FEATURE: SCHOOL TRIPS
More schools, colleges and universities are booking study trips than ever before - so how are they making it affordable?
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n our final feature this month we take a look at school trips in the company of Kate Erskine, Head of Diversity Study Trips. With the cost-of-living crisis squeezing budgets across all sectors, Kate reveals how academic institutions are making smart choices to enable students to partake in vital study trips.
What are the experiences young people remember most from their years in education? Any time adults are asked to look back and recall memorable moments from their formative years, a school trip will be on the list.
Whether students go on short break field trips in the UK, to a European destination or even long-haul, these are the days that broaden the horizons of all who attend and give them
experiences that cannot be replicated via a screen.
After two years of cancelled, interrupted and virtual lessons, it is clear that schools, colleges and universities are all desperate to offer their current crop of students more real-world outings. At Diversity Study Trips, the levels of enquiries we are receiving from academic institutions is at record levels.
Day trips, weekend visits, sports residentials, cultural trips and hands-on learning activities in the field are all proving very popular right now with organisations of all sizes.
While many schools, colleges and universities
are looking for non-essentials to cut from budgets to protect other services, it’s pleasing to see that the proven value of study trips has not been ignored.
Educational travel enriches and expands the mind in many ways. This helps students gain a deeper understanding of different lifestyles and cultures around the world.
Travel also improves students’ outlook on the world greatly. Groups are exposed to new environments, friendly locals, exciting cuisines and more during their trip. This can benefit students of all ages, as they’ll develop new skills that will help them excel in later life.
When combined with an itinerary packed with immersive educational activities, study trips can incite a huge positive shift in students’ personal development.
As well as long-term favourite destinations such as Venice, Berlin, Dublin, Amsterdam and Iceland, we have seen the emergence of places such as Japan and the USA for study trips that are now being booked up for 2023. Balancing this desire to give students the best possible experience set against rising costs, slashed budgets and a household cost of living crisis, however, means many are having to act smart to make their planned or dreamed of study trip a reality.
Those who last enquired about a study trip pre- pandemic are discovering that costs now are approximately 10 per cent higher across the board. This is a combination of flight or coach costs, accommodation and entrance fees at the destination itself.
Rising costs are simply a fact of life at the
moment.UK inflation hit a 40-year high of 10.1 per cent in August and is predicted to rise further. This cost-of-living crisis has seen supermarkets
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www.education-today.co.uk January 2023
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