You may of heard of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE), but don't know what it is or whether it's for you. Well, it's for everyone who likes a challenge. Their mission is simple - 'to inspire, guide and support young people in their self-development, and recognise their achievements'. To put it another way, they help you succeed. With the same sense of adventure that drew you to the Air Cadets in the first place, the DofE takes you through a programme of activities that will leave you a more confident, motivated and capable person.We're proud to be the DofE Award's largest participant.

579 Squadron and Detached Flight aim to get every Cadet to at least Bronze Level, with many more going onto complete Silver and Gold. You can start the Duke of Edinburgh Bronze Award at the age of fourteen, and you have until you are twenty-five to complete Gold! A lot of what you do as part of being an Air Cadet counts towards the Award, so most Cadets only have to do the expedition over and above normal Cadet activities.

There are three levels which, when successfully completed, lead to a Bronze, Silver or Gold DofE Award. And it's never too late to get in on the action - depending on your age you may be able to jump straight in at Silver or Gold level!

There are four sections at Bronze and Silver level and five at Gold:

• Volunteering - Get involved providing services to individuals or the community and make a difference to other people's lives
• Physical - Get active and improve your skills and fitness in sport, dance or other physical activities - it's your choice
• Skills - Find new interests and get new talents (or perfect existing ones), with increased practical and social skills
• Expedition - Get outdoors and plan, train for and complete an adventurous journey in the UK or abroad - an unbeatable experience
• Residential - Only at Gold level. Getting to the Gold level is a big deal and this last stage could see you going to another country, sharing tasks and activities with people you've never met. It'll test your mettle, and set you up for what life throws at you in the future

Go for Gold!

It's not a walk in the park. You'll get your Duke of Edinburgh’s Award through persistence and commitment - but as an Air Cadet you'll already know all about that. Over time you'll develop personally and welcome each new challenge. At the end of it all you'll have the world’s leading achievement award for young people under your belt, recognised by employers and universities alike.

But there's one person who'll truly appreciate that achievement the most - you.

The Award is widely recognised by employers and people involved in education. Some of the benefits to young people include developing self-confidence and self-reliance; gaining a sense of achievement and a sense of responsibility; discovering new skills, interests and talents and developing leadership skills and abilities. They can also discover exciting opportunities; make new friends; experience teamwork, problem-solving and decision-making; increase their motivation; enhance their self-esteem and develop their communication skills. They will also, of course, have fun!

The Government has recognised that the Award has a valuable role to play within a young person's personal development. The Award is closely linked with many Government initiatives across the UK .

The Award gives opportunities for young people to:

• enjoy a wide variety of physical, creative and aesthetic experiences which encourage personal growth and development;
• experience new lifestyles and cultures outside their own immediate neighbourhood, possibly abroad;
• experience a variety of learning and teaching styles with people from different walks of life;
• take decisions of increasing complexity and accept responsibility for the consequences;
• discover new talents and abilities and test values and beliefs;
• give a continuing personal commitment of service to others;
• establish and sustain inter-personal relationships;
• negotiate their own personal programme of participation, seeking out and researching relevant information, and gradually take responsibility for their own learning;
• understanding their strengths and weakness, assess their personal level of competence, increase their own personal effectiveness and take responsibility for their own lives having a great time!

FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH AWARD GO TO www.dofe.org

SEE BELOW FOR MORE INFORMATION ON WHATS NEEDED TO COMPLETE EACH LEVEL OF THE AWARD AND THE DIFFERENT SECTIONS WITHIN THE AWARD.

Bronze Award

Cadets must be at least 14 years old to start the Bronze award and can expect it to take a minimum of six months to complete. To complete the Bronze award, cadets must complete a service, skill, physical recreation and plan & prepare for a 2 day venture. Based on an average of 1 hour per week, a cadet must actively take part in a service, skill and physical recreation for 3 months. These can of course run alongside each other and do not have to run concurrently. The minimum age for completing the Bronze award is 14 and a half years. On completion, cadets will be presented with their award by their Commanding Officer as well as a badge to wear on the uniforms.

Silver Award

Cadets must be at least 15 years old to start the Silver award and can expect it to take a minimum of six months to complete. This timeframe is extended for cadets starting the award scheme at this level (Direct Entrant), to 1 year. To complete the Silver award, cadets must complete a service over 6 months, a skill and physical recreation for a total of nine months (cadets can choose to do either for 6 months and the other for 3 months) and plan & prepare for a 3 day venture, while Direct Entrants must undertake an additional 6 months in either the service or the longer of the skills or physical recreation. The minimum age for completing the Silver award is 15 and a half years or 16 years for Direct Entrants. On completion, cadets will be presented with their award by their Commanding Officer as well as a badge to wear on their uniforms.

Gold Award

The Gold award is the highest level in the Duke of Edinburgh Award scheme. Cadets must be at least 16 years old to start the award and can expect it to take a minimum of one year to complete. This timeframe is extended for cadets starting the award scheme at this level (Direct Entrant), to one and a half years.

To complete the Gold award, cadets must complete a service over 12 months, a skill and physical recreation for a total of eighteen months (cadets can choose to do either for 12 months and the other for 6 months) and plan & prepare for a 4 day venture, while Direct Entrants must undertake an additional 6 months in either the service or the longer of the skills or physical recreation.

