So, what is the Duke of Edinburgh First Aid Training Course? It is simply a requirement for the first aid element needed for the expedition syllabus.
It is worth being clear from the start: the DofE does not run or award a first aid qualification of its own. First aid is one of the topics in the DofE Expedition Training Framework, and every participant has to cover it at Bronze, Silver and Gold before they start their qualifying expedition.
If you want to know more about this particular course, we will give you a detailed outline of what it is all about. Come and check it out.
Last reviewed: September 2026 — checked against Resuscitation Council UK Guidelines 2025.
What Is a D of E First Aid Course?
For your Duke of Edinburgh Award, this module will teach you the practical way to deliver specific training, such as an outdoor first aid course and lifesaving emergency services.
This training can help make a difference between life, death, emergency, accident, and other scenarios.
By choosing this type of course, you are allowing yourself to develop your first aid abilities while developing new talent and social skills, do emergency first aid and rise to different challenges.
This comprehensive first aid course will give you everything you need to know about emergency first aid for your Duke of Edinburgh award.
In addition, Edinburgh’s award participants in this course will also hone lifesaving skills that come in the form of sheets, workbooks, case studies, and many more.
How Do You Qualify for the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award?
There are four sections at Bronze and Silver, and five at Gold:
- Volunteering – partaking in service to different individuals or within the community.
- Physical – improving in one area of sport, fitness activities, sports, or dance.
- Skills – developing personal interests, social and practical skills
- Expedition – planning, training for and completing an adventurous, self-sufficient journey as a team.
- Residential (Gold only) – a shared activity in a residential setting away from home, with people you do not know, for 5 days and 4 nights.
The idea that every section takes “three months” is a common misunderstanding. The timescales published by the DofE are different at each level, and the longest section is longer again if you skip a level:
- Bronze (start in the school year you turn 14, at least 6 months overall): Volunteering, Physical and Skills for 3 months each, plus an extra 3 months on whichever one of those three you choose. Expedition is 2 days and 1 night.
- Silver (from the school year you turn 15, at least 6 months if you have done Bronze, 12 months if you go straight in): Volunteering for 6 months; one of Physical or Skills for 6 months and the other for 3 months. Expedition is 3 days and 2 nights.
- Gold (from your 16th birthday, at least 12 months if you have done Silver, 18 months if not): Volunteering for 12 months; one of Physical or Skills for 12 months and the other for 6 months. Expedition is 4 days and 3 nights, plus the Residential.
You should work on each section for an average of an hour a week, and all sections have to be finished before your 25th birthday.
First aid is part of the Expedition section rather than a fifth section of its own. The DofE does not specify a particular first aid certificate, so a short course such as the emergency first aid at work course is one way of covering the ground, but it is the competences in the Expedition Training Framework that have to be met.
What Happens in a Duke of Edinburgh First Aid Course?
In this course, participants can perform various lifesaving skills that are detrimental to a person’s health and well-being.
This training is designed for people who are participants in the D of E Awards expedition.
While this course and other open courses are relatively the same or similar, this is delivered with more depth to allow students and first aiders to be more knowledgeable as they complete various courses from bronze through gold.
Section 1 of the DofE Expedition Training Framework is “First aid and emergency procedures”. It says training is based on the current edition of the authorised manual of St John Ambulance, St Andrew’s First Aid or the British Red Cross, and lists what participants must understand and demonstrate before they start their qualifying expedition:
- Treatment and recognition of heat stroke and hypothermia
- Treatment of shock
- Action in an emergency, including resuscitation and checking the airway and breathing. Note that under the Resuscitation Council UK Guidelines 2025 you call 999 for any unresponsive casualty first, before you assess breathing, and put the phone on speaker so the call handler can guide you.
- Treatment of bleeding and wounds
- Recognition of other serious conditions during an outdoor activity, such as broken limbs and legs, strains, spinal injuries, sprains, and dislocations.
