Should parents go on school excursions? I think you know the answer     050

We all know that parents do go on excursions and that things seem to go fairly well. But this doesn’t mean that it should always happen. Indeed I think parents have a very limited role when it comes to this specific type of parental involvement. Let’s first consider younger children say K to Years 2 or possibly 3. With children of this age teachers and children benefit from extra adults as young children can find excursions a little overwhelming in different ways. Also, at this age, children are used to having parents in the classroom and directly involved with school activities, and other parents are also accepting of this.

Older children are very much a different situation, especially on overnight excursions. I do think that parents on this type of excursion are unacceptable for three reasons. First, if a parent were to give a direction to a child, no doubt well-intentioned, and quite probably necessary, then that child and his or her parents might feel resentful. Teachers are the ones expected to be giving directions.

Second, on excursions, particularly with overnight excursions, teachers like to sit and chat. Actually teachers themselves are very much starved for adult company. In the normal ebb and flow of school life teachers spend most of the time in the classroom, of course, and both children and teachers can get very sick of each other. Now if during the excursion, teachers are sitting down—and that’s mainly after the children have gone to bed, chatting about, well who knows what, then the conversation may need to be modified in view of the social need to include the parent. Certainly for example it would not be ethical for teachers to discuss one or more children in front of a parent, but it could well be that some children do need to be discussed. A clear conflict of interest exists here.

Third, a parent on an excursion can be an embarrassment to his or her child, especially if that child is on the excursion. It changes the social dynamics for everyone—students, teachers, and of course the child. It seems strange that parents never seem to think of these things, but things do need to be thought through. What about for example the issue of payment? Now a two or three night excursion, including entry to many interesting places, commercially would be worth a lot of money. Some parents could be resentful if a parent were to attend an excursion and yet not pay his or her share of the costs.

There can be exceptions—a few exceptions—to parents going on excursions with older children. It could be for example that the parent is a registered nurse. That could change things. It could also be that the parent already has a special position with regard to the students and school, or perhaps is actually a retired teacher, and again that could also change things. The difficulty is always that in allowing one parent to attend an excursion a precedent is set.

One reason that parents are allowed to attend excursions with older students is to add to the number of teachers. There is no need for this. More teachers can be obtained by employing one or more casual teachers to take classes back at school while the teachers thus released attend the excursion. This is the better way of doing it because on excursions children need to be with capable teachers they know and trust, not somebody’s mother.

Suppose the school fills a large coach with children, then that would be about 50, and this means there would need to be at least three teachers. Two coaches, about 100 children, would need a minimum of five or six teachers. The reason for this is fairly obvious—children have a remarkable talent for getting into all sorts of trouble and situations. You can absolutely count on it.

I can remember on one excursion a child having an accident within 30 minutes of leaving school. While sitting on the bus seat she happened to put her hands underneath the seat and in so doing suffered a metal splinter which penetrated her thumb under the thumbnail and then part of the splinter broke off. Well within 30 minutes the thumb was very swollen and turning all sorts of strange colours. It was a job for a doctor, and right there one teacher was needed for this task, which took some time as it turned out.

Another reason for sending plenty of teachers is that teachers on excursions do form a very effective team. Teachers are different in their own ways and can bring areas of special talent to an excursion for the benefit of children. Children enjoy having different teachers, just as teachers need a break from their own students. Different children also relate better to some teachers than others, and this is important because teachers and children can be together for two to four days.

I think these ideas would find general agreement with most teachers. So, while there can be exceptions, generally speaking, with older children, you need to have a very good reason for attending the excursion. Now if you want to be involved with the children, and help the school, there are many other ways of doing it. I hope this doesn’t disappoint those of you that do really want to go. Sorry, but it is for the benefit of everyone, including you.

All content copyright—Mark Thackray—Australian Educational Services