In light of COVID-19 restrictions on group gatherings, youth and Pathfinder directors from across Australia have teamed up to create a “New Emergency 2020 Curriculum” so that Pathfinders can complete course work online from home and meet requirements for investiture this year.
“Each of the classes have things that can be completely done at home, hopefully with things around the house and safe online content,” said Australian Union Conference (AUC) youth director Pastor Jeffrey Parker.
Adapting existing coursework, youth directors from across AUC met for more than a week on Zoom to write the new curriculum. With a program available for each class from Friends to Guides, the directors are excited by the move.
“Our Australian youth directors are very passionate about Pathfinders and we want to see our 4000+ Pathfinders in Australia be able to continue to investiture in 2020. We are excited about this new ‘isolation curriculum’,” said Pastor Parker.
Greater Sydney Conference Pathfinder director Pastor Phil Yates has been creating YouTube videos to teach various honours to Pathfinders.
“The honours online and the emergency curriculum have been much appreciated by club directors and Pathfinders, they are feeling supported and have a standard to work to,” he said.
Alongside the videos and curriculum that help provide some structure, Pastor Parker encourages Pathfinders and directors to continue meeting up with their club members via Zoom and other online methods to keep their clubs focussed.
“If a Pathfinder club has found a way to continue with their clubs over the last two weeks, they can continue,” he added. “This is very doable and we will have a special “Pathfinders in Isolation” pin for all those who get invested at the end of 2020!”
The honours videos by Pastor Yates can be found on YouTube and videos and the new curriculum are available on the AUC Pathfinders website, which Pastor Parker calls the “one stop Pathfinder shop”.
The AUC is also currently working on creating more online resources for Adventurers during this time, including an online Facebook group which can be accessed here.
