Running a school trip in the UK or abroad comes with a significant level of responsibility and accountability. There is obviously the safety of students and staff, which is always the primary concern. However, there is also the accountability to the budget of the school and parents alike. Are you genuinely offering an educational experience that is worth the investment of money requested?

There are lots of reasons for choosing a school tour operator to help with the organisation of these experiences. They provide the expertise, contacts and all-in-one service that makes an ambitious learning excursion possible. However, it is essential to apply due diligence when selecting this operator to ensure everything goes to plan. Here we offer some hints and tips to help you navigate this tricky area and offer you some peace of mind.

Accreditation

When you book a personal holiday, you will automatically check that the trip is covered by ABTA – or the Association of British Travel Agents. Alternatively, you will look for ATOL accreditation, which is the Air Travel Organiser’s Licence. Both organisations offer cover for different kinds of package holidays depending on the means of transports you are taking the nature of the travel firm. However, the ABTA and ATOL label suggests your holiday is protected. It means that the holiday supplier has agreed to abide by a code of conduct. It also means if something goes wrong, then you can get your money back.

There are two other quality marks you might look for: LOtC and STF.

Learning Outside the Classroom (LOtC) accreditation shows that the organisation has applied for and met the criteria for this mark of quality. The best school tour operators have passed a robust assessment that it provides experiences with sound learning outcomes and meets all risk management needs.  

School Travel Forum (STF) is an organisation that aims to help teachers, students and school leaders travel with confidence. Tour operators who choose to become an approved member of STF have undergone rigorous inspection, offering a significant degree of security. This is a not-for-profit organisation, so the advice and support provided for teachers is unbiased and based on a mission to encourage out of the classroom experiences.

Even when having checked the accreditation, you should still ask other safety questions. You should ask if they have a 24-hour helpline and whether they make frequent inspection visits to the location. You also want to know if they have audited for safety standards recently. You should request a copy of the tour operators’ policy on safeguarding and for advice on how they deal with emergency situations.

Level of Expertise

The best school tour operators will have a core team of professionals who have experience and a passion for travel and educational experiences. Part of your research should be to look to find out who these individuals are that have shaped the tour and what their CV brings to the experience. You want a business that offers outstanding customer service, but you also want a team that understands educational travel.  

As well as asking about the tour operators’ personnel, you might also want to try these questions too:

1. How many trips have you run before?
2. How many times have you taken school parties to this location?
3. How knowledgeable are you of the local area and the opportunities available for learning?

The best tour operators will likely provide you will educational resources that support the trip to the area. Therefore, adding value to your trip. If the resources are generic and lacking depth, you know that this operator is not likely to provide the expertise you wish for your students.

Customer Testimonials

The best reference point for the excellence of a tour operator is another school. While some companies will offer teacher inspection visits, you will not really know how good they are until you have your students with you. Therefore, the best source of information will come from customer testimonials.

The testimonials provided by the school tour operator will obviously be cherry-picked to put the company in the best light. Therefore, you are going to need to ask around and seek out that precious word-of-mouth recommendation. When you are looking for exceptional quality, the best testimonials are unsolicited. You will be at a school leaders’ conference, and someone will tell you all about the incredible experience they had with a school tour operator. Even if you ask at such a meeting, the response from the fellow leader is going to be gold dust.

Evidence of Shared Values

Finally, and maybe a little more tangentially, you should look to see that the tour operator shares your values. On a practical level, you want to know that all the organisations you deal with hold right to a set of moral and ethical guidelines. When you do business with other entities, you are establishing a relationship that can reflect on your organisation too.

However, on a philosophical level, you may want to see that the tour operator fulfils some of the responsibilities you expect. For instance, on a simple level, you would hope they did all they could to protect the environment. They should be clear on how they aim to reduce their impact on Co2 emissions, for instance, or how they seek to conserve the areas where they tour too. It would also help market the trip if you could show how the tour company give back to the communities they visit. Imagine you are running a trip to a developing country for Geography, wouldn’t it be amazing to suggest to parents that by visiting the area the students will be contributing to bettering the lives of the community? In short, does your School Tour Operator seek to give back to society in some way?

The essential takeaway

While safety, security, reliability, and accountability are all essential concepts when selecting your tour operator, you also need to be sure they offer a decent educational and human experience. The best operators will be run by passionate educationalists who love to travel – find one of these and you have found your preferred supplier.