Become an Award Leader
Become an award leader
Award Leaders play a critical role in supporting the personal development of our young DofE Award participants as they work towards their goals. But you also have an opportunity to build your own skill set. As an Award Leader, you’ll gain valuable leadership and management experience that can contribute to your professional development and career progression.
Award Leader roles and responsibilities
Award Leaders are the most important and influential people to our Award Participants. For this reason, Award Leaders have responsibilities to the young people they lead and The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award.
Contribute to developing our next generation of leaders by delivering the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award.
What does an Award Leader do?
An Award Leader is appointed by an Award Centre organisation as the key contact person and mentor for Award Participants – although an Award Centre can appoint more than one Award Leader. While Award Leaders are responsible for delivering The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award in the organisation, larger organisations may appoint volunteer Assistant Leaders to help deliver the Award.
As an Award Leader on the front line of the Award, your role is to engage young people in the Framework by continuing to encourage and inspire them throughout their journey. Whether you are the only Award Leader in an organisation, or you are working with other Award Leaders, you will be individually or jointly responsible for ensuring continuity of the Award Framework, which is usually completed over a 12-month period.
All our Award Leaders will be trained in the features of the Award, so you will be equipped with the knowledge to guide and mentor participants around the Award requirements while helping them set achievable goals and offering encouragement. As the main source of motivation and inspiration for Award Participants, you’ll need to have a positive attitude and the ability to build strong relationships with young people.
As an Award Leader, you must also be able to identify and respond to the varying abilities and pace of Award Participants in an organisation, offering the right support and guidance to those who need it as they complete their journey.
THe advantages of becoming an Award Leader
Makes your resume stand out
With experience managing Award Assessors and volunteers to helping Award Participants organise Adventurous Journeys and volunteering experiences, delivering the Award gives Award Leaders strong leadership, coaching, communication and organisational skills that can help their careers.
Support the next generation of leaders
Becoming an Award Leader provides a great opportunity for adults to guide and inspire the next generation of leaders. Through your work, you’ll be able to contribute to the personal development of young people by helping them to broaden their experiences and build important life skills for the future.
Connects sporting groups, schools and community groups with the local community
By helping Participants find volunteering roles and other local activities like sports, Award Leaders build relationships within their local community that can benefit their Award participants and organisation in the long term.
