Are health and safety laws threatening Kiwi school trips?

Summarised by Centrist

School trips, or Education Outside the Classroom (EOTC), are cherished parts of Kiwi education, says educator Chris North. However, North suggests that this may be under threat by another cherished bit of Kiwiana: bureaucracy. 

EOTC is not without risks. 

According to North, over the past 24 years, school trips in New Zealand have resulted in 22 fatalities, 20 of which were due to drowning.

This makes health and safety laws critical, but their imposition can have a variety of effects, according to North. 

“They can make people think and act differently, or they can encourage the appearance of compliance without real behavioural change,” he writes. 

North outlines three approaches schools have taken in response to health and safety laws affecting EOTC. 

Firstly, 44% of schools reported reducing EOTC due to legal and safety concerns, despite the resulting loss of valuable student experiences. 

Secondly, some schools do the bare minimum in paperwork, seeing it as a bureaucratic exercise, which raises liability issues if not properly planned. 

Finally, about a third of schools maintained or increased EOTC activities. 

In these instances, North says the schools share “some combination of four enabling factors: competent staff, systems to minimise paperwork, a specialised EOTC coordinator to support teachers, a whole-school commitment to EOTC, and attending professional development courses.” 

Read more over at The Conversation