Over the last few years, the spotlight has been turned on educational visits due to a few well publicised tragedies involving pupils. Some schools and colleges have become almost paranoid about the health and safety implications, and a reluctance to take pupils outside of the school gates has surfaced, fuelled by media reports every time a serious injury or fatality occurs.

One of the major teaching trade unions (NASUWT) has made a strong policy statement about this subject, suggesting teachers think very carefully about whether they should take on the responsibility of leading any school visit at all!!! Whilst those who are strong advocates of the benefits of school visits feel this is unhelpful, and is a policy not strongly supported by other teaching unions, the NASUWT has supplemented that policy with an excellent good practice checklist for their members, so we applaud that. The NUT has taken a different viewpoint, advocating outdoor and offsite education as fundamental and needing to be supported. 

The facts indicate that school visits could well be regarded as one of the safer activities in education! The greatest risk to school age pupils seems much more likely to be their journey to school whether walking or travelling in their parent's car!!!