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AIBU?

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Original poster

To wonder who funds a teacher's school trip

482 replies

iwasjustwonderingreally · 06/04/2022 10:41

My daughter went skiing with her school in February half term.

Four teachers accompanied them.

Do teachers pay for themselves, or a contribution, (I appreciate they are working though), or is the cost to the pupil inflated to cover the cost of the teachers?

OP posts:
BingBangB0ng · 06/04/2022 10:54

Is the implication here that you think it’s cheeky or wrong if teachers don’t pay to supervise school trips, because they might also get to do a bit of skiing themselves? If so lmao

toomanydogsandcats · 06/04/2022 10:54

Usually it's covered by the provider in the overall cost. They are part of the insurance package.

twentythreehundred · 06/04/2022 10:54

Most people that aren't self-employed have their business trips covered by their employer.

Isn't it pretty much like any other business trip?

Except they have an extraordinary high level of responsibility and can't get drunk in the evenings in the hotel bar.

StrawberrySquash · 06/04/2022 10:55

You spend the whole time effectively on call. It's great fun but hard work. Lots of X has been stretchered off the mountain so you need to go and pick her up and deal with the medical centre. Then Y needs to go to the hospital which is an hour down the mountain so you can act as interpreter. Then you have to work out how you are entertaining the kids in the evening and find the ones who've decided to make a break for it and bring them back and give them a dressing down. Next day it's go and sort the kid who's ripped his snowboarding trousers and make sure he's got suitable gear. You do get some time up the mountain, but it's hard work!

IceVolcanoes · 06/04/2022 10:55

Or did you think that the kids should just go on their own?

The four teachers could have stayed at home and gotten on with their non-working lives. But then there’d be no trip for the kids.

Porcupineintherough · 06/04/2022 10:55

Oh and if you are a parent and this bothers you, you are always free to put together a trip for your teenagers independently and w no support or supervision.

LubaLuca · 06/04/2022 10:55

I can't imagine why anyone would think it was even possible that teachers would pay for themselves to go and herd other people's children up and down a mountain for a week, and bring them back happy and healthy. Come on, you must know that that simply couldn't be an option.

TheHoleNineYards · 06/04/2022 10:56

Do teachers pay for themselves, or a contribution, even though they are working 24/7 through their holiday or does the cost to the pupil include the costs of the people in loco parentis and responsible for keeping them safe?

Fixed it for you.

The answer is obviously “no, teachers don’t pay to work extra hours. The cost of the holiday covers all costs, including staffing”

HopefulProcrastinator · 06/04/2022 10:57

The cost per pupil pays for the teacher's spots, whether artificially because of the 'free' adult spaces or directly as an extra payment per pupil.

Frankly you should be grateful that their willing to give up their time off to supervise a bunch of entitled kids on a ski trip. I wouldn't work an extra week for free even if my company were shipping me off abroad to do it, I'm always amazed that teachers do.

Original poster
iwasjustwonderingreally · 06/04/2022 10:58

For those surprised that I ask ...

The teachers aren't with the children during the day as they are off skiing on their own (as the children are in ski school).

They are all also drinking at night and one got particularly drunk.

It has been raised as a complaint and, before I decide whether or not I want to put my name to any complaint, I want to find out if it's been paid for by parents or not!

OP posts:
DelphiniumBlue · 06/04/2022 10:59

Ffs! Have you ever been on a school trip? It's not a holiday, and you don't even paid for the the extra hours you work, which is normally about 5 am till after midnight, getting woken up by homesick kids in between. Why would any teacher pay for that? The trips can be fun, but they are really hard work long long hours and absolutely exhausting!

Excited101 · 06/04/2022 10:59

She wasn’t saying there’s anything wrong with the child’s cost including the teachers! She was just asking if that’s how it’s done!

DowntonCrabby · 06/04/2022 10:59

Obviously not the teachers. It’s not a holiday for them, at all!

Excited101 · 06/04/2022 10:59

Ohhhh cross post, as you were…
(Drip feed op, come on!)

