Unions oppose new school trip rules

A campaign to help prevent tragedies on school trips today started a clash between the Government and teaching unions.

Ministers unveiled plans to tighten safety checks following a series of fatal accidents on adventure trips.

New rules will say that every school should appoint a teacher to coordinate and take overall responsibility for safety on all visits, though schools will not be forced to.

But unions say teachers lack the time and training to take on such a vital task - and could be open to legal challenge if anything went wrong. They say the new rules will encourage schools to axe trips.

The second-biggest teaching union, NASUWT, says it will advise its members to avoid taking on the new role.

And the Association of Teachers and Lecturers warned: " This will be another task for an already overburdened teacher."

Both unions say the main responsibility for safety should rest with the education authority, not individual schools and teachers.

The Department for Education and Skills says every school should name an " educational visits co-ordinator" whose responsibility would be to "look at specific and ongoing issues on school trips". Education authorities would "address main hazards at the initial planning stage".

Teaching unions say any teacher appointed as coordinator would spend much of their time out of the classroom on advance visits to school trip destinations. The Government says most advance visits will still be carried out by education authority officials.