Get Qualified

• The starting qualification for all Adventurous Activities is Safe Participant. As a Safe Participant, an adult helper, Leader, Rover Scout, or Venturer Scout has the competence to attend an activity safely. A Safe Participant can’t typically run an activity.
• There are three steps to achieving a Safe Participant qualification.

Step 1 – Obtain the Right Folio (workbook)

Folios (which we used to call workbooks) provide you with one way of demonstrating you have the knowledge and capability to become qualified in a specific area. The Folio is broken into three parts:

1. 1. Part 1 – Pre-Pathway Evidence – details the online training and allows you to demonstrate your knowledge.
   2. Part 2 – On-Pathway Evidence – details what you need to demonstrate to a Guide whilst participating in an activity.
   3. Part 3 – Post-Pathway Evidence – provides a place to review your activity and guide how to log a specific number of activities.

You can access all the workbooks at this location. Note that not all Folios are ready right now. Check with your Regional Commissioner Activities if you can’t find the Folio you need.

Step 2 – Find a Course or Activity

The next thing you need to do is find courses or activities either in your Group or by checking the Find an Activity page. Take your Logbook and complete Folio (workbook). Consult the Guide or Leader on the activity with the qualifications you seek, asking them to check your knowledge and skills. If they think you have the knowledge and skills, they will sign your Folio. If you have to work on points, that’s ok. Find another course or activity and repeat. Once you have logged several activities (usually three), you are ready for the next step.

Step 3 – Request Qualification

Use this Qualification Request Form to request qualification. You’ll need to submit your Logbook, Folio, and other evidence. Check out the Logbook Support Guide. The Form will be routed to an approver, and you may be asked for more information. Once approved, you will receive an email with a qualification certificate you can print, and your qualification will be recorded in Scoutlink.

• The following qualification for Adventurous Activities is a Trained Participant. Trained Participant provides an adult helper, Leader, Rover Scout or Venturer Scout the qualification to lead more activities and assist Leaders on other activities that carry more risk, such as abseiling. You will usually need to be a Safe Participant before requesting Trained Participant. If you have the experience and skills, you can directly request Trained Participant rather than getting Safe Participant first.
• There are three steps to achieving a Trained Participant qualification.

Step 1 – Obtain the Right Folio (workbook) for the Discipline you working on

As part of the qualification, you will need to complete a Core Trained Participant Folio (workbook), common for all activity disciplines, and the specific discipline Folio. Often, you can demonstrate the skills within the Trained Participant Core whilst working on other disciplines. Once completed for one discipline the TP Core does not need to be repeated.

Folios (which we used to call workbooks) provide you with one way of demonstrating you have the knowledge and capability to become qualified. The Folio is broken into three parts:

1. 1. Part 1 – Pre-Pathway Evidence – details the online training and allows you to demonstrate your knowledge.
   2. Part 2 – On-Pathway Evidence – details what you need to demonstrate to a Guide whilst participating in an activity.
   3. Part 3 – Post-Pathway Evidence – provides a place to review your activity and guide how to log a specific number of activities.

You can access all the workbooks here. Note that not all Folios are ready right now. Check with your Regional Commissioner Activities if you can’t find the Folio you need.

Step 2 – Find a Course or Activity

The next thing you need to do is find courses or activities either in your Group or by checking the Find an Activity page. Take your Logbook and complete Folio (workbook). Consult the Guide on the activity with the qualifications you seek, asking them to check your knowledge and skills. If they think you have the knowledge and skills, they will approve your Folio. If you have to work on points, that’s ok. Find another course or activity and repeat. Once you have logged several activities (usually three), you are ready for the next step.

Step 3 – Request Qualification

Use this Qualification Request Form to request qualification. You’ll need to submit your Logbook, Folio and other evidence. Check out the Logbook Support Guide. The Form will be routed automatically to a moderator, and you may be asked for more information. Once approved, you will receive an email with a qualification certificate you can print, and your qualification will be recorded in Scoutlink.

