through a progressive series of activities and challenges. As Scouts master new skills, they are recognized through badges and ranks. The document emphasizes that advancement should be integrated into the normal Scouting program and be a natural outcome of participation, not just through tests. Adults play an important role by planning activities that allow Scouts to work on requirements and providing support and encouragement.

1. ADVANCEMENT
“The art of meeting a challenge.”
It invites
•Scouts to master a challenging
series of skills that prepare them
to enjoy the outdoor action
Scouting promises.

2. WE’RE ON THE UPWARD TRAIL
We’re on the upward trail,
we’re on the upward trail,
Singing as we go, scouting bound
We’re on the upward trail,
we’re on the upward trail,
Singing, singing everybody singing
scouting bound…

3. FOUNDER’S LAST MESSAGE
From Lord Robert Stephenson Smyth
Baden-Powell, Founder of the World
Scouting Movement

4. Dear Scouts:
If you have ever seen the play
“Peter Pan,” you will remember how
the pirate chief was always making his
dying speech because he was afraid that
possibly when the time came for him to
die he might not have the time to get it
off his chest.

5. It is much the same with me, and so,
although I am not at this moment
dying, I shall be doing so one of these
days and I want to send you a parting
word of goodbye.
Remember, it is the last you will
ever hear from me, so think [it] over.

6. I have had a happy life and I want
each one of you to have as happy a life
too.
I believe that God put us in this jolly
world to be happy and enjoy life.
Happiness does not come from being
rich, nor from being merely successful
in your career, nor by self-indulgence.

7. One step towards happiness is to make
yourself healthy and strong while you
are a boy, so that you can be useful and
so can enjoy life when you are a man.
Nature study will show you how
full of beautiful and wonderful things
God has made [in] the world for you to
enjoy.

8. Be contented with what you have got
and make the best of it. Look on the
bright side of things instead of the
gloomy one.
But the real way to get happiness is
by giving out happiness to other
people. Try to leave this world a little
better than you found it and when your
turn comes to die,

9. you can die happy in feeling that at any rate
you have not wasted your time but have done
your best. “Be Prepared” in this way, to live
happy and to die happy – stick to your Scout
Promise always – even after you have ceased
to be a boy – and God help you do it.
Your Friend,
(Sgd) BADEN-POWELL OF GILWELL

10. DEFINITION OF
TERMS

11. Scout Advancement
is the movement of Scouts
from their membership status to
the next higher rank in scouting
as a result of individual/Patrol/
Unit activities.

12. Advancement Scheme –
refers to the system of
advancement/achievement for
scouts that follows a progression
from membership, which is a pre-
requisite for admission to the Unit,
to the highest Advancement rank.

13. Advancement badge –
the badge of progression given to a boy
Scout and/or senior Scout as a form of
recognition for passing in a Board of
Review the merit badges and activities
required of a particular advancement
badge as approved by the local Council
Committee on Advancement and Awards
or the National Court of Honor as the
case maybe.

14. Merit Badge –
a badge given to a boy and/or senior
Scout as a form of recognition for
accomplishing and passing the
requirements for a subject or a
particular merit badge as certified by
the Merit Badge Counselor,
recommended by the Council
Committee on Advancement and
Awards’ and approved by the CSE.

16. Board of Review –
a body consists of 3-5 member
Scouters or more, who are familiar with
the advancement requirements of the
sectional program of Scouting and
skilled in a particular field of
study/discipline, preferably members of
the troop committee/council
advancement and awards committee.

18. Court of Honor – refers to both the
ceremony of recognition at which
badges of advancement/
achievement or awards are
presented and also to group of men
who constitute a court that will
present badges of recognition on
awards in a ceremony.

19. Eagle Scout Badge – the highest
Advancement Badge in the
Senior Scouting section that
requires 21 merit badges and 59
activities.

21. Scout Method – system of progressive
self-education based on the interaction
of a number of elements, of which the
most important are the team (patrol)
system, stimulating adult presence, the
progressive system of objectives and
activities, learning by doing, adherence
to the promise and law, symbolic
framework, life in nature, learning
through play and serving others.

22. Group Life – atmosphere in the
Scout Unit, created by the activities
that are carried out and the
relationship that grows up among
its members. It is a function of the
degree to which the elements of the
Scout Method are applied.

23. THE PHILOSOPHY OF
SCOUT ADVANCEMENT

24. The Badge System offers a
series of basic activities to boys,
which will help them to develop
their physical, moral, social and
spiritual well-being and have fun
while doing it.

25. As each boy progresses, he will come
to realize that he is capable of
undertaking increasingly difficult
skills and certain responsibilities
towards other people. Most important
of all, his progress is recognized by
the award of a badge.

27. PRINCIPLES OF
SCOUT
ADVANCEMENT

28. The boy is encouraged to
compete, not against
somebody else, but
against his own record or
his own previous
knowledge and self-
mastery.

29. The boy’s advancement
in rank should happen as
a result of his normal
experience in the Unit.

30. The boy should be given
opportunities to practice
requirements rather than
to be told about it too
often.

31. Various Scout ranks and
badges represent the Scout’s
degree of qualification to be
a good outdoorsman and a
good citizen.

32. Scouts should be informed
about the reasons and purpose
of the advancement
requirements and how these
will fit usefully into their
everyday life.

