On the 23rd November, we were happy to become a part of the Duke of Edinburgh community of awards.
What is the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award?
This Award is a great opportunity for young people to increase their confidence in themselves, participate in creating meaningful change and find their passion, purpose and place in the world, the 3 important P’s.
A pilot for the Duke of Edinburgh Award was launched in February 1956. The idea behind this was to help young boys develop continuously as there was a gap of education between the age of 15 when they left formal education and the age of 18 when they entered into National Service. It was a success and then it developed for girls as well and the number of both young people and organizations involved doubled the first two years. Starting 1980 the age limit extended for young people aged 14 to 24 to be able to be a part of it.
Fresh insights about the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award
Florina Popirtac, our Chief Marketing Officer, participated at the Awards Leaders Course from DofE.
Florina Popirtac on Awards Leaders course: “Award Leaders course from DofE was an Adventurous Journey. I’m am proud to be part of the DofE community and curious to start the first odyssey with the students.
Non-formal education is an essential part of a young person’s development and not just an occasional ‘add-on’. In Spark, we want to develop more than academic knowledge, our vision is to develop the skills and attitude fit for the future in every teenager.”
The course is applicable to all adults in Award roles (whether volunteers or staff), and aims to give you an overview of The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award (the Award). The programme was helpful and made me understand the role and responsibilities, whilst underpinning the Award‘s guiding principles and frameworks.
I’ve discovered various Award roles and the importance of each in the journeys :
Award Coordinators
Award Leaders
Award Assessors
Adventurous Journey Supervisors
Adventurous Journey Assessors
Award Verifiers
The Award can help facilitate:
Development of practical and social skills and personal interests
The provision of service to others within the community
Physical activity pursue enjoyment and refresh health and spirits
Discovery of a spirit of adventure and discovery whilst undertaking a journey in a group.
Across the world, the Award family is dedicated to placing the rights, values, interests and wellbeing of young people at the heart of everything they do.
What can you do with DofE?
You can DO DofE, RUN DofE or SUPPORT DofE.
Do DofE by:
Helping others
Gaining skills
Taking on new challenges
RUN DofE by:
Supporting people in your organizations by enlisting confidence, resilience, team working and some other skills that help young people develop.
SUPPORT DofE by:
Donating
Becoming a partner
DofE in Romania
In Romania DofE was launched in 2013 and since then it was very well welcomed. The patron of the Duke of Edinburgh International Award in Romania is Her Majesty Margareta, Custodian of the Romanian Crown. Now there are more than 1500 adults in Romania as Award leaders, trainers, supervisors and assessors.
They are of great help to the overall aim of DofE helping young people develop new skills and take upon challenges and overcome them. In Romania more than 8000 young people have taken part in this Award.
How do they do it?
The program is all around the country, even in remote areas through government, independent organizations, schools and anyone that wants to support young people.
It is a great opportunity even for people that are a part of a community, to become more confident, feel understood, discover their inner capacities.
Why do they do it?
In this ever-changing world where technology took a toll, young people need to keep up. Sometimes they do not get the chance to really explore their capacities as everything is done through tech.
Being a part of this program will help young people get away from all the technology that surrounds them and learn to live their lives. See the world, see the people, see themselves, form relationships based on trust, take upon challenges and explore.
#WorldReady campaign
Their #WorldReady Campaign wants to raise awareness about the challenges of this globalized world that young people must face. It is important for young people to be ready for the world they live in, to understand it, to see it as it is and help it become better. Moreover, the world needs to embrace young people and let go of stereotyping them with many negative labels that do nothing but cause more shyness and frustrations on the part of young people.
This is a great way to connect adults with young people and show them what #WorldReady means and help them become fit for the future.
Why us?
Starting with the Transylvania College and continuing with other projects related to school and then finally getting to Spark International Hybrid Hgh School, we are happy to be known for going the extra mile, helping students discover themselves and taking upon challenges, being there for them and creating an environment where they can discover the whole person.
We have this award in our Global Awareness program from Transylvania COllege and now, having been accepted as Spark School, we are more than happy to implement it here as well. We are sure we can get to the students core and help them develop the needed skills to become fit for the future.
“The Duke Of Edinburgh’s International Award is a non-formal education and learning framework operating in more than 130 countries and territories around the world, through which young people’s achievements outside of academia are recognised and celebrated.” (Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award)
Conclusion
Supporting young people development, being there for them in this world that seems to sometimes work against them, is essential. Duke of Edinburgh International Award is an excellent way to respond to the necessities our “most precious resource – our young people.”(Prince Edward)
