There are no legal requirements and the concept of reasonableness is important. Supervision should be based on a reasonable judgement of the numbers and expertise of adult supervisors that will be necessary, taking into account the nature and hazards of the trip, and the number, age, sex and aptitudes of the students.

As an absolute minimum, ATL believes that at least two adults should accompany any group of up to 20 students. If a student is taken ill or another emergency arises, one adult can deal with it while the other looks after the rest of the party. There may be occasions when it is acceptable for just one adult to go, although ATL believes these occasions will be rare. 

If, say, a dozen 17-year-old A-level French students are living with host French families in a given area, it could well be acceptable for just one teacher/lecturer to be billeted in the area with them. Such students should be mature enough to be able to look after themselves to a degree, and because they are living with a family – not in a hotel or hostel – a certain level of supervision and activities will be arranged by the family. 

ATL believes that there should always be at least two teachers/lecturers accompanying a party on a journey abroad however, even though one may be enough once the party has reached its destination.

At least one female adult and one male adult should accompany a mixed-sex group.

Trips involving hazardous activities will normally require a much smaller adult/ student ratio than for trips which do not (e.g. one adult to five students).

Some LEAs have decided that, for some one-day visits to local destinations, only one teacher/lecturer needs to go if the group size is small. In these cases, ATL would advise members to consider carefully all possible risks (paying particular attention to the students who will be present) before agreeing to take a group offsite on their own. 

Foreign exchanges

Some teachers/lecturers have expressed concern about their role when they are the party leader of a group of students who are staying with families as part of a foreign exchange. Their responsibilities will include being available throughout the stay as a point of contact with ‘home’ should a problem arise. 

This could be no more than a minor illness or a dose of homesickness, but occasionally, more serious complaints are made about the conduct of a member of the host’s family towards a particular student. 

All adults from the UK who accompany the party will, of course, have undergone the usual police checks. There is not – and cannot normally be – any procedure for ‘vetting’ the whole of a host family’s household, however. 

A party leader faced with such a problem needs to contact both the liaison teacher/lecturer at the host school/college in the exchange and the student’s parents immediately so that:

• the student can be returned directly to the UK, or
• the student can be moved to another household, or
• the situation can be investigated and resolved amicably.   

Such a problem is very difficult for the party leader and underlines the need for their whereabouts to be known to all members of the party throughout the stay abroad. 

Volunteers

Volunteers have no more power or authority over the young people they are accompanying than any other member of the public. Schools and colleges should check with their insurers about cover for volunteers (e.g. what would happen if a volunteer was negligent). Similarly, the volunteers themselves need to know whether they are insured personally through the institution’s own arrangements or whether they need to obtain their own cover. 

They also need to know what their role, authority and responsibilities on the trip are. It should be clear at the outset whether an adult (e.g. a parent) who is accompanying the party is expected to share responsibility for the welfare of students, or whether s/he is merely another participant on the trip.

Care should be taken to avoid using volunteers to ‘make up numbers’: a school or college might be negligent if it does not send enough employees with appropriate authority over the young people in their care. 

All volunteers, including parents, should be checked with the Criminal Records Bureau. An Enhanced Disclosure will normally be required for a volunteer who will be in sole charge of children and young people.

Help and advice

For more detailed advice, please refer to ATL's publication Taking students off-site.

For individual queries, please contact ATL's London office, e-mail the helpdesk, or contact your branch secretary. You may also wish to call the out-of-office-hours helpline.

If you need confidential support and advice, don't forget you can also call ATL's stress, crisis or legal helplines.