• Adventurous Activity Assistant Guide is a Scouts NSW Appointment available to Venturer Scouts, Rover Scouts and Leaders. It is a pathway to Guide.
• The position description for the Adventurous Activity Assistant Guide is here.
• The first step in becoming an Assistant Guide is to find a Mentor Guide who can help you work through the process. The Mentor Guide will help you find courses and activities to build your skills.
• Assistant Guide requires technical skills such as First Aid and Vertical Rescue for the vertical disciples. You will need to find courses to gain these skills.
• Once you have obtained enough experience detailed in this External Qualifications Evidence Guide for Adventurous Activities, submit required evidence and your Log Book, which must show recent activity using this Guide Appointment Form.  You may already have enough evidence to become an Assistant Guide. If so, don’t hesitate and submit your evidence now! Use this Evidence Checklist for Guides to ensure you have everything.
• Once received, your evidence will be reviewed for completeness (you may be asked for more evidence or detail). Following review, your evidence will be passed to an Assessor who may contact you to discuss your evidence.
• You will receive an external qualifications certificate in the mail, and your qualification will be recorded in Scoutlink.
• You will also receive a certificate stating that you are a Scouts NSW Adventurous Activities Assistant Guide by email. Your new appointment will be recorded in Scoutlink.

• Adventurous Activity Guide is a Scouts NSW Appointment available to Rover Scouts and Leaders.
• The Adventurous Activity Guide can run activities with higher risk. The position description is here.
• The first step in becoming a Guide is to find a Mentor Guide who can help you work through the process and help find suitable activities to allow you to build your skills. You might need to get onto a session of Guiding Adventure, which you can find on the Find an Activity page.
• You may need to gain technical skills, including Wilderness First Aid. You will need to find the appropriate course on the Find an Activity page.
• Once you have completed Guiding Adventure and obtained enough experience detailed in this External Qualifications Evidence Guide for Adventurous Activities, submit the required evidence and your Log Book, which must show recent using this Guide Appointment Form. The evidence for Guide includes multiple examples of planning, doing, and reviewing Adventurous Activities.  You may already have enough evidence to become a Guide. If so, don’t hesitate and submit your evidence now! Use this Evidence Checklist for Guides to ensure you have everything.
• Once received, your evidence will be reviewed for completeness (you may be asked for more evidence or detail). Following review, your evidence will be passed to an Assessor who may contact you to discuss your evidence.
• Once assessed, you will receive an external qualification certificate in the mail, and your qualification will be recorded in Scoutlink.
• You will also receive a certificate stating you are a Scouts NSW Adventurous Activities Guide. You will also receive Guide Tapes to wear on your uniform, and your new appointment will be recorded in Scoutlink.

• Your Adventurous Activity qualifications can be externally recognised through SAIT.
• You will need to collect a set of evidence detailed in the External Qualifications Evidence Guide and submit all required evidence using this Qualification Request Form.
• Once received, your evidence will be reviewed for completeness (you may be asked for more evidence or detail). Following review, your evidence will be passed to an Assessor who may contact you to discuss your evidence.
• Once assessed, you will receive a Certificate in the mail, and your qualification will be recorded in Scoutlink.

• Many Leaders will come to Scouts with significant experience in Adventurous Activities. If this statement describes you, we have a process where you can discuss your logged experience with a Guide who can then award you Safe and Trained Participant. The steps are simple: document your logbook, contact a guide, have a conversation during which the guide will document competencies, and submit the completed documents using the Qualification Request Form.  The prior recognition forms are in this folder including a completion guide.
• Alternatively, you can reach out to your Regional Commissioner for Activities. They will help put a plan together to recognise your prior experience. You may have to submit your evidence and work with an Assessor before having your qualifications recognised by Scouts NSW and possibly, gaining an appointment as an Adventurous Activity Guide.
• Other Leaders, Rover Scouts and Venturer Scouts will have obtained OAS and Scoutskill qualifications and have great recent experience. If this statement describes you, we have a process where you can discuss your logged experience with a Guide who can then award you Safe and Trained Participant. The steps are simple: document your logbook, contact a guide, have a conversation during which the guide will document competencies, and submit the completed documents using the Qualification Request Form. The prior recognition forms are in this folder including a completion guide.