Making the most of school trips

In 2008 Ofsted reported that: “well-planned out-of-classroom activities, which includes trips, not only enhance pupils’ learning, but can also re-engage those who are hard to motivate”. In a further more recent good practice case study they also reported that; “Neston High School secures high attainment and levels of progress through a well-integrated curriculum with a broad programme of learning outside the classroom (LOTC).

This includes many residential visits, day trips and activities in the local environment. The evidence from overseas matches: “Outdoor learning improves: confidence and self-esteem, positive relationships among students and reduced discipline and behaviour problems”. Currently the Paul Hamlyn Foundation has a special initiative called Learning Away, which is a £2.25m project that aims to support schools in significantly enhancing young people’s learning, achievement and well-being by using innovative residential experiences as an integral part of the curriculum. The initiative began in 2008 is planned to run for six years.
    
However, a continuing mystery to me is the constant call for evidence as to why LOtC is so effective; I have yet to meet a person whose school trips don’t remain in their mind. That they are powerful and memorable learning events is probably self-evident from our own experiences.The challenge for teachers is to harness that power to the subjects they are teaching.

Managing workloads and liabilities
Apologies for stating the obvious, but the most important aspect of any school trip is the outcome, measured in educational terms. It’s not the cost, nor the complexity, nor the destination, nor any of the many other factors often quoted as ‘important’ when organising successful trips. To best achieve that outcome there are significant benefits that come from ‘sticking to the knitting’, concentrating time on that which is done best and contracting the rest out to other experts. Not only is there a significant saving in time and effort, the finished result is inevitably better. It is therefore surprising that many schools still consider self-organised trips an effective and prudent use of their key resource – their staffs’ time and effort. I’m not talking about local trips, or day trips, but those residentials that require the sourcing, vetting, contracting and communicating with the nuts and bolts of travel, usually transport, accommodation and visits. The evidence has shown that the most effective and beneficial learning outside the classroom is where it is part of a well-integrated curriculum; the work outside reflecting, complimenting and reinforcing the work inside. Spend time on that, developing and integrating the experiences, building and utilising the powerful learning opportunities; leave the nuts and bolts to others. It will be time and resource well spent.
    
Many schools do not realise the complex web of potential liability that self-organising exposes them to, the consequences of which can be considerable. Until her recent retirement, Cynthia Barbor, a partner in K&L Gates LLP, was considered one of the UK’S leading liability lawyers on travel matters. Her opinion is that any school undertaking the organisation of a school trip is required to exercise the same duty of care including the same level of supplier verification as a reputable travel company would do. What does this mean? If we use accommodation as an example, not only will a school accept responsibility for the proper execution of a contract, but they need to assess the quality, safety and, if food is to be provided, the hygiene management of their chosen accommodation. It is unwise to rely on local standards and regulations to cover this; not only is there a lack of consistent safety standards across the world, the same is true across Europe. However, the most common cause of problems comes from the lack of application of standards by local management; cleaners wedging fire doors open, poor maintenance of facilities, lack of training of low paid staff are all very real examples. Then school management need to consider what qualifies a person to assess accommodation? The knowledge, skills and experience needed to cover hotel safety, fire, gas management, pool, food hygiene, electrics, trips and slips, security, are not one’s normally found within teacher training. Now consider vetting other suppliers, transport and visits; does your school have the safety management system suitable to manage your due diligence?  Of course you may consider the above unnecessarily alarming, but simply ask how much budget and resource travel companies allocate to this area; it’s considerable and they would not do so without good purpose.
    
There is an additional factor to consider, at a recent seminar TravLaw LLP, another specialist law firm were asked how the current and proposed update to the Package Travel Directive, a European wide regulation which puts strict controls on organisers of travel packages, affects schools self-organising. I regret there is insufficient space to explain the complexities of the regulation, but their reply was that they could see no reason why the regulations would not apply. It has not yet been tested in court, so it is a grey area, but one to be considered.

Supplier partnerships
The key to dealing with the above easily and effectively is to develop good supplier partnerships; it’s a truism for most aspects of business and running school trips is no  different. The problem is how to establish those partnerships and it’s no surprise that research shows word of mouth and past use are still significant factors in decision making, but what if you are moving away from ‘DIY’ tours or want to develop a new initiative? In fact there are tools out there that really help. Back in 2002 a group of educational travel companies came together and pioneered a robust verification scheme which featured an audit of all members every year by independent experts  By measuring against a comprehensive code of practice that had been developed with, amongst others, health & safety experts, teachers’ unions’, head teachers’ associations, outdoor advisors and top legal advice, the audit ensures all aspects of a company’s business was examined, this includes worldwide health & safety management, financial security, consumer protection, fair terms and conditions and, for when it does go wrong, a commitment to independent arbitration. That scheme is called the School Travel Forum (STF) Assured Members. The STF, a not for profit organisation, and its award quickly gained support from a wide range of stakeholder in education.

Later in 2006, when the then government established the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom (CLOtC), now an independent charity, the STF were chosen to be the awarding body for the study, sport, ski and cultural sector of its LOtC Quality Badge which extends to cover all types of LOtC experiences and suppliers. Today the majority of outdoor Education Advisors recommend use of a Quality Badge holder. The choice within the STF Assured Members and QB holders is vast and will range from the most bespoke service to carefully planned off the peg tours all of which will link into educational objectives.

Key into resources
The greater focus on results within schools has meant that all trips are scrutinised at senior management and governor level to ensure they have clear educational objectives. No longer are they ‘a bit of fun for the kids’, nor are they holidays. Of course, there is often a lack of time, expertise and money for schools to invest in curriculum development, but there is an affordable, unique resource that can help. Since the launch of the CLOtC it has developed several programmes which help both schools and providers.
    
Membership provides access to a wide range of resources, networks and good practice advice. For schools still linked to a local authority one single membership for that authority means the resources are available for all. In addition membership supports the work of the Council to promote and develop good practice further.
    
Schools should also consider applying for the new LOtC Mark; this new award is the first national accreditation for schools which recognises and supports the development of learning outside the classroom across all subject areas.

About the author
With over 20 years’ experience in senior management with a major educational tour operator, Ian Pearson is now the General Manager of the School Travel Forum, an independent not-for-profit organisation dedicated to promoting good practice in school travel, and a trustee of the Council for Learning Outside the Classroom.