Teachers warned: Don't accept job of running school trips

Teachers were advised against organising school trips yesterday after the Government published safety guidelines recommending every school appoint a member of staff responsible for visits.

Their unions said the guidance was flawed, claiming it would simply increase the number of staff open to prosecution in the event of an accident. They argued that the guidelines would do little to improve safety but would lead to teachers refusing to go on trips.

The Department for Education and Skills had pledged to tighten the rules in response to a series of fatal accidents on school outings last year. Under the guidelines,local education authorities in England would also be required to appoint an "outdoor education adviser" to oversee school trips.

The guidance stresses that ultimate legal responsibility for safety on trips rests with local education authorities or governing bodies, rather than individual teachers. But Chris Keates, the deputy general secretary of the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers (NASUWT) said the proposal for teachers to act as co-ordinators was ill-conceived and would put pressure on staff.

"The NASUWT already strongly advises members to think very carefully before organising or becoming involved in school trips. We will undoubtedly extend that advice to the co-ordinator's role and caution them against accepting such an onerous responsibility," she said. "It is highly regrettable we have to take this approach ... However, in an increasingly litigious society, which no longer appears to accept the concept of a genuine accident, our first responsibility must be to protect our members' interests."

David Hart, the general secretary of the National Association of Head Teachers, said the Government was "in danger of creating excessive bureaucracy and red tape". He said: "Educational visits are an essential part of the curriculum for many schools. It would be unfortunate, to put it mildly, if additional requirements placed on schools were to lead to teachers voting with their feet and abandoning school trips."

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills expressed surprise at the hostility to the proposals, saying the unions had helped to produce them.

Last year, Bunmi Shagaya, aged 11, from south London, drowned on a school trip to Dieppe, France, and Amy Ransom, 17, from a school in Buckinghamshire, fell to her death on a mountain trek in Vietnam.

In May, Charlotte Wright from Kent, 8, died on an activity trip in Surrey, and Chloe Patel, 13, from Hertfordshire, broke her back falling off a rope-slide at a Welsh activity centre. A few days earlier, Max Palmer, from Lancashire, drowned in the Lake District after being swept away while walking in a gorge.

Stephen Twigg, an Education minister who launched the guidelines, said: "School trips are an important aspect of every pupil's education, but safety has to remain the priority. We are committed to ensuring ... schools and LEAs have the support and guidance they need to manage them with confidence."