Teacher Chaperon Trip Tips for Overseas Travel
Dividing Responsibilities and Maintaining Physical Strength
Many teachers are wary when contemplating a one-day field trip with their students to some local site of interest. The prospect of an 8-14 day trip abroad with students can present nightmare scenarios, especially for teachers traveling on such extended tours with students for the first time. There are, however, a number of ways teachers can lessen anxiety and ultimately provide a satisfying and enriching experience for their students as well as themselves.
Dividing Trip Responsibilities
No one teacher can be or should be expected to shoulder all of the tour responsibilities alone, even if the group is small. Every student tour provider offers a formula for “free spots” on tours based on the number of paying participants. A group of 18 students might equate to the primary teacher and two others traveling free.
These free spots should be filled with other teachers or educators like administrators or school counselors. Foreign tours lasting several days or weeks demand a higher level of vigilance that only experienced professionals can bring to bear. This also allows for a system of shared responsibilities:
- Breaking large groups into smaller groups, each reporting to one teacher
- Taking turns with morning wake-up procedures and evening curfews
- Alternating chaperon duties during free-time activities
- Rotating evening responsibilities so that one chaperon will always have a free night devoid of responsibilities
All chaperons need time for themselves and this is even more important on longer trips. Dividing responsibilities will ensure that every chaperon is well rested at all times and maintains a positive demeanor. Dividing responsibilities can even include securing students’ passports and other key documents for safe-keeping.
Maintaining Physical and Mental Health
After the 7-8 hour trans-Atlantic flight, tours arrive early to mid-morning in Europe. Tour Directors immediately begin the itinerary, usually with a walking tour. In most cases the group will not check into the hotel until late in the afternoon or early evening. Although no activities are planned after dinner, it is a fallacy to presume that students will be tired after having been awake for over 24-hours. It is very easy to lose control, even marginally, on the first night. This can take a toll on chaperons and set the pace for the rest of the tour, affecting physical and mental health: sleep is essential.
Attentive chaperons retire only after all students are accounted for and in their rooms, hopefully sleeping; chaperons are the first to arise in the morning in order to ensure everyone in the group has eaten breakfast (another essential for everyone on a busy tour). Some teachers use extended bus travel time, a feature of many tours taking groups to several destinations, to catch up on sleep.
Proper eating, remaining hydrated in hot weather, and taking a good multi-vitamin will ensure that chaperons have the physical strength to fulfill their obligations yet also enjoy the tour themselves. Chaperons that become ill during a student trip reduce the number of adults necessary to maintain order and organization and often take up the time of other adults that must offer care. Much of this can be avoided through a personal regimen focused on maintaining health throughout the tour.
Student Tours are Not Vacations
Although teachers travel free and experience many wonderful things that they can bring back to the classroom, student tours should never be deemed a vacation or “second honeymoon,” or any variation thereof. The primary responsibility of all chaperons has to be the smooth facilitation of the tour and when traveling with students, that equates to vigilance. Teachers invited to join a student tour as chaperons must be told exactly what will be expected of them in terms of supervision.
Maintain Your Own Health on Student Trips
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