Will school trips be confined to history?

Nick Morrison looks at the safety measures in place - and why teachers are becoming reluctant to take children out of school.

GRIPPING their blankets tightly around their necks, there is a shell-shocked look on the faces of the children as they leave hospital. What should have been an end-of-term treat at a coastal beauty spot, almost became a tragedy which would live with the survivors until the end of their days.

For the 12 children and a teacher at Newcastle's Walker Technology College, rescue came after a frantic mobile phone call to the coastguard. Two of the girls were winched out of the water by an RAF helicopter, while the remainder were picked up by lifeboats, after they were stranded off the coast at Druridge Bay in Northumberland.

The near-disaster came the day after the body of Alex Foulkes was recovered from a river in the Italian Alps. Alex, a 17-year-old pupil at Harrogate Grammar School, was swept away as he tried to wade across a 15-metre wide stretch of water, just two days into a two-week school trip.

The terrible coincidence of two such incidents within days of each other has put the safety of school trips under even greater scrutiny than ever before, and highlighted the responsibilities placed on teachers.

Almost throughout the year, parties of schoolchildren pile onto coaches and minibuses to head off on trips which are seen as both a valuable educational experience and a chance to unwind. Out of the seven to ten million days of school trips each year, the overwhelming majority pass off without incident.

But that is little comfort to the parents of children who have lost their lives on school trips, some 47 since 1985. Last year, five youngsters died on school trips. The previous year, that figure was six.

Schools are required by law to complete a risk assessment before any trip, including a detailed account of where pupils will be going, how they will be escorted, the skills of the teachers going with them, and details of any vehicles used. Parents can ask to see this risk assessment, and also if the teachers have been trained in risk assessment.

A spokesman for Durham County Council says they distribute a 70-page booklet to all schools, Guidance and Suggestions for Those Responsible for Outdoor Education, setting out how such trips should be organised and what measures need to be in place. The council recommends that there should be no more than ten pupils for every teacher, although this can be altered downwards depending on the type of activity or if young children are involved.

According to the Department for Education (DFES), there should be one adult for every six pupils in years one to three, one for every ten to 15 in years four to six, and one for every 15-20 in year seven upwards.

While the DFES guidelines state that overall responsibility for the trip rests with the Local Education Authority (LES), and it is up to the head teacher to ensure that visits comply with LEA regulations, they recognise that in practice the safety of the children often rests with the group leader. To this end, the group leader should "consider stopping the visit if the risk to the health or safety of the pupils is unacceptable and have in place procedures for such an eventuality."

But even with these guidelines, and those provided by the LEA, teachers are becoming increasingly reluctant to take pupils away on school trips. The National Association of Schoolmasters/Union of Women Teachers recommends that its members decline to take such trips, a policy reaffirmed at its annual conference in Bournemouth this year.

Mick Lyons, NASUWT national executive member for the North-East, says the prospect of legal action, and of teachers being vilified in the press, are the prime motivations behind the stance.

"Although the LEA is ultimately responsible, the LEA does not end up on the front page of the newspaper - that is the teacher. Our advice to all teachers is not to go on these trips," he says.

"Obviously they have vast educational uses, but in our litigious society, accidents don't appear to happen anymore. Somebody has got to be held to blame, and that attitude has damaged the careers of several teachers."

He says that although teachers are required to carry out risk assessments, few of them are trained in how this should be done, and that the long list of procedures which need to be followed to undertake a school trip are a disincentive to many teachers.

"I would suspect there are fewer school trips now than there were ten or 20 years ago. They are educational, and it is a great shame if they're lost, but we have to protect our members and our advice is not to go on them. Teachers are putting their careers at risk by doing it."

The Association of Teachers and Lecturers, however, takes the view that trips are a valuable part of a school's culture and should only be abandoned with great reluctance, a stance shared by the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations.

But while few doubt the value of such trips, for parents they represent a time of anxiety. Although the number of deaths or injuries is tiny compared with the one million-plus trips a year, that does not help parents rest more easily.

Whether it is the road-worthiness of the coach, the danger of the activities, the security of the accommodation or the ability of the teachers in charge, the list of concerns is enough to cause many a sleepless night. Their dilemma is that by withholding permission for their child to take part in a trip to ease their own worries, they are denying their offspring a valuable experience, as well as being over-protective, not disregarding the inevitable barrage of pleas from a child upset at the thought of being seen as different from the rest.

Whatever guidelines are in place, however well teachers are trained in assessing the risks and spotting the dangers, even however indoctrinated the children are in the importance of safety, there is always a possibility of an accident. No activity is completely without risk - and sometimes all parents can do is chew their nails.