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School visit market has changed for ever!

In the past three decades schools have been dramatically transformed in both the manner in which they teach and the way in which they are financed and managed. These trends are also reflected in the dramatically changed attitude of teachers towards the educational visits which they organize.

The school visits market is an extremely important one for many visitor attractions, outdoor/activity centers, budget accommodation operators, field study centers and the local economies in which they are located. This is not only because these visits are the source of off-peak cash flow but also because school visits help these organizations to fulfill their chartered function – their educational role - and justify their existence. However, organization of the school visits has changed beyond recognition and all the organizations benefiting from this previously ‘secure’ market should be aware of the following trends and their implications:

• The events over the last decade have taught teachers that, in case of an accident on a school trip, their promotion prospects may be jeopardized and, at worst, they may face imprisonment. Teachers and all operators involved in the organization of school visits have to know and meet the regulations of the new Health and Safety Guidelines (HASPEV) and Child Protection Legislation.

• Whatever else they might be, the majority of today’s teachers do not conform to the traditional hybrid of devoted community figure and self-sacrificing servant of the young.
• Increased parental influence in schools, such as parent governors, and greater freedom in selecting schools means that teachers’ activities could be challenged or rejected by the parent body.
• The performance of schools and their Local Education Authorities is increasingly monitored by central government bodies, such as the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) and OFSTED. When an OFSTED report puts a school in the ‘failing’ category, its teachers face future employment uncertainty, and an instant ‘stain’ on their curriculum vitae.
• The knowledge component of the National Curriculum can be gained through a range of means, access to many of which – textbooks, recorded TV programmes and Internet sites – is far less stressful and carries less risk than travelling away from the controlled environment of the school.
• Nevertheless, the view of the majority of teachers remains – visits are a good thing to undertake. Moreover, many of them conclude that if they don’t carry them out – who will?

This Insights article, published in the March 04 edition, considers the nature of these developments and their impact on the pattern and volume of school visits to tourist and leisure attractions. It also suggests strategies which the tourism and leisure industry

needs to adopt in response to these trends, if the industry is to retain and grow the business benefits it derives from educational tourism.

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