School trips – How to recruit parent volunteers

by Gordon Cairns

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As we slowly emerge from the long hangover of lockdown restrictions, the long-awaited reintroduction of out-of-school excursions has been one of the final elements of school life to restore our sense of ‘business as usual’.

Yet it’s not quite the same as before. Due to the length of time that trips have been off the agenda, many educational establishments have lost their cohort of reliable parent and carer volunteers, without whom it would be impossible to take students out of school.

Whatever the reason – be it parents having to work longer hours due to the current economic climate, a post-lockdown weakening of the bonds connecting school and home or simply relatives falling out of the habit of volunteering – one of the biggest tasks for school trip organisers this year will have been sourcing a sufficient number of helpers. But it’s problem can be resolved with a little creative thinking.

Outside help

The first step towards finding a new source of volunteer support has to be rejecting the assumption that the only people willing to volunteer will be the parents, grandparents or carers of children attending the trip. It shouldn’t come as a shock that many adults actively want to volunteer in order back good causes – and supporting teenagers on an academic trip certainly fits the bill.

What’s more, these additional pairs of hands can be helped by their employers in doing so, since many companies recognise the improvement to staff morale that comes from contributing to wider society – not to mention the benefits to the business itself of being seen to support its local community.

Schools can find out if any local businesses offer their staff Employer Supported Volunteering – a scheme whereby employees are able take paid leave to participate in a volunteering initiative of their choosing. The obvious advantage for schools is that this occurs during the working day, when school trips are typically run.

While school trips might sometimes be considered a ‘jolly’ by the pupils and a welcome break from the classroom for staff, it’s important to stress to any potential volunteers – parental or otherwise – the excursion’s importance to the academic life of the students. It might offer the chance to bring to life the confusing text of a Shakespearean drama in its proper theatrical surroundings, or the opportunity to visit a blockbuster art exhibition and view the actual works of artistic masters rather than reproductions in books. And let’s not forget the important socialisation opportunities that trips out of school can provide for young people.

The parental ‘cringe’ factor

Creating a pool of volunteers not actually related to the charges also removes the ‘cringe’ factor of exposing parents to their children’s friendship groups, sometimes spelling doom for poor teenagers’ street cred. Sometimes one of the biggest barriers to recruiting parental volunteers is children begging their parents not to cause them any further embarrassment by helping out on a school excursion!

While many parents will nobly ignore their offspring’s demands and volunteer out of a sense of duty, it would be wise for schools not to nag them into helping – even if the recruitment process seems to be slow going at first.

Rather than seeing parents as a group who should feel obliged to help, schools ought to view potential recruits as socially minded people who are willing to give of their time for free to aid others.

While researching this article, I came across a letter addressed potential volunteer parents from a school, the condescending tone of which included an exhaustive list of things parents ‘must’ do on the trip – including not using their own mobile phone, with the warning that if they didn’t ‘behave appropriately’, they wouldn’t be considered to work as a free helper when the next trip took place.

I can’t help but wonder how successful this approach of treating adults like recalcitrant children is going to be when trying encourage helpers. People need to be treated with a degree of respect for them to be happy volunteering (again, and again, and again).

Clear expectations

It’s also important that schools put themselves in the shoes of first-time volunteers, and be clear and honest about what’s expected of them. In spring 2022, I volunteered to be a race marshal at a mountain bike racing event round a local forest track for my children’s cycling club. When I turned up not wearing wellies for the mud, or dressed for the middle of winter, it was only then that the race organisers realised I hadn’t done this before.

Nor had I been told that I wouldn’t be able to leave my spot in the woods until all the races had been completed some two hours later. Event organisers can sometimes assume that just because they’re aware of how things will unfold, everyone else will be too, so it’s good to let everyone know as much detail as possible in advance. People who are informed are more likely to be thoroughly engaged, and in turn more likely to be alert to the safety of their charges.

I have to admit I’m not myself much of a volunteer by nature, and have utmost respect for those who are – especially scenarios where we, the teachers, are getting paid to be on the trip while the volunteers are contributing for free. Which is something I’ll certainly have at the forefront of my mind come our next excursion out of school..

Gordon Cairns is an English and forest school teacher who works in a unit for secondary pupils with ASD; he also writes about education, society, cycling and football for a number of publications

Volunteer essentials

Some key advice to pass on to volunteers before your next trip…

1. Wear comfortable shoes
Many parents on their first school trip are amazed at the amount of walking expected of them on a school trip, whether it’s trailing round local museums or following crowds of excited teenagers across the expanse of Alton Towers.

2. Be prepared to count heads, repeatedly
Having been the lead teacher taking a group of students out of school, I can’t adequately describe the sinking feeling in the pit of your stomach when you return to the bus at the appointed time and realise one of your students is missing. It’s made me an habitual ‘head counter’, but also conscious that if other adult helpers are there doing head counts of smaller groups themselves, it can take away some of the pressure.

3. Carry your own provisions
The likelihood of a parent or carer helper being able to slip away and get themselves a coffee or sandwich on a school trip is pretty low. Everything is ultimately geared around the young people, with the needs of the adults tending to come second. Tell your volunteers to come prepared for this eventuality.

4. Read the risk assessment
Passing on the risk assessment for the trip to the other adults gives them a sense of being valued for their contribution and gives them a sense of responsibility for the young people while allowing them to be more aware of developing scenarios that could be occurring.