School trips are unlucky victim of efficiency drives

13 May 2011 1 min read John Freeman Education

The squeeze is on for anything that does not appear immediately important. For colleges, enrichment funding is being slashed. This is funding that has contributed to a wide range of important discretionary activity, from sport to family education.

And for schools, we are seeing trips away becoming an avoidable extra, even though the positive impact of them is well documented — Ofsted says that they can "contribute significantly to the raising of standards".

But Education Secretary Michael Gove has rejected a call from the education select committee that every child should benefit from at least one school trip each term, saying, as he does on these occasions, that it should be for head teachers to decide where to wield the axe.

Of course, schools serving affluent areas will continue to be able to rely on parental contributions, with schools in more deprived areas losing out. And the educational destinations themselves will come under increasing financial pressure. Those destinations in deprived areas that rely heavily on school income will close or reduce their scope.

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