When did DofE start and who set it up? A fascinating history of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
On 9th April 2021 it was announced that Prince Philip passed away at Windsor Castle at the age of 99. Prince Philip was an extraordinary man who achieved much over his lifetime. I hope that in this article I pay fair tribute to his incredible commitment to youth in his founding of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award.
As most people are aware, DofE stands for Duke of Edinburgh, which is the title of Prince Philip, Queen Elizabeth’s husband. However, the story of DofE, from how it was founded to who was involved in setting it up, is lesser known, yet truly fascinating. In this article I go through the (brief) history of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, from its the origins of its concept, to where it is today.
The Duke of Edinburgh’s Award (DofE) was founded in 1956 by the Duke of Edinburgh, Prince Philip. The Award was inspired by the County Badge Scheme — a project created by Kurt Hahn, a German-born Jew who established two of the schools attended by a young Prince Philip.
The Concept: Kurt Hahn & Prince Philip
The concept of the modern-day Duke of Edinburgh’s Award all started with Kurt Hahn, a German-born, Jewish educationalist who founded several elite schools over his lifetime, and who was forced to flee to the UK in 1933 after speaking out against Hitler’s treatment of communists.
During Hahn’s time in Germany, he had founded (and been headmaster of) Schule Schloss Salem — one of the most elite schools in Europe to this day — which was attended by a young Prince Philip in 1933. Then, after being exiled to the UK by the Nazis, Hahn founded Gordonstoun, a school in Scotland based on the same principles and philosophy as Salem. Prince Philip followed, moving to Gordonstoun after only two terms at Salem.
During his time focusing on Gordonstoun, Hahn created the ‘County Badge Scheme’ (also known as Moray Scheme): a new organisation aimed at helping British youth improve their fitness, enterprise, tenacity, and compassion. Participants would engage in challenges involving map and compass navigation, athletics, rescue training, and mountain expedition, in a bid to “defeat their defeatism”. Hahn also required students to take part in service projects, such as mountain rescue.
Over the coarse of its earlier years, the County Badge Scheme managed to find some local success, fuelling Hahn’s ambitions to take the scheme nationwide. This ambition, however, was put on hold with the beginnings of World War II, and was not revisited until the early 1950s when Hahn approached Prince Philip, his former student, with the suggestion of reviving the County Badge Scheme.
Prince Philip is quoted as saying in regards to Hahn’s intention to revise the scheme, “I was very interested in the idea … I could see that some such ‘achievement-based’ programme … might be a valuable tool for all organisations involved in the development of young people including schools.”
Prince Philip continued, “I offered to chair a committee … [which decided] to respond to Hahn’s four major concerns about the development of young people. He was concerned about the decline of compassion, the decline of skills, the decline of physical fitness and the decline of initiative.”
Thus, off the back of the committee put together by Prince Philip, the scheme was broadened to include four separate sections, known at the time as “Rescue and Public Service”, “Pursuits and Projects”, “Physical Fitness”, and “Expedition”, and began to regain popularity.
Kurt Hahn’s Six Declines of Modern Youth
Over Hahn’s lifetime he observed ‘declines’ in the proficiency of the young generation in a range of abilities, which are collectively known as the Six Declines of Modern Youth. These six declines — and more importantly the ‘antidotes’ Hahn proposed to combat them — contributed significantly to the aims and structure of the County Badge Scheme, and in turn the DofE Award as it exists today.
In my opinion, these declines are even more relevant today than they were in the mid 20th Century. The six declines laid out by Hahn are:
Decline of Fitness due to modern methods of locomotion [i.e. non-human powered vehicles]
Decline of Initiative and Enterprise due to the widespread disease of ‘spectatoritis’ ["excessive indulgence in forms of amusement in which one is a passive spectator rather than an active participant"]
Decline of Memory and Imagination due to the confused restlessness of modern life
Decline of Skill and Care due to the weakened tradition of craftsmanship
Decline of Self-discipline due to the ever-present availability of stimulants and tranquilisers
Decline of Compassion due to the unseemly haste with which modern life is conducted
Hahn also described four ‘antidotes’ that a person could use to combat the effects of these declines:
Fitness Training (e.g. to compete with oneself in physical fitness; in so doing, train the discipline and determination of the mind through the body)
Expeditions (via sea or land, to engage in long, challenging endurance tasks)
Projects (involving crafts and manual skills)
Rescue Service (e.g. surf lifesaving, fire fighting, first aid)
The Founding of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award
In 1956, Hahn now divided his time between the UK, Germany, and Greece, as he continued to launch numerous schools with his unique philosophy. Thus, Prince Philip decided to found the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award, inspired by Hahn’s County Badge Scheme.
While launching the Award, Hahn’s template was slightly adapted by John Hunt, a decorated British Army officer who served in WWII and is known for his role as leader of the successful 1953 British Expedition to Mount Everest. John Hunt later became the first Director of the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award — a position he held for ten years.
At its foundation in 1956, the Award was designed to attract boys who had not been interested in joining one of the major British youth movements, such as Scouts, as well as filling the three-year gap some boys experienced in between leaving school at 15 and joining the military at 18. In its first year, 7000 boys enrolled in the Award, and in 1958 the Award was further extended to allow girls.
DofE Today
Since its inception over 60 years ago, the DofE Award has become increasingly dedicated to providing opportunities for disadvantaged young people and increasing the diversity of the Award’s participants, while still maintaining its original aims of encouraging young people worldwide to contribute to their community and to discover the outdoors.
In 2009, the previous participant tracking system (which was through paper record books) was replaced by the introduction of a then state-of-the-art online system known as eDofE. eDofE is still used today for participants to record and provide evidence for their Award, while assessors can monitor and review the evidence efficiently.
Today, over 6 million people have taken part in the DofE since 1956, with over 3.1 million Awards achieved. In the UK, the DofE Award is so popular that 27.6% of all 14-year-olds in the country start their Bronze Award each year. As well as this, the Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award operates in 130 countries, and is particularly popular in Canada and Australia.
Below is a DofE-produced infographic, displaying the participation statistics for the year ending 31st March 2020.
Sources
http://rross10.wikidot.com/kurt-hahn
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kurt_Hahn
https://web.archive.org/web/20110529015255/http://www.dofe.org/en/content/cms/about-us/patron/
https://www.dofe.org/about/
https://www.royal.uk/60-years-duke-edinburghs-award