Learning and Development Standards
Introduction
The learning and development of Scouters, both volunteer and professional staff, is an essential element of the Scouts Canada brand and Canadian Path. The purpose of the Learning and Development Standard is to ensure that educational and development programs for Volunteers and employees support the delivery of Scouts Canada’s mission, strategic plan, Canadian Path implementation and other key priorities. In addition, the standards facilitate the effective management of risks and have sufficient rigor to meet evidentiary standards of formal inquiries / investigations should they be required.
Our Standards
1. The Standard applies to departments, functions, Councils, employees and Volunteers of Scouts Canada
2. The overall objective of this Standard is to enhance learning, performance, and risk management in Scouts Canada Operations through effective and efficient learning and certification programs. This will be achieved through the design, development, and delivery of learning solutions, and certification programs provided to members, as well as through the provision of post-development support provided to learners.
3. A formal process is in place to ensure Scouts Canada employees and Volunteers are competent to perform work by identifying competency requirements, assessing competency against those requirements, and implementing development and certification / recertification processes to ensure minimum competency requirements are met for mandatory learning programs.
4. (Mandatory) Required Actions:
- National shared service / functional teams and departments shall conduct periodic reviews of Scouts Canada program, risks, processes, regulatory requirements, incidents and / or performance gaps to identify where new and / or improved learning and certification programs are required to achieve priorities and targets.
- All learning and development programs / solutions shall be aligned to defined Scouts Canada program and business goals, plans, and learning and performance outcomes.
- Required competency, certification, and qualification levels and associated performance standards shall be defined for each (volunteer) role / (employee) job within Scouts Canada.
- Scouts Canada Program & Volunteer Services will be responsible to validate that competency requirements align to regulatory, industry, and Scouts Canada standards, practices, and priorities.
- The development of all mandatory learning programs and solutions shall be coordinated / contracted through the Scouts Canada Program & Volunteer Services team (Volunteers) or Scouts Canada Human Resources team (employees).
- Learning and / or certification programs shall not be developed, nor deployed, without the consultation and approval of Scouts Canada Program & Volunteer Services (Volunteers) or Human Resources (employees).
- A designated learning record / portfolio shall be maintained for all Scouts Canada members for mandatory learning programs.
- Learning and Development records, including the records of participants in these programs and all certifications awarded, shall be managed through Scouts Canada Program & Volunteer Services (Volunteers) or Human Resources (employees).
- An online Learning Management System administered by the Scouts Canada Program & Volunteer Services team on behalf of Scouts Canada will serve as the system of record / source of truth for volunteer development and certification information.
- Delivery of learning and development shall be evaluated periodically to measure effectiveness and conformity to Scouts Canada policies and practices
- The effectiveness of learning processes, programs, and solutions shall be evaluated on a regular basis to:
- measure the performance of the program relative to the objectives
- measure the financial cost, people utilization, and resource consumption relative to the program’s impact.
- ensure currency of content, alignment to requirements, and optimized program delivery.
