Outdoor education programs take a lot of hard work to create. Once a program is up and running, it’s far easier to repeat the same trips rather than creating new experiences all the time. The problem with this, however, is that it can lead to complacency. When dealing with activities that involve various levels of risk, this creates a dangerous problem known as the expert blind spot.
The expert blind spot often occurs when you have a teacher or instructor who is very good at their task and has been doing it for years. Complacency and a false sense of security creep in. When you believe you know everything there is to know about an activity, you’re now in the danger zone without even realising it.
Danger Phrases: How to Spot Complacency in Your Team
Be cautious when you start to hear these statements, as they are major red flags:
"We’ve always done it like this, so it’s fine."
"That weather front’s ok, I’ve been in worse before."
"We don’t need a risk assessment done on that. We all know what we’re doing!"
"We’ve done it so many times before, nothing can go wrong…"
As a junior instructor, I was once in a situation where, despite my objections to the weather, I was told by a so-called "expert," "No, it'll be fine." We were hit by an extraordinary storm and were absolutely smashed by it, ending up with hypothermic students. That is the consequence of the expert blind spot.
The Antidote: A Culture of Continuous Improvement
The only way to prevent the expert blind spot is to make continuous improvement the goal of your program.
Rotate Staff and Locations: Staff becoming stale is a major cause of the blind spot. Plan to have them experience different activities and develop new skills.
Invest in Professional Development: Send staff on risk management training for teachers. The amount of new knowledge I get from every training course is immeasurable, especially from engaging with other professionals.
Actively Seek Feedback: Ask your staff and students what they think of the program and look for feedback that can be used constructively to improve.
A culture of continuous improvement needs a system to support it. School excursion risk assessment software like Xcursion Planner has a built-in feedback loop. You can log incidents, near misses, and general feedback directly from the field. This data then informs the planning for the next trip, camp, or sporting activity, ensuring that your school excursion risk management plan is never stagnant.
As the businessman Henry Doherty famously said, "Be a student as long as you still have something to learn, and this will mean all your life!" Don’t let yourself get lulled into a false sense of security. Acknowledging that you can always do better is the mark of a true professional.
