The Camping Leader qualification is for people who wish to supervise a camping group and develop participants’ camping proficiency by teaching campcraft activities.
This qualification will be launched on 1st March 2022 and is replacing the Expedition Skills Module, which will cease to exist on 31st August 2022.
A qualified Camping Leader can operate in a variety of campsites, all with vehicle access, including land with no facilities and commercial campsites offering a range of facilities. A qualified Camping Leader who also holds a Mountain Training walking leadership qualification can operate in terrain within the scope of that scheme i.e. journey and wild camp.
The Camping Leader scheme is ideal for those involved with the Duke of Edinburgh's Award, President’s Award and/or Ten Tors training among other things. The skills covered apply to groups using commercial campsites as well as wild camping.
To get started on the Camping Leader qualification you need to meet the following prerequisites:
- You must be at least 17 years old
- You must have some supervisory experience of overnight camping
- You must have a genuine interest in the supervision of groups
If the above applies to you, here's what to do next:
- Create an account on our Candidate Management System or log in if you already have one.
- Register for the Camping Leader scheme (this costs £20)
Camping Leader candidate handbook
Training
There is no formal face to face training component in this scheme. Instead, Mountain
Training has developed an optional online training resource to help candidates familiarise themselves with the Camping Leader syllabus and associated competencies prior to attending assessment. A link to access the training (hosted on teachable.com) will be sent when you register on the scheme.
The online training course covers all elements of the syllabus using a variety of formats such as presentations, videos and quizzes to aid learning. The course will take approximately 4 hours to complete if you engage with the content in all sections. You may revisit the online training course as often as you wish in advance of your assessment course.
The online training also provides you with an outline of how your assessment course will be delivered and ideas for how you might consolidate your learning.
The Syllabus
Camping Leaders should be competent in the following key areas, all of which is covered in the online training course.
- Leadership and group management
- Planning and supervision
- Teaching and learning skills
- Camping equipment
- Camping food and cooking
Detailed information on each of the above topics can be found in the Camping Leader handbook and the onus is on you to be competent in all of them by the time you come to assessment.
Assessment
Before you book onto a Camping Leader assessment course, make sure you have done the following:
- You must be at least 18 years old
- You must have personally undertaken and logged an absolute minimum of five overnight camps, ideally in a variety of contexts.
- You must have assisted with or overseen at least two group camps. If personal camping has only been undertaken when also supervising a group, then these two group camps can be part of the total submitted for personal camping i.e. some candidates may need to log only five overnight camps in total. Reflective comments must accompany the group supervision evidence.
- You must be familiar with the syllabus.
- You must be an experienced self-sufficient camper.
- You must have experience of the supervision of camping groups.
- You must have physically attended and completed (i.e. not online) a first aid course which involved at least one full day or eight hours of instruction and included an element of assessment
The Camping Leader assessment takes place over the course of a day or a number of sessions building up to a minimum eight hours contact time.
Assessments are run by one of our approved providers and a variety of cost packages are available depending on what's included so you can choose one that's right for you.
Dates for 4 or more by arrangement. Please call.