Special Interest Areas

Special Interest Areas encourage Scouts from all Sections to try new things and pursue existing interests. Scouts set their own goals in one of the six Special Interest Areas, enabling them to design a project that interests and challenges them personally.

Special Interest Areas give young people ownership of their own development. Research tells us that this is important to learning success.

Special Interest Areas build upon skills such as creativity, independence, and problem-solving. They also teach Scouts to set, plan towards, and achieve goals with projects deliberately open-ended and designed to meet the individual needs of each Scout.

The Special Interest Areas provide scope for adaptability and future proofing of the Achievement Pathways. For example, when new and emerging technologies are developed, they can easily be pursued by Scouts without having to create new Special Interest Areas.