As school leaders and educators, we operate in a world defined by structure. Inside the classroom, we have clear parameters, definitive timeframes, and a controlled environment. But the moment students leave the school gate, that structure vanishes.
Duty of care on school excursions is fundamentally different from duty of care in the classroom. The environment becomes dynamic and uncontrolled. The safety net of the front office is gone. Yet, many schools continue to send staff out with little more than a first aid kit and a stack of signed permission forms, assuming that good classroom management translates to good risk management in the field.
It doesn’t.
The Disconnect Between Classroom and Reality
There is often a significant disconnect between the skills teachers possess for the classroom and the skills required for the unstructured nature of excursions. In school, if an incident occurs, help is usually just a phone call or a runner away.
However, outside the classroom, teachers are responsible for transport, foreign cultures, public interactions, and dynamic environmental factors. This is a "24/7 duty of care" that requires staff to make complex decisions under pressure, often while battling fatigue.
When we look at serious incidents or fatalities on school trips, they rarely occur because a form wasn't filled out. They happen because of an "experience gap"—where well-meaning staff miss obvious red flags because they simply haven't been trained to see them.
You Cannot Contract Out Your Liability
A dangerous misconception in school risk management is the idea that booking a third-party provider or tour operator absolves the school of responsibility.
Let’s be clear:
You cannot contract out your duty of care nor your liability.
Even if you hire the best external providers, if you are taking a group overseas or to a camp, you are responsible for everything that happens. Parents entrust their children to the school, not the bus company or the tour guide. If a teacher is untrained and unprepared to step in when a provider fails or when a situation deteriorates, the school remains exposed.
The Hidden Risks: Fatigue and Routine
We often associate risk with "extreme" activities like abseiling or trekking. However, tragedy often strikes on programs considered "low-risk," such as history tours or language trips. In 2019, four preventable student fatalities occurred on international programs that were not in remote or high-risk locations.
Why? Because in "low-risk" environments, vigilance drops. Furthermore, the impact of fatigue on decision-making is often overlooked. Research shows that being awake for 24 hours affects decision-making ability similarly to being drunk.
Consider a teacher on a multi-day tour:
They are managing student behaviour 24/7.
They are likely sleep-deprived.
They may be managing complex medical needs, such as administering ADHD medication or insulin.
If we wouldn't allow a teacher to be drunk at work,
why do we accept fatigue as a standard part of excursions?. Fatigue causes tunnel vision and inhibits the ability to solve complex problems, which are critical skills when things don't go to plan.
Moving Beyond "Compliance Theatre"
Many schools rely on a paperwork system that is purely about checking boxes. This is "compliance theatre." It looks like risk management, but it offers no practical support to the teacher standing in the rain with thirty students and a broken-down bus.
Real duty of care requires:
Situational Awareness: Training staff to assess problems and adapt, rather than just following a rigid script.
Competency: Ensuring staff have specific training for off-site risks, not just generic workplace safety induction.
Active Management: Moving away from static forms to dynamic systems. For example, using digital tools to track medication administration ensures no student is missed during the chaos of a camp.
Empowering Staff to Lead
Teachers want to run great programs. They want to provide transformative experiences for their students. But to do this safely, they need more than just a pat on the back and a clipboard.
Good risk management isn't about stopping activities; it's about building a culture where safety is planned for weeks, months, and years in advance. It involves equipping staff with the tools and training to make sound decisions in challenging environments.
When staff are confident in their risk management skills, they can focus on the education and the experience, rather than operating from a place of fear or ignorance.
The Next Step for Your School
Duty of care is a legal and moral obligation that requires continuous attention. If your current strategy relies heavily on paper forms and "osmosis"—hoping teachers pick up skills along the way—it is time to review your approach.
Would you like to assess if your current excursion management processes are actually reducing risk or just creating paperwork?
Review your incident response plans and staff training records today to identify the gaps.
