New digital badges for the AI era
The Scout Association is launching a suite of new digital badges for teenagers, designed to equip 14- to 18-year-olds with skills for an AI-driven world. The three new Explorer Scout awards — in content creation, digital communication and personal safety — are part of the movement’s first major programme overhaul in nearly 25 years, with a full rollout scheduled for late summer 2026.
The content creation badge asks young people to explore how digital communities can influence change, create online campaigns and develop digital storytelling projects intended to positively affect their communities. The digital communication badge focuses on digital footprints and the broader impact of social media and digital communication. The personal safety badge requires participants to design resources and toolkits to help others manage online risks, investigating the ways in which opinions are shaped in digital spaces.
These are not the first digital-focused awards from the Scouts. The organisation already offers a Digital Citizen Badge covering online safety, digital footprints and responsible behaviour, as well as a Digital Maker Badge developed in partnership with the Raspberry Pi Foundation. The National Cyber Security Centre has also collaborated on cybersecurity badge activities. However, the new Explorer badges represent a more comprehensive response to the digital landscape, including artificial intelligence, which Scout leaders say is fundamentally changing young people’s lives.
Why the change? Young people’s demands and a digital skills gap
The overhaul was driven by direct consultation with nearly 3,000 teenagers, who told the Scout Association they wanted skills to navigate a world increasingly shaped by AI, social media and digital technology. Andrew Thorp, a Scout leader involved in developing the programme, said the changes came directly from what young people asked for. “The programme for Explorer Scouts has not been overhauled for nearly a quarter of a century,” he said. “What was really clear is that young people want to be able to get skills that will help them in their lives going forward, and they want to find a place to belong.”
The move reflects a broader national debate about young people’s digital lives. Ministers, schools and parents continue to discuss tighter restrictions on smartphone and social media use, including proposals for a ban on social media for under-16s. The UK government has announced plans to introduce such a ban, with protections expected to come into force by spring 2027. The ban would cover platforms including Snapchat, TikTok, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook and X, and would also restrict livestreaming and stranger communication for under-18s. A consultation found that 9 in 10 parents backed the measure.
Thorp said the Scouts would update badge guidance if the ban took effect, reminding 14- to 16-year-olds not to share material they created on restricted platforms. But he suggested the debate risked overlooking the real task: giving young people practical skills. “This is about giving people skills for the future,” he said. “We focus on creating and understanding content rather than simply publishing it online.”
The need for such skills is underlined by research showing that more than 50% of under-19s in the UK lack essential digital skills for modern life, and almost half are not proficient in being safe and responsible online. Many young people are teaching themselves, with schools and employers sometimes seen as falling short. The new Explorer badges aim to fill that gap, teaching not just how to use technology but how to use it safely and responsibly — an approach Thorp compared to teaching a young person how to light a fire. “It’s really important that young people know how to use this stuff safely,” he said. “In the same way that Scouts teach young people how to light a fire safely, it’s important that you take that same approach to things like content creation.”
Scouting, which will celebrate its 120th anniversary next year, has always adapted to the pressures of its era. Thorp noted that when the movement began, life was very different. “Now, clearly these kinds of skills are super relevant. With the development of AI, that will become more and more part of all of our lives,” he said.
Teenagers welcome the new focus
For many young people already in the programme, the new badges are a welcome shift from what they learn — or do not learn — elsewhere. Elie Mondah, 17, from Romford, said the badges addressed a clear gap. “These badges are great because we’re not learning about the positive side of AI at school; it’s all about the dangers,” she said. “These new badges are more relevant than the traditional ones for camping and making fires, because it’s key to modern life.”
Ethan Watkins, 14, from Staffordshire, agreed that school had not kept pace. “It’s a really good idea to integrate all the new ideas around AI into the Explorer badges because school isn’t educating us about it,” he said. “AI is going to be a massive part of my work and education, and so it’s really important for me to learn to use it effectively and safely.”
Both teenagers highlighted that the badges offer a constructive, creative approach to technology — one that goes beyond the warnings that dominate classroom discussions. Thorp said this was precisely the point. “It’s not just about learning how to do something, it’s about how to do things safely, how to keep them safe in those environments,” he said. “This is about giving people skills for the future.”
