The Duke of Edinburgh's Award

The Pears Foundation is a strategic supporter of the DofE, previously funding a policy officer post and projects in West Yorkshire and East Lancashire to bring young people from different communities and faiths together to further mutual understanding, respect and development.

Since 1956 over 3.9 million young people have started a Duke of Edinburgh’s Award programme. Although a wealth of anecdotal evidence suggested that the DofE had significant and lasting impact on participants, the organisation had not undertaken any systematic research to measure and document these effects.

In 2007 the Foundation provided funding to enable the DofE to commission the Centre for Children and Youth at the University of Northampton to conduct a major 18-month research study into the impact of the DofE on young people. The study involved in-depth examination of the experiences of young people, leaders and partner organisations, and research into the lifelong effects of achieving a DofE award.

The aim of the research was to document the positive outcomes, improve the DofE and make it accessible and achievable for more young people and to influence public policy.  

A summary of the findings will be published shortly. The full report is available by contacting The DofE.
www.dofe.org