In fact, 6 of 10 school trip participants indicate that participation in a school trip increased their desire to travel more while 55% said it gave them more intellectual curiosity. And in today’s society where it seems we’re more divided than ever, 52% said travel increased their tolerance of other cultures and ethnicities. So why don’t more schools travel?
Follow the money
As it turns out, lack of finances is the major sticking point as to why more schools don’t travel, cited by 86% of respondents in a recent survey. Since parents foot the bill for the majority of these trips, this has put an increased emphasis on the travel industry to make student travel affordable for all. While fundraising helps (25% trips are funded this way), small, many communities still struggle to fund school trips.
Other factors affecting school travel
While funding is the major issue in why schools don’t travel, other barriers according to teachers who do not organize student travel include administrative rules or regulations (cited by 29% of survey respondents), risk management (cited by 24%), testing times dictating periods when students can travel (19%), no mechanism to raise funds (18%), and students needing to spend more time in the classroom, cited by 18% of respondents.
While some of these factors affecting school travel are logistical, the underlying issue is lack of trip financing, and more needs to be done to make student travel more affordable for all,be it fundraising or grands. Our future is at stake. The survey was conducted by StudentMarketing, an independent market specialist on behalf of the Student & Youth Travel Association.
