lessons learned at Scout camp are to help Scottish secondary school pupils reach new heights.

Since 1907 the Scout Movement has encouraged boys to develop their leadership skills around the camp fire.

Now Lord Baden Powell's founding principle that Scouts should learn "to know the right thing to do at the right moment" is to be brought into the country's new school curriculum.

From now on, skills developed in the Scouts will be recognised as part of a wider leadership qualification developed by the Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA).

The move – part of a drive under the Curriculum for Excellence (CfE) to ensure wider achievements of pupils are recognised – has already been piloted at Armadale Academy, in West Lothian.

Scouts Scotland is now working with a number of secondary schools in Edinburgh to develop the initiative further.

Ross Donald, education officer for Scouts Scotland, said he hoped all schools would become involved in the new qualification.

He said: "Taking on responsibilities and developing leadership is an important part of the ethos of scouting since it was founded.

"Over the past 10 years we have developed a young leaders scheme for 14 to 18-year-olds which gives them hands-on experience of working with younger groups planning and running activities such as camps, as well as games and activities."

Mr Donald added: "The scheme involves training in a number of modules which focus on subjects such as health and safety, dealing with challenging behaviour and planning ahead. By working in partnership with the SQA, those modules have now been recognised as contributing to their own Leadership Award."

Armadale Academy is now offering SQA's recently developed Leadership Award – which is worth the same as an Inter-mediate 2 exam – as an extra course for their senior pupils, some of whom are Scouts.

Scouts Scotland is also looking to ensure the experiences of younger pupils who are part of the movement are recognised.

In Inverclyde, a partnership between Scouts Scotland and a number of primary schools sees information about pupils' achievements in the Scouts passed to schools.

Pupils are encouraged to take greater control over what they learn as a Scout by recording their personal successes and sharing their experiences with their classmates and teachers once they are back at school.

The schools use the information to increase the recognition pupils receive – with some schools presenting a special certificate during assembly when a young person has achieved a specific Scout badge or award.

Eileen Prior, executive director of the Scottish Parent Teacher Council, welcomed the move.

"One of the big promises of CfE is that it will recognise wider achievement and the Scouting movement is a great place to see this being applied," she said. "Scouting recognises achievement and leadership in a wide variety of activities – not just in knots and camping – and for many young people provides a great launch-pad for personal development."

A spokesman for the SQA said: "We are hugely encouraged with the way Scouts Scotland and Armadale Academy saw the potential of our Leadership Award and used it to recognise formally the important skills young people were developing in their own time, away from the classroom.

"This development combines the principles of Curriculum for Excellence with the flexibility of SQA qualifications to offer young people the opportunity to showcase attributes that would otherwise not be formally recognised."

An independent report released in October last year found that 41% of employers thought previous experience of Scouting would prove useful in a young person's career.

Nearly 90% of members felt that Scouting had given them important skills that had helped them in their personal and professional development.