Organising educational business trips seems straightforward until inevitable mishaps like harsh weather, travel delays or underwhelming tours arise. Sidestep common pitfalls through thoughtful prep to maximise the journeys for teachers and students alike. Here are key mistakes to avoid when planning student travel focused on business:
Mistake: Not Defining Educational Goals
Lacking defined goals wastes opportunities to thoughtfully connect destinations to curriculum topics like economics or accounting. Subsequently, tours become irrelevant to ongoing studies.
How To Avoid: Outline 2-3 targeted learning objectives tied directly to lessons that locations can enrich practically to focus planning. Treat trips as condensed classes, not just holidays.
Mistake: Overscheduling Days
Oversaturated schedules allow little time to soak up experiences between rushed bus transfers and late dinners. Students recall little from spaces between this chaos.
How To Avoid: Leave plenty of pockets of unhurried time to explore cultural immersions like shops demonstrating branding or stock exchanges revealing capital flows. Trying to cram too many stops in means that there won’t be any time for lessons learned and experiences to sink in.Â
Mistake: Underestimating Costs And Logistics
Common budget blind spots like insurance, extra supervision, visas, and cancellations from lowball estimates leave shortfalls needing to be covered.
How To Avoid: Scrutinise fine print on what the quote entails and excludes across fees, chaperone numbers needed per student, refund policies etc. Build 10% contingency margins on top protecting against surprises.
Mistake: Not Getting Buy-In And Consents Early
Scrambling for parental permissions, administrator greenlights and student interest last minute causes unnecessary angst for easily prevented hurdles.
How To Avoid: Introduce trips conceptually before asking for approvals to build genuine enthusiasm. Then secure formal consent from overseers, parents, and guardians well before booking. Check ticketing terms if commitments are required early.
Mistake: Not Researching Tour Providers
Delegating logistics is wise, but third parties vary tremendously in quality. Shoddy operators damage trips through bad food, unsafe lodging, and tedious tours.
How To Avoid: Vet prospective tour organisers by checking credentials, seeking past teacher references, reviewing sample itineraries, and investigating them online for complaints. A group providing business and economics educational trips should have excellent reviews and examples of successful journeys. Don’t just rely on marketing promises or the lowest prices.
Mistake: Assuming Language Won’t Be An Issue
Unless travelling with multilingual chaperones, don’t expect English immersions in foreign countries facilitating trips aligned to English curriculums without agreements ensuring bilingual hosts.
How To Avoid: Seek destinations and partners with sufficient English fluency to deliver content-matching syllabi, even if secondary languages are represented across student groups. Verify language abilities align during planning.
Mistake: Not Accommodating Learning Differences
Neurodiverse learners like autistic students may require adjustments in managing new environments. Failing to prepare adequate student-specific support risks unwelcoming or overwhelming situations jeopardising participation.
How To Avoid: Consult parents and external specialists early to identify potential sensory, social or travel arousal challenges needing modification through headphones, briefing cards or itinerary adjustments enabling groups’ educational equity and inclusion.
Mistake: No Post-Trip Assessment
Forgoing reflective assignments post-travel forfeits synthesising experiences into takeaways and improving business acumen. Letting trips become just tourist memories represents lost learning potential without articulating key lessons.
How To Avoid: Get students to capture photos, videos, and journals throughout trips as fodder for unpacking best practices applicable to future entrepreneurial pursuits or community initiatives. Solidify learning through compiled travel e-portfolios.
