By Ben Soltau
Once hailed as the largest youth education movement in the world, Scouting has experienced a historic downfall in the past few decades along with the rapidly changing cultural, economic, and technological zeitgeist.
Scouting was founded in 1907 by British war hero Lord Robert Baden-Powell. The movement began in the United Kingdom before spreading worldwide, reaching Australia in 1908 after Baden-Powell’s bestseller Scouting for Boys, the fourth-highest-selling book of the 20th Century, was published.
After almost 120 years, Scouting has grown into one of the world’s largest youth development movements, with girls joining Scouts Australia in 1973. However, it is well known that Scouting around the world has been in decline for decades.
“The issues are the same as what they always were, recruiting and then retaining,” said Jim Baldwin, Sydney North Regional Commissioner for Joey Scouts Australia. “The numbers drop off quite dramatically once they start at high school and drops off again once they get to age 15.”
Scouts Australia is split up into five age groups: Joey Scouts (5-8), Cub Scouts (8-11), Scouts (11-15), Venturer Scouts (15-17), and Rover Scouts (18-25). The popularity of the program differs from age group to age group.
“The Cubs section seems to be pretty stable, Joeys goes up and down, you get a number come in, they’re all from the one school, they’ll come in and join and then two or three years later they’ll all go up to Cubs,” said Baldwin. “And then you’ve got the problem of retaining kids from Cubs through to Scouts and then on to Venturers.
“The numbers seem to be increasing but it’s mainly in the Cubs section.”
The competition against boredom busters such as the internet, more modern forms of extracurricular activities, lack of leadership volunteers, rising costs, and sexual abuse allegations over the years, have propelled the movement into further obscurity.
“COVID had a real dramatic impact where we weren’t able to meet, only meet online, and then kids coming back after that: they didn’t,” said Baldwin. “So more recently the emphasis on recruitment has been at that age of eight to 10-year-olds rather than 11 to 14-year-olds.
“The issue with Joeys, which is now five to eight, parents are tied up with work. Leaders are always an issue.”
The cost of admitting your children into Scouts has also been rising.
“To join Scouts now is going to cost about $500 to $600 and then you’ve got on top of that any of the activities: Cubs going to Cuboree or Scouts going to Jamboree, that’s a pretty hefty cost to parents.”
The Scouts Australia organisation has endeavoured to promote an increased application rate across the board for years, though with mixed success, with advertising pushed in theatres and the organisation mostly encouraging word-of-mouth-based promotion, such as “bring a friend”.
“I don’t think they’re doing enough. They’re pushing it back down to groups individually,” said Baldwin. “Who are they reaching? They’re not reaching the people that are going to make decisions.”
With the downfall of third spaces, accessing youth attention can be done in two primary ways: schools and social media.
“A lot of schools have now gone paperless,” he said. “Their newsletters are online, so you can’t hand out leaflets or flyers through the classrooms. So how do we make ourselves visible?”
The easiest way to reach youth in the modern day is through social media and Scouts Australia does have its own social media guidelines, which can be found here.
The main issue with this approach is that Scouts is inherently a program that dissuades the use of social media in preference towards face-to-face connection and outdoor activities, providing an innate conflict with the needs of the times.
Baldwin joined Scouting after his son got involved and has been there ever since.
“For me it’s fun. I get to do the things that I never did as a kid,” he said, further emphasising the positives that he believes the program still provides.
“They can develop themselves in whatever way that they wish in a safe environment. Rather than teaching specific skills associated with a sport, you can develop any of those skills within Scouting. But at the same time, we’re broader than that and trying to provide them with the techniques for managing risk generally.”
The not-for-profit Resilient Youth Australia 2025 survey showed that Scouts aged 8-18 were more self-confident, more sociable, more proactive, had higher self-esteem, read more books, were less likely to use devices overnight, and were more likely to confide in others when upset than their peers.
The future of Scouts in Australia and across the globe is uncertain, but until then leaders like Jim Baldwin will be there to help youth members develop the skills they may need.
And, from Jim himself, a message to all: “Enjoy yourself, have fun, be adventurous.”
Featured image: Lord Baden-Powell meets Queensland scouts in 1911 (left) and a stamp commemorating the 1952-53 Jamboree which saw more than 11,000 scouts gather in Greystanes. Photos: The Queenslander/CC/picryl, Wikimedia Commons