- Getting help, self-help, keeping safe and warm, waiting for help to arrive, and getting people to find you.
- Treatment of minor injuries, such as blisters, abrasions, burns, insect bites, headaches, and scalds.
- Knowledge of what to do during an emergency or accident.
- Getting help. Giving people written messages, what they need to know, and calling or telephoning someone for help.
Note: The framework sets out what participants have to be able to do. It does not set a number of hours, and there is no separate Bronze, Silver and Gold first aid syllabus – the same competences apply at every level, taught at a depth appropriate to the group and the environment they will be travelling through.
The DofE also makes clear who can deliver it. The Licensed Organisation or Approved Activity Provider is responsible for approving the adults who deliver first aid training, and the DofE recommends that whoever delivers it holds a current first aid qualification covering the elements in the framework.
Once applicants complete the module and training, they will receive a certificate. The certificate can then be sent to you via mail or online.
What Are Some First Aid Courses for D of E to Take?
A person can come to your venue and deliver specific first-aid training courses to your D of E suitable to the level of the Award.
Course lengths vary between providers because the DofE itself does not publish a required number of hours for first aid at any level. What it does publish is the list of competences above, so the sensible question to ask a provider is not “how many hours?” but “does this cover everything in Section 1 of the Expedition Training Framework, and is it taught to the current Resuscitation Council UK guidelines?”
In practice, most groups either book a short outdoor or expedition first aid session built around the framework, or use a regulated one-day qualification such as Emergency First Aid at Work, which HSE expects to run to at least six hours over one day. There can also be expedition first aid teaching resources included in your module.
Providers often add material beyond the framework minimum, particularly for older participants. Common additions include:
- Action in emergency
- Treatment of unresponsive and breathing
- Heart attack and angina
- Primary survey – what to do within the first few minutes
- What is included in the first aid kit
- Asthma attack, eye injuries, knocked out tooth
- Internal bleeding, head injuries, seizures
- Fainting, burns, alcohol poisoning
- Final lesson and certificate
- Self-help, looking for help
- Useful advice on health and first-aid
NOTE: You may see providers advertise longer courses for young leaders or for adults supervising expeditions. The DofE does not set an hours figure for those either, so check what a course covers and which awarding organisation, if any, certificates it before you book.
How the Expedition Section Works Now
If you are working from older guidance, the biggest change is that the “20 Conditions” that used to govern DofE expeditions were replaced by a new set of Expedition Requirements from November 2023. The aim of the section is unchanged, but there is more flexibility built in.
The current requirements set out that:
- A team has between four and seven participants (eight for modes of travel used by two people at once, such as tandems or open canoes), all at the same Award level and within the qualifying age.
- Bronze is a minimum of 2 days and 1 night with 6 hours of planned activity a day; Silver 3 days and 2 nights with 7 hours a day; Gold 4 days and 3 nights with 8 hours a day.
- Bronze teams must complete the required training. Silver and Gold teams must complete the required training and a practice expedition of at least 2 days and 2 nights.
- Every expedition is supervised by an adult Expedition Supervisor and assessed by an Accredited Assessor. At Bronze only, the same person may do both.
- Expeditions are unaccompanied and self-sufficient, with supervision carried out remotely – which is exactly why the first aid training matters. The team may be some distance from an adult when something goes wrong.
Reasonable adjustments are available too, including alternative expedition models, walking with day bags, attending with a carer, staying indoors or returning home to sleep. Talk to your DofE Leader as early as you can if you think you need any of these.
Conclusion
First aid courses are a must, as it gives all participants the confidence on how to deal with emergency situations, treatment of injuries, and responsibility for other people.
The DofE Award should cover the basic first aid skills and knowledge about lifesaving instances where professional medical advice is not immediately available.
Lastly, by the end of this first-aid module, you will receive your work certificate, proper practical training, and the knowledge to help people in dire need of help.
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