Voices of Fostering

Jon - Duke of Edinburgh's Award for Young People in Care

• National Fostering Group

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Did you know that 97-99% of young people who do the Duke of Edinburgh's Award access it through school? But what about children in care who may move schools, change placements, or simply don't feel it's for them in a traditional setting?

In this inspiring episode, we sit down with John, who heads up DofE expeditions at National Fostering Group. With 30 years of experience in outdoor education, John shares how NFG's partnership with the Duke of Edinburgh's Award is creating life-changing opportunities for young people in foster care—and their foster families' birth children too.

Whether you're a foster carer, work with young people, or simply want to understand how programs like DofE can change lives, this conversation will inspire you.

If you would like to find out more about fostering please visit our website here.

If you have any questions that you would like to be answered on our next episode email podcast@nfa.co.uk

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Helen:

Hello and welcome to this episode of Voices of Fostering. Now, you may not be aware that the National Fostering Group partner with the Duke of Edinburgh's award, the DofE to offer bronze, silver, and gold awards to our young people and foster parents, birth children age between 14 and 24. It builds confidence, skills, and aspirations through activities like volunteering, physical, and expedition challenges. Now, I'm delighted today to be joined on the podcast by Jon who heads. The DofE expeditions and other amazing opportunity. So welcome, Jon. Hello?

Jon:

Hello, Helen. Hi there.

Helen:

Thank you so much for joining us. It's lovely to have you on. So, Jon, can you just start by telling us about, uh, your, um, history with the Duke of Edinburgh? Really, how, how long have you been involved? How did you get into it? You know, tell us all about it.

Jon:

Well, it's, it started probably about 30 years ago when I, I've been teaching outdoor education, uh, in various forms is everywhere from like freelance instructor to expedition leader. Um, and for about 20 of those years I worked in education. So I worked in fe ag colleges and um, and schools as well. So I've kind of always known about. Uh, duke of Burgh Award. Um, and then when I came out of full-time education, I started working for, uh, expedition companies and outdoor centers, uh, as a expedition, uh, DofE expedition. Supervisor and assessor, and then it just built from there really. And I went to work for the DOV for a couple of years as an operations officer. Um, and then when I left there, I kind of joined NFG part-time and I was working part-time in a school as a DOV manager as well. My daughter's done it, so I've seen it as a parent as well. So I've seen it from lots of kind of angles, et cetera. So I was really kind of excited about kind of getting involved with NFG and, and offering it to a different, um, group of participants, really.

Helen:

Yeah. And I, I think the Duke of Edinburgh Award is a bit of a household name, but for anyone who maybe doesn't understand what, what does it involve, Jon?

Jon:

Well, it's been around now for nearly 70 years. 70 years next year. Um, so it involves, uh, sections, uh, four types of activities, five at gold. So, um, you have to do your volunteering, physical and skill activity, and an expedition, uh, bronze, silver, and gold. And at gold there is an extra section of. Which is a residential section where they go away and they focus on one activity for a week or so doing that. Um, and it's really, it's different timescales. You start at 14 to kind of do bronze or year nine when you're at school, so could be 13, 14, um, and then you can kind of work up through the, the bronze, silver, and gold till you're 24. There was a cutoff of 24. Um, but you kind of do those, you can start at any level as well. So if you kind of missed out, um, or didn't feel it was for you at 14, you can come in and do it. You can start silver at 16 if you wanted to, or even gold at 16 if you really wanted to, if you felt more comfortable doing it there. But really the award hasn't changed since it was brought out. You know, 70 years ago, you have to, you have to do some volunteering for a certain amount of time. That time gets, uh, increased as you go up the levels. So for bronze that you may do three months for silver, you may do six months, and then for gold you may do 12 months. So you do your volunteering, physical, and skills. And then generally you do your expedition on the end. And the expedition is slightly different for each level as well. So, so yeah. And you kind of. Do what you want for the d different sections. So where we talk about volunteering, there's lots of different kind of things to do for it. You know, everything from, you know, helping out old people on the streets, you know, or young people on the street. It's helping out at the clubs that they go to, volunteering with older, younger groups. So they, they kind of learn to be coaches, you know, with dance club, working with the juniors or just helping the club out behind the scenes working in, um. Charity shops, things like that, you know, so there's a whole host of different things, you know, the same goes for, for the physical and the skills as well. So there is a huge amount of choice of kind of different activities. And obviously as more activities develop over the years, they've become part of it as well. So DJing, you can do that for your skill as well. Wow. So that was never in there 70 years ago, but it's now. Yeah. You know, so it's, it's evolving slightly. Doesn't, yeah. You're

Helen:

moving with the times. Brilliant. So you're now offering this. To, uh, children and young people in foster care, and also their foster parents', birth children as well. So how did that collaboration come about and why did you feel it was so important to do?

