The travel industry has been ground to a halt by the global pandemic and thousands of educational tours have been forced to be shelved. However, despite the doom-mongering headlines and challenges- there are many reasons to be optimistic that this type of travel will soon be possible. This global shut-down has only served to reaffirm our belief in the power of educational travel and we expect 2022 to be the start of a big recovery for the sector. Hopefully the following will inspire you to start planning for your 2022 school trips!
Broadening horizons
In the words of Saint Augustine “The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page.” This ethos guides our philosophy around providing transformative travel experiences. This year has closed borders, shut down opportunities and meant that young people have not been able to get out into the world. The online world may be rich but it lacks the magic of the real world. There’s nothing quite like experiencing something first-hand: the assault on the senses on entering a new place or the visual experience of seeing an incredible view, for the first time.
On our tours, we try and take students out of their comfort zone and try and create as many hands-on experiences as possible. Whether that’s a monastery experience in the mountains of Korea, a sushi-making class in Japan or watching a political debate in Paris- the key is that students are out there, doing things. They’re seeing, experiencing the world and this will enable them to form their own opinions and develop new ideas.
Our trips are a very small part of an increasingly globalised world. Perhaps we have all taken for granted the ease with which we can travel to foreign lands and there’s nothing like a closed border to make one realise the allure of what’s behind it. Travel can help see behind stereotypes. Europe may occasionally take a battering in our press but wandering the streets of Rome or trying padel tennis in Malaga will help students realise the magic of the continent. As for Asia, meeting the founders of start-up tech companies in China or hearing from a North Korean defector can give a glimpse of another world.
Subject-specific learning
This pandemic has shown the impressive work of the teaching profession in adapting to new situations. Young people have still had some form of education despite school closures but they have been denied both face to face interactions and the chance to learn outside the classroom. We believe that there’s lessons to be learnt through travel and we have a whole series of subject-specific tours. For STEM students- visiting Shanghai’s Maglev (bullet train) exhibition or history students stepping foot on the battlefields of Western Europe is an education in itself. There’s a lot of ground to be made up and lessons that went unlearnt in the last year. Hopefully, 2022- will be a chance for students to both delve deeper into subjects and to explore new places. We have itineraries for a whole range of subjects that can help unlock the curriculum and show it’s applied to real life and future careers.
Local impact
Travel is a two-way street- the impact of seeing the Great Wall of China or Mt Fuji may be striking for the visitor but there’s also a knock-on effect for those who are welcoming you. We have arranged hundreds of school exchanges across different countries. These are always inspiring occasions and enable young people to gain an understanding of one another. Normally, we arrange a few joint lessons and a welcome ceremony. We’ve found these to both be enriching for the visiting school but also to pique the interest of the host school. These occasions always leave both sides with a positive and more informed view of a new culture and can inspire students to be more open to different cultures.
Fun
Educational travel is not only enriching and good for learning – it’s also great fun. School trips in 2022 will be formative for young people. They can cement friendships, provide life-long stories and offer something different to the day to day. After the year, we’ve all had – new experiences and fun times are certainly in order. Whilst the world- may be on pause- there is hope and we believe educational travel will be back
Fancy organising some 2022 school trips with us? What’s more, we don’t just show you these awesome places, we take you behind-the-scenes and get your students chatting to experts and partaking in workshops. We fully customise our itineraries to your school’s curriculum. Email us at [email protected] or speak to a member of our specialist team through the chat box!