ReadyToMoveIt · 06/04/2022 11:00

I remember the teachers getting drunk one night when I was on a school ski trip (I was 17 but there were kids there aged 14-18). We just thought it was funny, I don’t think I even told my parents about it! Wouldn’t have occurred to me. They weren’t with us during the day either.

seven201 · 06/04/2022 11:00

I've been a teacher on a ski trip. Never again! I've never been so exhausted at the end of a holiday. On a coach 24 hrs each way on duty by the toilet helping those throwing up! Being the last in the line of the skiers so I could pick up all the fallen ones, often then falling over myself. Counting children and passports endlessly. Carrying extra skis for random crying teenagers who say they can't. I did have to buy my own ski clothes, although I probably could have borrowed some if I'd tried. When we got back I had to go to work the next day. I was just a volunteer teacher, the woman who organised it must have put in at least 30 extra hours of organising admin during term time.

Don't get me wrong, it was really fun but the trips would never run if staff had to pay themselves. I can't afford to take my own family skiing.

IceVolcanoes · 06/04/2022 11:01

@iwasjustwonderingreally

For those surprised that I ask ...

The teachers aren't with the children during the day as they are off skiing on their own (as the children are in ski school).

They are all also drinking at night and one got particularly drunk.

It has been raised as a complaint and, before I decide whether or not I want to put my name to any complaint, I want to find out if it's been paid for by parents or not!

What the teachers do during the time the kids are in ski school isn’t relevant though.

I wouldn’t necessarily believe the tales that the teachers were getting pissed either.

LubaLuca · 06/04/2022 11:01

That might have been a pertinent point to raise as part of your op. It puts an entirely different slant on the question.

TheHoleNineYards · 06/04/2022 11:02

For those surprised that I ask ...
That would be every reply.

The teachers aren't with the children during the day as they are off skiing on their own (as the children are in ski school).
Firstly, I doubt this is true. One teacher is usually allocated to each ski school. Even if it is true, the staff are still responsible for the pupils. If someone was injured, lost etc, it would be your school staff who accompanied them to hospital / reported to police, etc etc.

They are all also drinking at night and one got particularly drunk.
On most school trips there is some sort of rota to ensure that at least one person is completely sober. Some others would have a drink or two, l doubt anyone was ‘drunk’.

It has been raised as a complaint and, before I decide whether or not I want to put my name to any complaint, I want to find out if it's been paid for by parents or not!
Don’t be a cunt.

Original poster
iwasjustwonderingreally · 06/04/2022 11:02

@Excited101

She wasn’t saying there’s anything wrong with the child’s cost including the teachers! She was just asking if that’s how it’s done!

Thanks. And I actually said I appreciate they are working.

I just want to ensure I've got my facts right!

OP posts:
AndAsIfByMagic · 06/04/2022 11:02

How petty. I doubt the school will do another trip if the parents are going to be so pathetic.

Stompythedinosaur · 06/04/2022 11:02

Of course the parents pay, it is part of the cost of the trip.

LaurieFairyCake · 06/04/2022 11:03

During the day the teachers are on call for the multitude of events that could happen - there's ALWAYS one kid they're called back about

They get them up and out - count them in and out

Stay on call til lunch and go and get them

Ditto the afternoon - count in and out

Spend entire evening and half the night sorting daft teenagers out Hmm

Obviously they're not ALLOWED to go abroad on their own so the ski company that organises it have an adult place INCLUDED in the package price

The students DO NOT pay for the teachers - it's a special priced package that can only happen with the right number of adults for safeguarding

Thumpkin · 06/04/2022 11:04

Teacher here. The entire cost of the trip is divided between the pupils. It has to be as no sane teacher would pay their own money to give up their school holiday to look after other people’s children: going for free compensates them for that.

Residential school trips are pretty relentless for the teachers as they require you to be available to supervise 24/7 and be fully accountable. It’s worse than you think! Constant noise and pestering and being woken in the night, as well as having to be constantly aware of where everyone is / whether they had their medication / whether they are behaving / whether it’s all running on time etc etc. It also takes hours of prep: booking travel, accommodation, insurance and activities; sorting forms for food allergies and medication; collecting payment and consent forms; risk assessments…and if anything goes wrong, it’s your head on the block.

So, yes, parents pay as if they didn’t there would likely be no trips at all because you’d never get volunteers to staff them!

OutingHobby · 06/04/2022 11:04

Ahhh I see now that does change the replies you're going to get.