Introduction
For over a century, the Girl Guide and Girl Scout Movement has been an important part of the lifelong learning and leadership development journey for millions of girls and women. Today, girls, young women and women in 153 countries meet in the Movement to develop their values, learn relevant skills and grow into themselves.
Girl Guide and Girl Scout organisations offer a rich and varied range of non-formal learning opportunities. Our approach is unique; we use the Girl Guide and Girl Scout Method to create effective self-directed learning environments, and the Girl Guide and Girl Scout Leadership Model to support purposeful leadership practice for all ages. From when they join the Movement, girls follow their own path at their own pace. They commit to their personal development by promising to “do their best” and to follow the Guide Law, in an individual journey based on the original aim of the Girl Guide and Girl Scout Movement: “character development towards happy citizenship”1 and shaped by the context and approach of their national Member Organisation. Many of our members continue on this journey into adulthood. They keep growing as leaders, role models and active citizens, and some stay in the Movement as volunteers to empower oncoming generations.
This century-old approach to values based personal growth and learning has never been more relevant. Creating a sustainable world will rely on a cultural shift in education towards lifelong and lifewide learning. People who identify as learners at every stage in their lives (lifelong), and who can draw learning from all the dimensions of their life (lifewide), will be better prepared to face the volatile realities of today. By valuing lifelong and lifewide learning, we are creating a better foundation for valuing the unique context, perspective and contribution of each person; essential if we are to harness our diversity towards positive global change. Learning alone is not enough; by prioritising personal growth as rounded human beings, we will not only gain the knowledge and skills we need to sustain us in the future but be better prepared to apply it across our lives and share it with others. This takes reflection, resilience, agency, and a capacity for purposeful leadership.
The Girl Guide and Girl Scout Movement’s vision is an equal world where all girls can thrive. Our Movement can be a force for meaningful change in the world through every youth and adult member we have prepared to lead towards a more sustainable, equal future. We can only do this, however, if we are ready to learn and grow as organisations too – so we can offer the most relevant and transformative opportunities to girls and young women, and the adults who support them.
1 Education in Love in Place of Fear, Robert Baden-Powell 1922
About Growing and Learning
Growing and Learning is a Learning and Development Framework for both youth and adults in the Girl Guide and Girl Scout Movement.
It sets out the unifying concepts that define quality learning and development in Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting, connecting us as a Movement working together towards a shared educational purpose.
Growing and Learning aims to:
- Explain our approach to creating quality learning experiences for youth and adults
- Define shared growth outcomes for how Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting contributes to the lifelong learning journey of its youth and adult members through different paths.
- Help us be coherent and consistent in the way we deliver Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting
- Enable us to collectively explain the positive impact of Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting
Using the Growing and Learning Framework
Growing and Learning is most relevant for decision-makers, specialists and stakeholders supporting the youth programme and/or adult learning and development.
The WAGGGS Constitution and Bye-Laws require MOs to have “a programme using the method of the Girl Guide/Girl Scout Movement and designed to meet the needs of girls and young women of different age groups, adequate leadership and a suitable training programme”. WAGGGS has always offered policies, resources and services to support quality educational programmes for youth, and leadership training for adults. Growing and Learning replaces previous WAGGGS policies related to educational programme and adult training, learning and development.
MOs can use it to review and strengthen their own youth programme and adult learning and development offer. The WAGGGS Global Team will use it to inform development of our international programmes and activities. It will support all our organisations to recognise our strengths, identify areas for improvement, and, through the growth outcomes, describe our collective impact.
The Framework has two parts:
Part One: Policy and Concepts Growing and Learning Part One describes the characteristics of quality Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting, defines our approach to learning and development and identifies the growth outcomes all learning and development experiences in Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting should contribute to. It includes WAGGGS’s latest thinking about the shared concepts at the heart of our Movement, and extends them to support quality learning and development in a modern context.
| Part Two: Guidelines and Pathways Growing and Learning Part Two explores the growth outcomes in more depth at different stages and roles within Girl Guiding and Girl Scouting. It explains how Member Organisations can adapt and apply the framework appropriately in their work both with youth members and adult members. It also sets the process and checklist for Member Organisations to have their learning and development frameworks accredited by WAGGGS. |
Growing and Learning proposes a common framework to unite the educational efforts of Girl Guide and Girl Scout groups and organisations around the world, and to connect our work to what we know today about how human beings learn and grow. Its principles, however, allow for adaptation. They act like “game rules”; there are many ways of achieving the goal, but these are the parameters within which we all play. Each organisation should implement it to fit their context and situation, acknowledging the different roles of youth and adults in their organisation and considering factors that influence their members’ experience such as cultural values and traditions, the socio-economic context and geographical spread of the organisation, as well as organisational strategy and priorities.