Insight From CEO Haena: Running 300 Residentials a Year Has Taught Me This

Something always goes wrong, so, being solution-oriented is key

Unfortunately, something always goes wrong. Usually (hopefully), it is something minor. A trail that was fine the night before can get washed out in the rain, a bus can run over a nail, a child sneaks out at night, a teacher catches COVID, a parent stalks the student group… Even somethin

g as small as a student not coming downstairs on time could mean asynchronous rotations for activity groups, packed lunch delivery times needing to be re-coordinated, re-shuffling bus schedules, implementing morning room knocks to prevent it from happening again the next day, and so on. Of course, there are more serious examples such as planning an emergency evacuation route, deciding when a student needs to go to the hospital, and how best to react if a student gets involved in a legal situation. 

I always like to use the analogy that we are running a school without fixed infrastructure and all variable logistics. Managing a whole business around these programs means spending some time planning the program, and the rest of the time planning plan Bs. Residentials and school trips are not for the faint-hearted. But, that is part of the experience. 

In such circumstances, reactions vary wildly. Whether the unplanned situations are minor or major, time is of the essence, so, being solution-oriented is critical. Our team is built around people who can solve challenges quickly and work as a team to action solutions. Conversely, we avoid having people who are blame-oriented, blame-avoidant, overly bureaucratic or overly conflict-avoidant.  

Being solution-oriented means that we prioritise efficiency and the student experience. The limited time during a school trip is a highlight for many of the students, so they deserve adults who focus on maximising that time. 

Community buy-in is crucial. Put the right people in place

I remember having a conversation with a teacher in Southern China who was so passionate about the transformative power of outdoor education for students who had been historically encouraged to grow academically. Because of this passion, they volunteered to start the Duke of Edinburgh Award at their school. The school, although supportive of the idea, did not support them structurally. Teacher workloads did not change; they had to work on parents' letters/forms/fee collection processes themselves. There was no dispensation for the weekends they had to spend training the students. At the end of the school year, they quit this position. Their belief in the importance of outdoor education, however, did not change. Their appetite for implementing this in the school disappeared. 

School trips and residentials take a lot of preparation, communication with stakeholders, and often a lot of overtime, to execute successfully – organisers have to have the passion, mindset, and skillset and they have to have the capacity.

There is another school I know of that allocated a junior staff member to oversee its school trips and residentials. In this case, whilst the teacher had the capacity, they weren’t able to drive engagement within the community of parents, students, and teachers. It is important therefore that if you have an essential course or program, consider having your highly skilled teachers present this course to parents. They know what they are talking about, have the credentials and authority, and therefore, when they are speaking to the parents, buy-in should be easier to gain. This member of staff was not supported as a leader, so from the outset, parents were not engaged in school trips to view them as a valuable part of their children's education. 

The school was adding capacity, but they were not adding culture. 

What I love to see is school leaders overseeing and implementing experiential education as part of their overall holistic education offerings at the highest level. This approach helps school leaders develop a robust plan rooted in respect with high buy-in for school trips. Alternatively, we run into situations where parents may get the wrong idea about the purpose of the school residential trips. Complaints may include, "Oh, my child was too tired during the hike; this is not a good school trip." You need somebody who can create a culture. 

Finally, choose somebody who believes in it. True belief is infectious, and there is nothing worse than working with a school stakeholder who just wants to tick this off their to-do list. If you work with someone like this, or if someone like this is in charge of the experiential education programs, the risk is that they will focus on the wrong things. Instead of focusing on the opportunities for student growth, they may focus on minimising complaints at all costs, whether from students, teachers, or parents.

If there are no strong core values and belief structure within the person leading an initiative, it is easy to be swayed by different stakeholders and negative opinions they might voice. This person needs to be able to make a judgement call between how an activity benefits the student’s experience and overall education versus momentary discomforts, or what the optics might look like should a photo go out to parents. That is a very real example, and unfortunately, one where I have seen schools land on both sides of that value judgment. 

School trips are powerful educational devices. Think about how to use them

Our programs are different from most in-school programs in that we have a shorter amount of time to deliver. A useful framework to analyse school trips and residentials through can be to view them as a provocation, or as a summative recap. These are both powerful tools in how we design educational experiences. 

Something as simple as articulating the intent behind the programs to students, staff, and parents, can inspire stakeholders to think about where in the child’s development the trip can fit into. This intention does not have to be academic! It could be something as straightforward as having fun (which is, dare I say, very radical for education in Asia). We do our best during trips to have the students think about what they’ve done during the day or the week (usually via reflection sessions), but the ball is back in the school’s court after that week. 

For a primary school, it is relatively easier – we hear from schools about their goals such as teamwork, friendship, independence, and bravery - the excitement in the build-up is palpable and they speak about it for weeks afterwards! 

At the university level, the learning, continuity, and context of the trip are also crystal clear. Professors have assigned pre-readings relevant to the program, students come well-read, engaged, and prepped. They have been divided into groups, nominated who is going to be asking questions to which locals, and are often asked to write a paper using their experiences as first-hand resources.

Middle and high school are busy with exams and coursework, but that does not mean that we give up on integrating the trips into their education. I hear from so many teachers and heads of schools: “Ah, for this year's group I do not know how many sign-ups we will get because the exams are coming up,” or “They are too busy this time of the year.” Then, look into scheduling the residential at a different time of the year. Or, frame them as a mental health break to discuss stress and emotional management. Avoid underutilising the experience that students have during the school trip. 

In summary, residential and school trips can be an amazing formative experience for learners. How can we maximise these experiences, what is it that we want them to take away, and, how can we create a culture that celebrates learning outside of the classroom? This is up to each of us as leaders to set the tone and drive the direction.