Famous theorists part 2- Robert Baden-Powell

Hey everyone!

Here is part 2 (of 2) of my famous theorists blog, today i'm looking at Robert Baden-Powell; "made famous for his contributions to scouting" Infed [online] accessed 18/1/12. He was a soldier in the Boer war and the founder of the boy scout movement, however I will be focusing on him in terms of being an educational innovator.

His educational innovations came through the concept that "a boy is not a sitting down animal" Baden-Powell, P (1908:1). Although many of this theories can now be discredited through the creative-destructive nature of other, more realistic concepts, at the time he was to many an innovator in his own right, introducing and implimenting new innovative concepts that he had used in the army to younger children, such as 'learning through doing' and 'obeying orders' Baden-Powell, P (1909:3). In 1989 his concept of 'learning through doing' was investigated by Dr Montessori, whose research proved that 'by encouraging a child in its natural desires, instead of instructing it in what you think it ought to do, you can educate it on a far more solid and far-reaching basis' Infed [online] accessed 18/1/12. From this alone it would be just to call him an eductional innovator- he took a concept used within the army and implimented it on his Boy Scouts movement; and by introducing this concept to the right target market (young children), he turned it from an invention to an innovative educational concept.

 However, he did more than just impliment his finding from the army onto his own scout movement, he also studied literatured based around educating young men, looking into physical culture through to cultures within African tribes and "John Pounds methods on educating in ragged schools" Rosenthal, M (1986:64). He was the first person known to impliment other authors educational concepts into his scout movement successfully, he knew from his previous experiences what concepts would work with younger children and this led to the huge success his Boy Scout mvement, concepts which are still being implimented to this day.

 Although discredited by some as being outdated, at the time he utilised these methods (1900s), they were apt for the children he was teaching and for the cultural environment at that time.




Reference list

Baden-Powell, Robert. Scouting for Boys (London: Horace Cox, 1908:1). Republished as The Official Handbook for Boys, (BN Publishing, 2007)

Baden-Powell, Robert. Scouting for Boys (London: Horace Cox, 1909:3). Republished as The Official Handbook for Boys, (BN Publishing, 2007)

Infed [online], based up the works of:  Smith, M. K. (1997; 2002; 2011). 'Robert Baden-Powell as an educational innovator', the encyclopedia of informal education, found at: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-bp.htm, accessed 18/1/12

Rosenthal, M. The Character Factory. Baden-Powell and the origins of the Boy Scout Movement, (1986:64) London: Collins