The Duke of Edinburgh award

These guidelines are of interest to anyone managing expeditions, explorations, practices or training within the remit of the Duke of Edinburgh award scheme.

From April 2004 Plymouth City Council's youth service became the operating authority for the Duke of Edinburgh award, taking over responsibility from Devon Local Authority. The Youth Service Award Officer authorises the use of the award by groups and organisations for young people between the ages of 14 and 25. These groups may include schools, centres, youth centres, further education and higher education colleges, voluntary organisations or city employers.

In addition to the requirements for the award scheme, leaders are required to operate offsite activities within Plymouth City Council's policy for outdoor education visits and offsite activities. The Plymouth award scheme office manages notifications of expeditions and youth work staff who are active outdoor leaders.

Information arising from expeditions is forwarded to the national office and is monitored for safety by Plymouth City Council's Outdoor Education Adviser. Schools' Educational Visits Coordinators need to have been contacted with the details of all offsite activities and may gave their approval on each event of a number of similar events at one time.

Plymouth City Council recognises qualifications from the local south west mountain and moorland leadership scheme and from the national walking group leader or summer mountain leader scheme. Details of these qualifications can be found below:

A progression and confirmation of the requirement for a leadership qualification for each award role is available in this guidance. All staff who train, supervise or assess groups are required to register their qualifications with the award office in Plymouth.

Any Duke of Edinburgh group operating under the Plymouth award licence must adhere to the policies, guidelines and systems described in this section, that apply to all participants (not just those under the age of 18).

Guidelines on the Duke of Edinburgh scheme award can be found below:

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