Learning attribution in the Duke of Edinburgh's International Award (DoEIA)

The Duke of Edinburgh’s International Award (as it is named in Australia) is an extremely widespread and popular youth development program. Participants (14–25 year olds) navigate the Bronze, Silver and Gold Award levels by completing: (1) Service, (2) Skills, (3) Physical Recreation, and (4) Adventurous Journey (recognising that at Gold level there is also a Residential Project requirement). Despite the international nature of the Award, with more than 1 million participants, research into its effects has been limited. This paper describes for the first time the ways in which the attribution of learning effects works with respect to the DoEIA. Using a mixed-methods approach, the research team sought results to show how participants themselves attribute their learnings to the Award, and what this could mean for youth development.