Union tells teachers to end all school trips
By John Clare, Education Editor
(Filed: 19/02/2004)
The second biggest teaching union advised its 223,000 members yesterday to stop taking children on school trips because "society no longer appears to accept the concept of a genuine accident".
The NASUWT, which said the ban applied to "any excursion outside the perimeter of the school", has seen three of its members blamed for causing pupils' deaths.
One, Paul Ellis, is serving a 12-month sentence after pleading guilty to the manslaughter of a 10-year-old boy who drowned on a school trip to the Lake District. Two others were criticised after two teenage girls on a trip they were supervising in the Yorkshire Dales drowned in a beck.
"It is highly regrettable that we have been forced to advise members against taking school trips but our first responsibility must be to protect their interests," said Eamonn O'Kane, the general secretary.
"When something goes wrong, the leader bears a legal responsibility so the finger of blame will almost certainly point at the teachers."
An accident was no longer treated as an accident, he said. Instead, it led to lengthy inquiries by the police, the local education authority and the Health and Safety Executive, the suspension of the teachers involved and extensive publicity.
Because of growing allegations of abuse, the union has also advised members not to give children a lift in their own vehicles, not to place themselves in a "one-to-one situation" with a child and not to drive a minibus on an educational visit.
The NUT, the biggest teaching union, said it "would not dream" of giving such advice. "School trips are such an integral part of children's education," said an official. "They help develop school spirit and promote good relationships between pupils, teachers and the community.
"It would be a sad day if they ever stopped because teachers refused to lead them."