Jon:

Well, 90, about 97, 90 9% of young people who get involved in the Duke and Bene Award do it through school. And you know, our young people who go into care, they don't necessarily have that kind of opportunity because they move schools or they move, may, may move placement. Um, well, they just feel it's not for them. You know, they start a school, they don't necessarily have. Have developed the friend groups when they go to, to schools, um, so they don't have the opportunity or don't feel like they want to sign up. Um, so that's why we offer more of a bespoke program. You know, they can sign up at any time. It, most of the kind of stuff they do in schools is. They sign up in September, October, and then they work through on an annual basis. They can come to us at any time. So if they're not ready in September, but they kind of feel ready in January, they can sign up with us and they can play catch up, you know, and we, we offer that opportunity to them. Um, so that's why it's there. But then. The things that you said at the start, you know, the things, you know, we don't want our young people to miss out on these opportunities 'cause they do help, uh, develop resilience and, you know, kind of work on their wellbeing to help develop, you know, good physical activity, uh, programs for their life. You know, so it's all those things. We just didn't want them to miss out really. And it is a fantastic thing. They can. It's a globally recognized, uh, program so they can go anywhere in the world and if they want to go to university, if they want to kind of go in and get a job, they've got a certificate where they can sit there and they can hand over the certificate and you know, not nine times outta 10, the people sat in front of them. Were interviewing them. We'll have done DofE will know about DOV. Somebody will have done it in their lives. So it gives them that opportunity to kind of have a nice, relaxed conversation without that kind of pressure of a normal interview. So it hopefully will get them through the door, you know, and kind of give them something, some sort of common thread to talk about.

Helen:

Yeah, and you talked about some of the, the benefits there, but what benefits do you see after the award's finished? You know, not just for, obviously for any children or young people doing it, you'll see benefits, but particular for children or young people who have been looked after being in the care system. How can it help them?

Jon:

It helps them, 'cause it kind of takes them outta the bubble and it, and it kind of, it, they are just one of 300,000 young people who sign up to do DofE. They're not somebody who's in care. They're, you know, they're not kind of the one who's not doing DofE at school. It kind of just. I know it takes away the label, but it does give them another label 'cause they're a D participant. But that's, you know, a. Sit in the community as well. So when they do the volunteering, it kind of gives them that reach out to kind of where they're now based or where they're kind of centered now. So it, you know, this volunteering section gives them that the physical kind of works on their, their will wellbeing and their, their fitness. Um, but the skill obviously gives them something that they can develop and might be something that they've always wanted to try and never obviously had the opportunity. So there are. A massive range of it for our young people. It's just an opportunity to kind of maybe meet people from who are in the same situation from different areas. So when I run an expedition, it may be that I, I have young people from different agencies and just run it centrally. So they get the opportunity to actually talk informally, um, through a shared experience with other. Uh, people in care. So there's that advantage as well. But it, I think the flexibility of the program is, the key one is they're not part of a conveyor belt. They work with me, you know, I kind of try and mentor them through the program and also the DE leaders in, in the agencies help them kind of go through that process. So they, they get to talk to people about different things rather than, you know, the kind of. Usual things. They're worried about school, they're worried about their care situation. They can actually just talk about DofE and focus on that. So it's a really positive thing for them going forward.

Helen:

And what sort of feedback, Jon, do you get from foster carers about these opportunities? What do they say about it?

Jon:

Uh, they, they love it because they, they kind of see a difference. You know, I've wor, I've got a group that I've, uh, doing gold this year that I've worked with since they just did bronze, so I've kind of worked with 'em all the way through. So it's been a really nice, kind of, really nice positive experience for me and for them to kind of work close together to kind of work through this and the carers kind of see that and the kind of feedback when I meet them. You know, prior to taking one expedition, you know, they tell me what they've been up to. You know how they've kind of changed, you know, how they're a little bit more out, uh, outgoing and they've kind of tried to do more things, but it, I think with the carers, it gives them something to talk about with the young person. So something really positive, you know, and with me to kind of work through it. Um, so I. The carers really like it. And I, and I love working with the carers 'cause they, they are such positive people, um, and they really want the best for, for our young people. And they see that through DOV they see that there's an opportunity for them to, to progress and kind of. Get something positive done, uh, and just try different things, really.

Helen:

Yeah. So, Jon, do you see the Duke of Edinburgh in practice having a real, um, impact on the outcomes of children in care?

Jon:

Yeah, I mean the DofEs done its own kind of feedback and, and research, you know, and the things like wellbeing, which is a massive thing these days. You know, physical exercise and the kind of grounding in the community, which is all things I think are really key to our young people, um, going forward. And I, fantastic thing. They've got this kind of belonging at. Yeah, I, I think, I think, you know, we've just gotta keep developing it. We've gotta keep kind of, get the young people going with it and, you know, help them kind of go, uh, you know, do the things they want to do, you know, if they want to go to university. It's a fantastic thing to kind of put on your, on your CV to kind of go through or your application for that as well.

Helen:

You know what, Jon, you're absolutely right what you just said there. You cannot underestimate the sense of belonging. That is so important, isn't it? And that's what DofE gives young people.

Jon:

Yes, definitely. And, and you know, one of the key things is the teamwork, because when they do their expedition, they're in a small bubble. You know, they, they don't necessarily have the kind of wifi contact that, that they normally do. They're in this bubble. They've got jobs to do, they've got to navigate, they've gotta look after each other. They've got be able to put their tents up, they've gotta be able to cook their food. So they're, they're kind of working together. And, and you know, the groups that I'm working with, you know, try to stay together as they go through. So if they've done bronze in a group, they try and sort of, you know, the first question is, can we do this as silver together? And you know, the gold group I've got is kind of developed as well through, you know, some of them have worked together at Silver and now they're kind of working through a goal process. And that's, that's fantastic, isn't it?

Helen:

Jon, it is been lovely to speak to you. Thank you so much for sharing your experiences with us and keep up the good work.

Jon:

Thank you. I'll do, I'll do, I love it and uh, hopefully the young people will continue to love it as well.

Helen:

Thank you so much for joining us for another episode of Voices of Fostering. If you'd like to find out more, head online and search National Fostering group and make this the year you foster.