How School Trips Benefit Teachers’ Professional Development
If you go with a brilliant provider, school trips are incredibly rewarding experiences, for both teachers and students. In fact, teachers recently said that school trips were in the top 5 perks of the job – even above blowing things up! School trips are also a chance for teachers to work on professional development, build their CV, and demonstrate hireable qualities:
1) Planning & Organisational Skills
School trips give you the chance to demonstrate your organisational skills. You’ll be responsible for making sure every student has got their passport, papers and everything else they need. It’s also important that you carry round copies of their papers, medication, and a whole host of other essentials. It’s a challenge – but anyone hiring or promoting you will know that, and you’ll look all the better for it.
2) Leadership Qualities
Whether you’re leading the school trip or not, this is a way to build on your leadership skills. Coordinating a school trip takes effective time management, authority and grit. You’ll be in charge of several students at a time, and you’ll also be delegating to parent volunteers.
3) The Students
Probably the most important, this is your chance to really change your students’ perspectives. Open their eyes to the real-world implications of the subjects they’re studying. They’ve learned about natural disasters all year – now show them how it’s affected real people’s lives in Japan. They’ve been learning French in the classroom – now it’s time to put it into practice in Paris. An expertly constructed school trip will be incredibly influential in improving your students’ knowledge and skills, as well as motivating them to dig deeper.
4) Go on your own Learning Adventure
A quote any Tarzan/Genesis/Phil Collins fans will recognise, “in learning you will teach, and in teaching you will learn.” Find a school trip that will give you more insight into your subject, too. A native French language teacher? Try a lesson in French slang and discover a whole other side to your language. A music teacher who loves going to classical music concerts? Switch it up with South Korea’s Pansori, a traditional genre of musical storytelling with singing and drumming.
But remember, school trips are also an opportunity for teachers to have fun. Spend time with your fellow colleagues and marvel at incredible sights. That’s why we think it’s important to pick a school trip provider that puts in all the legwork for you.
(*Hint hint* that’s us! We’ll make your school trip as easy for you as possible, so that you can focus on the things that matter: personal development and your students. Check out our customisable school trips across Asia, Europe and the UK, email us [email protected] or shoot us a message on the chat!)
