Young Leaders work towards the Young Leader Award — eleven modules (A to K), four Missions, a stretch of helping hours, and a reflective log. Until now that meant module sheets ticked on paper, helping hours guessed at the end of the year, and no easy way for a leader to see how someone was getting on. The Young Leader Award page brings it all into one place.
Where to find this
- Young Leaders open YLs in the sidebar to see their own Award.
- Leaders and admins open the same YLs page to see a roster of every Young Leader in the group, then click any one to open their Award.
A Young Leader needs their own Scoutworks account to see the YLs page themselves — see Adding a Young Leader. They don't need an account for you to record their Award: see If a Young Leader has no account below.
What the Award covers
| Part | What it tracks |
|---|---|
| Modules A–K | The eleven training modules, each shown as not started, in progress, or signed off |
| Missions One–Four | The four Missions, signed off the same way as modules |
| Helping hours | Time spent helping in younger sections, shown against an optional target |
| Reflective log | The Young Leader's own journal entries, private unless they choose to share |
Modules and Missions
Modules and Missions build on the badge sign-off you already use. Each one shows its status worked out from the badge records you keep — there's no separate list to maintain. A leader or admin signs work off, either straight from the roster or by attaching a module or Mission to an event and signing it off after attendance, exactly as with any other badge.
Young Leaders can't sign off their own modules or Missions — that always sits with a leader or admin.
If a Young Leader has no account
You can still run the whole Award for a Young Leader who has no Scoutworks account. The modules and Missions are ordinary badges, so you administer them from Badges in the same way as any other badge — mark them in progress, attach them to an event, and sign them off. The Young Leader only needs to be a member of your group.
An account only adds the parts the Young Leader takes part in themselves:
| Part of the Award | Needs an account? |
|---|---|
| Modules A–K | No — sign them off in Badges |
| Missions One–Four | No — sign them off in Badges |
| Belt Buckle and Service Award on completion | No — they still reach your awaiting-award list |
| The YLs roster and the Young Leaders tab in Insights | Yes |
| Helping hours, logged by hand or from attendance | Yes |
| The reflective log | Yes |
So an account is not a gate on the Award. Invite the Young Leader when you want the helping-hours tracking, the reflective log, and their own view of how they're getting on.
Logging helping hours
Hours are counted in two ways:
- Automatically — when a Young Leader is marked present at an event for one of the younger sections they help with, a session is created for them, already filled in with the event's start and end time. The Young Leader or a leader can edit it.
- By hand — a Young Leader can add a session that isn't tied to a Scoutworks event, such as a regular weekly meeting: the date, the section they helped, the hours, and an optional note.
Their total is the sum of those sessions. A group admin can set a helping-hours target for the group; once it's set, each Young Leader's hours show as progress towards it (leave it at zero and no target is shown). Hours are there for encouragement — reaching the target isn't required to complete the Award.
The reflective log
The reflective log is private by default. Entries a Young Leader hasn't shared are visible only to them — no adult, including group admins, can read an unshared entry. The Young Leader can share an individual entry with their leaders when it helps support a sign-off; leaders only ever see what's been shared.
Completing the Award
The Award is complete once all eleven modules and all four Missions are signed off. When that happens, the Young Leader gets a completion moment, and two physical badges — the Belt Buckle and the Service Award (with certificate) — are added to your awaiting-award list automatically, ready for you to present. The helping-hours target never holds up completion.
Following progress across your group
The Insights page gains a Young Leaders tab showing your group's Young Leaders at a glance — module and Mission progress, helping hours, who's awaiting sign-off, and who's stalled or nearly there.
District leads get the same tab on the District Insights page, rolled up across consented groups: completion rates, helping-hours spread, who's nearing their Award, and a per-group breakdown.
What Young Leaders see
A Young Leader sees only their own Award page — their modules, Missions, helping hours and reflective log. They can't see other Young Leaders, and the rest of Scoutworks stays scoped to the younger sections you assigned them.
What's next
- Adding a Young Leader — set up the Explorer's account and choose the sections they help with.
- How Badge Tracking Works — the badge sign-off that modules and Missions build on.
- Awarding Badges — signing off and presenting badges across your group.
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What's next?
Related guidesAdding a Young Leader to Scoutworks
How to give an Explorer who volunteers with your group their own Young Leader login, and what they can see once they sign in.
Read articleHow Badge Tracking Works
An overview of how Scoutworks handles badge progress tracking, from requirement completion to awarding badges.
Read articleAwarding Badges
How to sign off badge requirements and award badges to members individually or in bulk.
Read article