What we know about the impact of the school and Scouting context on the value-based leadership of the adolescents

Emiliane Rubat du Mérac.  2015

Abstract

The purpose of this study is to understand the impact of the school environment compared to the Scouting environment on the leadership attitudes of adolescents. The ways in which the social context affects the development of leadership attitudes is of special importance in view of the guidelines issued by the OECD, UNESCO and European Union, which envision schools as places of social development. In order to examine the ways in which these different contexts affect leadership development, we used two instruments: the «Educational Con- text Perception Questionnaire» (ECPQ), for the analysis of the adolescents’ perception of their educational context, and the «Socially Responsible Leadership Scale» (SRLS), which measures the Individual, Group, and Social Values of the adolescents, to which we added a dimension of Leadership Capacities. The study was conducted on a judgment sample, consisting of 600 students and 231 Scouts enrolled in upper secondary school in Rome (9th and 10th grades). Path-analyses were conducted to test, for the students and the Scouts, the effects of the ECPQ dimensions on leadership attitudes and capacities and to determine the relationships between the leadership dimensions. Findings revealed different effects among students and Scouts, of the educational context perception on their leadership attitudes and capacities, an effect of the Individual Values on the Group Values and an effect of the Group Values on the Social Values and Leadership Capacities.

Relevance to scouting

This study underscores the unique role of scouting in fostering leadership attitudes among adolescents, highlighting that the scouting environment can have a distinct and meaningful impact compared to the traditional school setting. By analyzing perceptions of the educational context and measuring leadership capacities, the research demonstrates that Scouts tend to develop stronger connections between individual, group, and social values, which enhance their leadership skills. These findings emphasize that scouting provides not only practical experiences but also a social framework that effectively cultivates responsible leadership, complementing formal education and offering valuable lessons for character and leadership development in youth programs.