Education Business

New research from Education Travel Group has shown that a fifth of teachers never, or rarely, take children on educational school visits because of the burden of administration, resources and concern about costs for parents. These statistics, incorporating the views of more than 400 primary and secondary school teachers, are cause for concern in the education world as all the information that we currently have points towards the importance of learning outside the classroom.
    
Research has shown that learning outside the classroom is hugely beneficial for children, not only for their academic development but also for their personal development. Just last year, Ofsted said that well planned visits had the potential to significantly raise standards and improve children’s social, physical and emotional development. Despite a fifth not taking their students on educational visits, Education Travel Group’s review of teachers’ opinions found that teachers agree that they are vital, and, in fact, 83 per cent said they facilitated a broader understanding of the subject in question. Teachers not only value trips because they give students this broader understanding but also because they provide a fun, first-hand experience of their subjects as well as facilitating team building and socialising.

Beyond the classroom
At Education Travel Group, we arrange educational visits for over 250,000 children every year and have long recognised the benefits of these trips. We bring textbooks to life by extending the learning experience beyond the classroom for children.
    
Working in education outside the classroom is incredibly rewarding. I see shy children blossom, cautious children take leaps of faith and enquiring children open their eyes with wonder as they encounter anything from plays, language, history, geography, technology or a piece of music in a new way.
    
We organise both UK and international tours at Education Travel Group, and, for many children, a school trip also offers their first real opportunity to go abroad. According to our research, 82 per cent of teachers said they took children on overseas school trips in order to let them experience other cultures, with 64 per cent also seeing the experience of learning another language first hand as key. It is important for children to encounter hands-on learning overseas and form links with other countries and cultures.
    
With all of these benefits, you might wonder why so many teachers still don’t take their children on school trips. Our research has found that there are several key barriers to arranging excursions, but the biggest challenge of all that faces teachers today is concern about costs for parents. Indeed, nine out of ten teachers we spoke to said the current economic climate would make it harder to arrange trips in future, and it is therefore very important that education providers work closely in conjunction with teachers to find a cost-effective tailored solution for every school.

A resource burden
Teachers also find the paperwork and resource issues associated with school trips to be too much of a burden. Many school visits have to be taken in teachers’ own holiday time and it can be very costly to arrange for supply teachers to cover for lessons. Teachers also expressed concern about children’s behaviour and fear of disciplinary action or litigation if things went wrong.
    
Having said that, when questioned, very few of these teachers knew anyone who had personally been threatened by legal or disciplinary action. Instead, many teachers seem to be intimidated by the idea of taking children outside the classroom and a third of those questioned admitted that they were not as confident teaching children outside school.
    
It is our job as educational trip providers to support teachers throughout the process of taking a school trip, to make them feel that this important part of a child’s education is not impossible. Having been in the business for 75 years, we have seen the increasing demands on teachers who organise such trips and therefore aim to make the process as seamless as possible, listening to and helping teachers along the way. We also make it our business to keep in close contact with the government bodies concerned with learning and children.

Government involvement
In 2005, the Children, Schools and Families Select Committee decided to launch an inquiry into education outside the classroom. During the course of this inquiry they found, as we have done, that the provision of outdoor education is extremely patchy, with many schools being deterred by the false perception that there is a high degree of risk associated with outdoor education, not to mention the cumbersome bureaucracy and issues of funding, time and resources.
    
Since the publication of this report, the government and wider education sector has taken some important steps to develop and promote more learning outside the classroom. 2006 saw the launch of the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto and in April 2009 the mantle for delivering this Manifesto was taken on by the new Council for Learning Outside the Classroom. At the beginning of this year, the Learning Outside the Classroom (LotC) Quality Badge scheme was launched. For the first time, this has created a national accreditation combining the essential elements of provision – learning and safety – into one easily recognisable and trusted Quality Badge for Learning Outside the Classroom provider organisations.
    
Despite the inroads that the government has already made, the message about what is being done to assist with school trips still hasn’t got through to many teachers. Most teachers believe the government could encourage more school trips by providing adequate funding and almost two out of three teachers believe the government could encourage school trips by minimising the bureaucracy.
    
It is also evident that many teachers are not yet familiar with the Quality Badge scheme as over 60 per cent of teachers who never take their pupils on school trips said that they would be encouraged to do so if the government provided lists of accredited providers and organisers. As one of the first organisations to receive the LotC Quality Badge, we are pleased that the need for a common assurance scheme has been recognised and now hope that more will be done to educate teachers about the scheme, and give them the confidence to start taking school trips with the expert support of educational activity providers.
    
Despite many teachers stating they would like more training and guidance, almost nine of out ten teachers have never used the government’s Out and About guidance and only nine per cent of teachers say their school has signed up to the Learning Outside the Classroom Manifesto, with most unaware of whether their school has signed up or not. All of this demonstrates that the government is doing strong work towards helping teachers but now needs to concentrate on making information about its schemes more readily available to those they are primarily designed for.

Supporting teachers
Alongside the government, educational activity providers are constantly evaluating how they can best support teachers and schools to ensure as many children as possible get the chance to enjoy the benefits of learning outside the classroom. Our ethos over the last 75 years has been to give value for money, making sure school trips are accessible to everyone, and this is more important than ever due to the current financial crisis. We provide a wide range of options for teachers and schools so they can select the right trip for their needs and budget.
    
Educational trip providers also make it easier for teachers to arrange visits by taking care of much of the paperwork and removing the time-consuming planning and organising. All of our programmes at Education Travel Group have real educational value and reinforce what is learnt in the classroom. In conjunction with educationalists, we have launched the Learning Index where we provide teachers with a clear guide to the learning opportunities within our programmes. We also recognise that fear of litigation is a concern for teachers and so we take every effort to ensure a safe, enjoyable trip for every student who travels with us. As a full member of the School Travel Forum we adhere to a rigorous code of practice and safety management standards to minimise any risk.

Choosing a provider
For teachers who are currently contemplating a trip but are still unconvinced, I would advise them to contact a provider early in the process and to not be at all worried about asking questions. A good provider will be able to link your requirements to the exact learning outcome that you are aiming for, and so teachers should be very clear about what they are looking for in their school trips and ensure their provider understands the different key stage delivery requirements.
    
It is undoubtedly important to select a provider who has a track record and the widest possible options in terms of educational support, pricing, destinations, transport, and so on. However, it is equally important the check that your provider is fully educationally rich and not just a tour operator. They should be up to date with the current educational requirements and provide resourced centres with the correct facilities, such as IT hardware and software.
    
A risk assessment is a vital part of any school trip so a good provider should offer inspection visits to enable teachers to check their destination and accommodation, complete their pre-planning documents and experience the operation first-hand. Indeed, Education Travel Group has now introduced paperwork that can be accessed online, a wider range of promotional material and also helps organise parents evenings too. Recognising that schools have limited resources but that school trips need a good level of supervision, it operates a free place ratio for accompanying teachers and also has centre staff, resort representatives and area managers in most UK and European centres to make sure every trip goes according to plan.
    
It is clear that, with 94 per cent of teachers stating that it will be harder to run school trips in the current economic climate, education providers, the government, the teaching community and parents will have to re-double their efforts over the coming months to ensure that more children have the opportunity to understand the world beyond their classroom walls. However, with the continued support of educational tour providers, the government and the wider teaching community, we believe that school trips will weather the storm and children will have the chance to enjoy learning outside the classroom for years to come.

For more information
For more information on Education Travel Group and its report into learning outside the classroom, visit www.educationtravelgroup.com