In addition, Gold participants must also complete the residential element of the award. This involves undertaking a shared activity in a residential setting away from home for 5 days and 4 nights, with people who are not already known to them.

To help cadets complete this section, the annual summer camps are the ideal opportunity, as many camps take two or more squadrons. This means that the participant will be working with people they have never come across before.

There are other avenues available if the cadet or his award leader can arrange it. Other possibilities include youth hostels or sailing ships.

The minimum age for completing the Gold award is 17 years or 17 and a half years for Direct Entrants. On completion, cadets will be invited to either London or Edinburgh to be presented with their award by a key figure, quite possibly HRH Prince Phillip. The cadet will also be presented with a Gold Award badge to wear on their uniforms, usually by their Commanding Officer.

Service

The service section of the award aims to encourage a service to others, from helping people in the local community to taking part in a specialised training course and others that require a national qualification.

The service section aims to help participants to appreciate the needs of others, to accept responsibility, to understand their strengths and weaknesses and to overcome prejudice. All of these are just some of the qualities that Commanding Officers look for in their NCO's.

Participants can choose form a wide range of services which have been categorised into three groups.

• Group 1 - Activities with lots of practical involvement in the community.
• Group 2 - Activities requiring a specialised training course.
• Group 3 - Activities requiring a national qualification.

Participation in the local community is also required for groups 2 and 3.

Service Requirements 

	Group 1		Groups 2 & 3
Bronze	Min 15hrs over 3 months		Min 15hrs (inc 8hrs training) over min 8 weeks
Silver	Min 30hrs over 6 months		Min 30hrs (inc 12 hrs training) over min 16 weeks
Gold	Min 60hrs over 12 months		Min 60 hrs (inc 20hrs training) over min 12 months

Additionally, cadets completing a group 1 service must also:

• Take part in a briefing
• Give a practical service
• Keep a diary
• Review progress
• Record achievements
• Complete a study (Gold Award only)

and cadets completing a group 2 or 3 service must also:

• Complete a course of specialised training and attain the required standard
• Undertake related practical service
• Record achievements

Expedition

The aim of this section is to encourage a spirit of adventure and discovery.

Cadets are expected to plan, prepare undertake an adventurous journey in an unfamiliar, remote environment.

Differing levels of adventure or exploration are required for the different levels of the award and cadets are expected - as part of the award programme - to undertake practice journeys before going on any expedition and also to complete a report of their journey.

Bronze		Silver		Gold
2 Day Expedition or Exploration		3 Day Expedition or Exploration		4 Day Expedition, Exploration or other Adventurous Project
Any rural area		Rural or open country		Wild or open country, remote from habitation

The Training syllabus for expeditions include:

• Safety and Emergency Procedures
• Basic First Aid
• Navigation
• Route Finding
• Map Reading and Compass Skills
• Care of equipment
• Camp Craft
• Country Code

Some of the above components are covered by the cadet's training syllabus, and many cadets will take part in other adventure training activities with the Air Cadets, so they will be well prepared by the time they take part in their Duke of Edinburgh Award expedition.

Definitions:

• Expedition - a venture which has journeying has the key component
• Exploration - a venture with less journeying where more time is spent on first hand investigations or activities
• Other Adventurous Project - a venture of an equally or more demanding nature

Skill

Developing personal interests and learning practical skills is the emphasis on the skills section of the award. With over 200 skills to choose from, there is bound to be something for everyone.

Cadets paricipating in the award get the opportunity to develop their practical skills, to try something different and discover new abilities. At the end of the day, they should enjoy the Skills Section.

The skills are divided into 9 groups to help cadets make the right choice

• Collections, Studies and Surveys
• Communications
• Crafts and Technology
• Graphic Arts
• Life Skills
• Music
• Nature
• Needlecrafts
• Recreative Skills

Skills Requirements

Bronze	6 months
Silver	12 months (Direct Entrants) 6 months (Bronze Award holders)
Gold	18 months (Direct Entrants) 12 months (Silver Award holders)

In order to complete this section, participants should demonstrate:

• that there has been a substantial committment of leisure time.
• the skill has been consistently followed for the required time.
• effort and individual progress have been made within the cadet's capability.

Physical

This section of the award involves participation in physical activity with the aim of showing progress and improved performance. Cadets must achieve set goals to complete this section.

Many cadets choose to do Physical Achievement, however, there are many other options open. Which option a cadet takes depends largely on the level of support available on individual squadrons or whether the cadet is already participating in a sport or activity outside of cadets.

Some examples of the other Physical Recreation options are:

• Archery
• Athletics
• Basketball
• Caving and Potholing
• Cross Country Running
• Hang Gliding
• Rock Climbing
• Rugby
• Swimming
• Tennis

Completing the Physical Recreation section requires cadets to achieve a minimum number of points in their chosen activity, for Bronze, 24 points, Silver 30 points and Gold 36 points. Participants must also have shown effort during their qualifying period, made progress based upon their initial ability and shown overall improvement.

Residential

The residential part applies only to the Gold Level.  This involves undertaking a shared activity in a residential setting away from home for 5 days and 4 nights, with people who are not already known to them.

To help cadets complete this section, the annual summer camps are the ideal opportunity, as many camps take two or more squadrons. This means that the participant will be working with people they have never come across before.

There are other avenues available if the cadet or his award leader can arrange it. Other possibilities include youth hostels or sailing ships.