How to Make Educational Travel Attainable for All Students
Educational travel is one of the most interesting parts of any curriculum. It combines travelling, leisure, practical learning, and a general broadening of the students’ horizons. Unfortunately, not every student has the financial possibility to go on a globe-spanning trip. But, for the teachers out there, there are some ways to help those students in need in order for them to join in on the educational travel.
Arrange the Trip
Before you get to solving the financial issues, it is vital to realise the state of matters. So, arrange the trip first. Likely, you will be dealing with the travel agency to book the educational trip. So, contact them as soon as you decide to travel with your class and settle the following points:
- The cost of the travel;
- The basic cost of the travel (excluding insurance, additional excursions, etc.);
- Available discounts;
- Time limits (the final arrangement date, dates of the trip, payment dates, etc.).
Obviously, you need to know the details of the trip itself. Its purpose, places to visit, things to do, and more. You will present all the info later to your students, parents, and investors, so collect as much info as possible.
Create a Plan
If you want to get prepared for your trip properly and make it attainable to all the students on time, take your time planning and organising things in advance. Here are some points for you to cover:
- Create a plan or to-do list available to everyone involved.
- Include all the tasks and arrangements you need to do before the journey and cross them out once they are done.
- Mark the roles and people the tasks are assigned to.
- Track the progress together with your students.
This way, students and parents won’t treat your travel idea as some abstract thing. Instead, they will witness and participate more eagerly in the preparation process. Such an approach will guarantee cooperation and successful outcomes.
Meet the Families
Organise family meetings to get them aware of the idea and involve them in the process as much as possible. Hold the meetings once a week or send the updates to parents, fundraisers, and investors regularly. Learn about the ideas how parents can help you achieve the aim:
- Organise fundraising events;
- Attract professionals from travelling, financial, and other related spheres;
- Donate their belongings, services, thesis papers for sale;
- Search for investors at their workplaces.
Your main task is to present your educational travel idea in the best way to your students’ parents. Present them travel in general, show your to-do list, and visualise the plan for fundraising. If you manage to get parents inspired with your visions, they will be a great help for you and your students.
Many parents are too busy to attend the meetings. Prepare some electronic or paper forms for them to fill out. This way, you will know how they can help and how you can keep them updated.
Organise Fundraising Events
Fundraising events may become your main source of financial help. So, get parents, students, and other teachers to help you in organising fundraising events suitable for your school. Here are some ideas for you:
- School fairs with homemade food;
- Stalls in school with handmade souvenirs;
- Charity concerts;
- Meeting for investors for students to present their travel details.
You can turn the organisation of your fundraising events into educational projects for students. While acquiring basic project management skills, students will be able to raise money for their educational travel with academic benefits and fun.
Assign Tasks
Remember that although you have a great desire to help all the students to join the educational travel, you don’t have to do everything on your own. You will mainly act as a manager and coordinate all the related events and tasks but not operate them personally.
So, from the very beginning, distribute the tasks between students and parents. The best strategy is to organise focus groups. The group may consist of both parents and students so that adults will help their kids but give them the space to be creative and organisational as well. Assign blocks of work for every group and determine the tasks. Hold meetings regularly to track the progress and give some tips. Encourage students to cooperate and aim to succeed together.
Put in decent efforts to make education travel available for all students. Don’t hand them money and fund the trip directly. Instead, teach your class to cooperate and organise the fundraising and travel preparation as a big project. This way, your students will gather academic advances and be able to travel with the class with no hurdles.