For experiences that are the exception rather than the norm, school trips manage to have an outsized impact on students.
It varies by school and individual, of course, but let’s assume, as a rough ballpark figure, that UK children get to enjoy 25 educational visits across their time in primary and secondary school.
Even if all those trips were week-long residentials, which they’re clearly not, tallied against the hours spent in more conventional academic environments, that figure seems almost irrelevant – and yet, as touched upon in this issue’s news pages, almost 40% of 2,000 adults who completed a recent Outward Bound Trust survey reported that experiences outside the classroom taught them more than what they learnt inside it. How can we explain that?
Well, firstly, it’s interesting to note the types of skills the survey’s respondents identified when asked what school trips taught them. Leadership and decision-making, discipline and adaptability, and kindness and social skills all featured highly – all of them essential for navigating the world as a grown-up. Perhaps these life skills just can’t be taught as effectively in the classroom.
Secondly, it’s safe to say that the novelty of school trips is itself part of their appeal – given a choice between memorising the day spent feeding the lions or ordering lunch in Paris and those times it was confronted with informative but rather dry worksheets, the average hippocampus is likely to settle on the former. The main thing to take away from this, naturally, is that school trips are worth the time and effort required to organise. Whether they take place over hours or days, the educational benefits are clear to see.
That said, not all trips are created equal, and that’s where Top School Trips can help – whatever your subject focus, we’re sure you’ll find something that will stick in your students’ memories over the following pages.
Enjoy the issue!
The Top School Trips team
