Leaving your Comfort Zone but Staying Safe – School Expeditions and Risk

HOVE, U.K. - May 22, 2013 - PRLog -- When you’re thinking about planning your school expedition, as a responsible teacher of course your primary concern will be safety.  Perhaps not only the actual but also the perceived risks by parents, senior management and local authorities.

All right and proper.  But – and it’s a big but – one of the main advantages of an expedition is the chance to for students to experiment and to take risks positively.  According to Leigh-Anne Stradeski of Eureka! The National Children's Museum, “On school trips, children can take risks they wouldn’t be able to in the classroom.”

Positive risk taking is an approach that encourages making informed decisions based on balancing benefits against risks. It advocates ‘risk literacy’, that is the ability to understand what risk is and the ability to make critical judgements on it.  As Helen Keller put it, “Security is mostly a superstition. It does not exist in nature, nor do the children of men as a whole experience it.”  So, if we can’t avoid risk in life, what we need to do is enable young people to keep themselves safe.  

Overseas adventures in particular can seem like a very risky business, but the cost to students of not engaging with such opportunities could be greater.  Adventurous activities can build self-awareness and confidence, and expose students to new experiences – not mention the natural highs!  

And an expedition overseas can be just the kind of challenge that enables young people to thrive, trying out different activities and unearthing new talents.  The benefits can be life-changing, as remarked by young volunteer Cory who visited Tanzania with Quest4Change (http://www.quest4change.org/schools.html) in 2010, “I feel that it was the best experience of my life!”

So, how to ensure you as a teacher eliminate the unnecessary risks when “uncertainty is inherent in adventure” (Tom Mullarkey, Royal Society for the Prevention of Accidents)?  Not by limiting the adventure, but by making sure that the school expedition you plan builds mitigation into its plans.  One quick way of ensuring this is to look for an expedition provider that has been peer assessed as compliant with British Standard 8848, for organisers of visits outside the United Kingdom. BS 8848 is completely voluntary, so as RoSPA put it, “you can feel confident that those that choose to comply … take safety and customer service seriously.”  

The Parents’ Guide to BS 8848 (http://www.rgs.org/NR/rdonlyres/F88634DF-60CF-4867-97BE-A...) is full of useful advice about what compliance means and what you should look for from an overseas expedition provider.  In particular, some important questions to ask are:

ü  What advice or training will they be given?

ü  What happens if they become ill or have an accident?

ü  Are staff competent and experienced?

ü  What are the risks and how will these be minimised?

How do organisations put these into practice? For Quest4Change, there are a number of ways they do this, from regular visits by senior staff to project sites and continual updating of risk assessments, through to extensive training and rigorous selection of leaders.  The preparation of teams is also vital, with thorough training days held prior to departure with all students and teachers.  Forewarned is forearmed, as they say.

What else to look for?  Any responsible school expedition provider will make sure that not only are necessary precautions taken with regard to planning a trip, but that the unlikely occurrence of a crisis (minor or major) can be dealt with swiftly and efficiently.  So, long expeditions to inhospitable regions like the Arctic may require taking along a medic.  Shorter expeditions to less dangerous places (http://www.quest4change.org/project-locations-schools.html) should be expected to have access to 24-hour expert medical consultancy and good links to facilities on the ground.  Not to mention excellent first aid skills for leaders.

And of course, good travel insurance (http://www.campbellirvine.com/tour_operators.htm) has to be the biggie.  Find out not only what activities are covered but also whether any exclusions apply, and how long-standing and positive the relationship is between expedition provider and insurance company.

With all of the above, you, the school and parents can feel happy that you are doing all you can to keep their dearest safe, while you and your students can also take advantage of the opportunities available and be part of something truly amazing.

Visit www.quest4change.org/schools for more information about planning a safe, worthwhile school expedition.

Quest4Change is a small charity based in East Sussex, whose vision is a world where people live without poverty in a clean and protected natural environment. We connect our long-term commitment to sustainable development with teams of young volunteers whose personal development is enabled by their work on our projects and exploration of a different life. Quest4Change supports grassroots social and environmental projects in South America and Africa.  Learn about what we do (http://www.quest4change.org/what-we-do.html), then become part of the vision either by joining a volunteering expedition (http://www.quest4change.org/volunteering-expeditions.html), or support us (http://www.quest4change.org/support-us.html) from your school, workplace or home.

To find out more, please visit www.quest4change.org/schools or call us on 01273 777206.