Thematic report |
Review of education visits policies in the further education sector - September 2015
The request from the Minister for Education and Skills for Estyn to undertake this review followed the death of a learner studying at Ystrad Mynach College, during an educational visit to Barcelona in 2011. Following their son’s death, his parents raised a range of concerns about the college’s procedures for educational visits and the associated risk assessments. The Minister made a commitment to the learner’s parents that every college in Wales would be made aware of the impact of their son’s death and that he would take steps to minimise the risk of such an event happening again. This review forms part of that commitment.
Recommendations
Further education colleges in Wales should review their educational visits policies and guidance to ensure that they conform to best practice. They should:
- R1 review their polices and supporting guidance for educational visits to ensure that they set out clear and straightforward procedures for planning visits and that plans and risk assessments are proportionate to need and the level of risk
- R2 require that group leaders have the knowledge, competence and experience to organise and lead the visit and that they have signed a declaration that they have used the current guidance when planning the visit
- R3 make sure that on residential visits all accommodation is checked for suitability and that supervisory staff stay in the same accommodation as learners
- R4 require that on residential visits there are appropriate arrangements for the supervision of downtime1 and that all staff in a supervisory role are alcohol free
- R5 always require that all learners and parents are aware of the need to comply with the college’s codes of conduct on behaviour and of the consequences of not doing so
- R6 make sure that any assistant leader and/or voluntary leaders have clearly understood roles and responsibilities and that they have up-to-date Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) clearance when leading groups, which include any learners who are either aged under 18 years or vulnerable adults
- R7 provide clear information to learners and parents of the scope and limitations of their insurance policies in relation to educational visits and clarify the responsibilities and expectations of third party providers
- R8 take account of the advice in the National Guidance on educational visits provided by the Outdoor Education Advisers Panel when reviewing their policies and guidance on educational visits
The Department of Education and Skills should:
- R9 require that all colleges take account of these recommendations when reviewing and updating their policies and guidance on educational visits