33. Advancement must be
presented attractively and
be fun. It must be enjoyable
and leading towards a
definite end.

34. Advancement is only a means to
an end as the objective is not to
produce Eagle Scouts or Leaping
Usa Scouts, but men of character,
trained for responsible
citizenship.

35. INTEGRATING
ADVANCEMENT IN THE
UNIT PROGRAM

36. Advancement is an integral part of
the Unit program – both indoor and
outdoor. The requirement for badges
suggests hundreds of Unit meetings,
hikes and camp activities. As Scouts
take part in these Unit programs, they
learn skills and so are helped to
advance. They do not automatically
advance through participation although
advancement is a result of
participation.

37. Advancement is a personal and
individual thing. Each boy advances
according to his own interest and
ability. Each boy advances by his own
capability through personal
demonstration. He does not advance
only by passive participation in the Unit
program.

38. ROLE OF ADULTS IN
PROMOTING SCOUT
ADVANCEMENT

39. The KAWAN LEADER plans and
develop a program of activities integrating
in it the different requirements of a certain
Badge. Applying the play-way method, the
boy accomplishes the requirements
without actually knowing it. Advancement
in this case, comes as a natural outcome of
such activities. The Kawan Leader
provides opportunities for advancement
keeping the natural interest of the boys in
Color Group and Kawan activities.

40. The PARENTS can give inspiration and
guidance to their sons in accomplishing
advancement requirements at home.
Since KAB Scouting is also a home -
centered program, most of the
advancement works of the KAB Scouts
are done at home with supervision of the
parents. For who else can testify that the
boy has done his best in accomplishing
advancement than the parents
themselves.

41. The TROOP LEADER/SENIOR
OUTFIT ADVISIOR encourages
advancement by promoting interest in
mastering the skills of Scouting. He/ She
promotes active participation in
Patrol/Troop or Crew/Outfit activities to
give his/her boys the chance to study
nature, know their environment when
done regularly, provides opportunities
for advancement in rank.

42. The MERIT BADGE COUNSELOR
- the key man in this phase of the
program. He/she is chosen by the
Advancement Committee to help a
boy learn a man’s vocation, hobby or
specialty. He/she is a person who
believes in Scouting and he/she is
willing to give his/her time generously
to help boys learn new skills and earn
the corresponding merit badges.

43. He /she will stimulate the Scout’s
desire to learn by suggesting new and
intriguing facets of the Merit Badges
subjects. He/she must establish himself in
the eyes of the scouts as a friend who is
anxious too be a helpful coach in this
adventure.

44. He/she goes through the requirements
making sure that the Scout
understands what he has to do and hoe
to go about it. He helps the Scout to
set up a work plan with the steps to be
followed. He examines the Scouts
when the work is completed making
sure that all the requirements have
been fully met.

45. The Merit Badges Counselor may on
some occasion stimulate interest by
staging a demonstration before a Unit at
a rally or some other Scouting
functions. While the initiative in
earning a Merit Badges Counselor can
render a valuable service by promoting
interest in the Merit Badges whenever
he/she can in line with good Scouting
practices.

46. ROLE OF ADULTS IN
THE BADGE SYSTEM

47. The success of the Badge System depends on
the involvement of leaders and parents. The
Badge system provides opportunity for
parents to be closer to their sons as they
work together in the completion of certain
tasks or projects.
Scouting is not for boys alone but for the
whole family. Therefore the amount of
interest, cooperation, and support of
parents and leaders will greatly influence
the Scouting life and achievement of boys.

48. ADVANTAGES

49. 1. The advancement program may well be
the most effective tool we have stimulate
in a boy the personal growth we want
him to develop through Scouting.
2. The ranks through which a Scout moves,
and the badges he earns and displays,
serve as a real and highly visible way of
measuring and recognizing his
achievement. Glance at his badge and
you know what he has done.

50. SECRETS

51. 1. The Boy Scout advancement
program is not a sterile and
irrelevant test-passing routine. It is,
rather, a program in which a Scout’s
progress is the natural outcome of
this regular Scouting activities.

52. 2. The quality of a troop’s
advancement can be no better than
the quality of its program. The better
its program, the better its
advancement. So keep your program
rich and exciting – and watch your
advancement keep pace.

53. REFLECTIONS

54. I am the Child
All the world waits for my coming.
All the earth watches with interest
to see What I shall become
Civilizations hangs in the balance.
For what I am, the world of tomorrow will be.
I am the child.
I have come into your world,
about which I know nothing.
Why I came I know not.
How I came I know not.

55. I am curious, I am interested.
I am the child.
You hold in your hand
My destiny
You determine, largely,
Whether I shall succeed or fail,
Give me, I pray you,
Those things that make for happiness,
Train me, I beg you,
That I may be a blessing to the world.
Author Unknown

56. Lord, I am not an important person,
as importance is commonly rated.
I do not have great wealth, control a big business
Or occupy a position of great honor or authority.
Yet, Lord, I someday mould destiny,
for it is within my power
to be the most important person
In the life of a young person.
All about me are young people.
They are the markers of history,
The builders of tomorrow,

57. The people in whose hands the future of our planet lies
If I, by being faithful to the Aims of Scouting
Can become their true leader,
I may prove to be the most important person in their
lives.
Lord, in a hundred years from now, I will be forgotten.
But the world may be a different place
Because of the part I played in the life of a young person.
Please help me to get sure I get it right.