Restarting educational trips

There will soon come a time when teachers are able to look to the future and want to plan their class excursions. The School Travel Forum is asking for government support to help establish a pathway to restart overnight educational visits within the UK and overseas

As the Department for Education starts its review of guidance for schools regarding residential educational visits, and an All Party Parliamentary Group, chaired by Robin Millar MP, is established to explore the subject, School Travel Forum repeats its call for urgent government action so schools can start planning ahead.
    
Gill Harvey, chief executive at School Travel Forum, the leading association for overseas school travel, said: “Our members fully understand that the primary focus for teachers at the moment is to ensure schools remain open and pupils are able to attend lessons safely. However, there will soon come a time when teachers are able to look to the future and want to plan their traditional class excursions. We are asking for support from the Department for Education to help establish a pathway to restart overnight educational visits within the UK and overseas.”

Insurance issues

School Travel Forum has identified that one of the major barriers to future residential visits is the lack of insurance cover for these experiences. Gill Harvey explains: “Currently no insurance body, including the government-backed Risk Protection Agreement will cover school trips for Covid-19 related cancellations. This has effectively stymied the sector and prevented schools from planning ahead and making bookings for the future.”
    
Far from being ‘nice to have’, school residentials have a powerful and long-lasting impact on pupils and teachers. For many pupils, their school residential is their first opportunity to visit a museum, go to the theatre, travel on a ferry, or visit another country. Research also shows the overwhelmingly positive impact that educational visits have on student learning, understanding, confidence and independence.
    
Fraser Doherty, entrepreneur and founder of SuperJam and Beer52, said: “School trips are a very special chance for young people to have experiences of other cultures, visit companies and listen to talks from people outside their local community. For many young people it is their first time abroad and I know from my own experience that school trips are a great way of inspiring future career paths. It is really important that all young people get opportunities to broaden their horizons.”

Addressing the risks

School Travel Forum and its members have worked with independent risk management consultants to understand the different risks posed by the Covid-19 pandemic and to establish protocols and policies to address these risks.
    
Gill continues: “Our members are all LOtC Quality Badge holders and have been working hard to review every aspect of their operations to ensure they are ‘covid-secure’.
    
“We are doing everything possible to ensure school leaders, teachers and parents can be confident that future trips will be delivered to the highest of standards and that every stage of the journey has been newly risk assessed in light of the Covid-19 pandemic, however government intervention is urgently needed to address the lack of availability of insurance, which is a significant barrier to schools.
    
“We ask that government shows its commitment to educational visits, just as it has done to the Film and television industry, and extend the Risk Protection Arrangement (RPA) for schools to include cover for Covid-related cancellations. RPA is a government-backed alternative to commercial insurance and aims to protect schools against losses due to any unforeseen and unexpected event. It is available to all publicly funded schools.
    
“We know that now is not the right time for schools to be travelling however, if RPA included Covid-19 cover teachers would have the confidence to make plans for the future.”

Government action needed

In order to support the educational visits sector and protect these vital opportunities for children and young people, School Travel Forum is asking for government to reiterate clear guidance that schools can take their learning off-site and on day visits, and that they can work with other learning providers who can take their services into schools, as long as these follow school Covid secure guidelines.
    
The School Travel Forum is also calling on the government to extend RPA to include cover for Covid-related cancellations and work with organisations within the sector to develop a roadmap for the future.
    
The government should also provide targeted support for those organisations, including many domestic and overseas residential providers, to help them sustain jobs and businesses through an anticipated 18-month period of zero income.
    
Gill Harvey continues: “If we do nothing then there is a very real risk that the opportunities and benefits that these life-changing experiences offer will no longer be available when restrictions are finally lifted. If we fail to act, then a whole generation of children will miss out.”