Duke urges pupils to take risks

The Duke wants children to learn through adventure

The Duke of Edinburgh is urging teachers not to give up taking pupils on adventurous trips, despite recent fatal accidents.

Following three deaths on trips this summer, many teachers expressed reluctance to take part in future trips for fear of ending up in court in the event of an accident.

But Prince Philip, who set up his award scheme in 1956 to support the personal and social development of young people, says there has to be a balance between risk and safety.

The Duke says risk can never by completely eradicated

Writing in the Times Educational Supplement (TES) to celebrate 50 years as president of the Central Council for Physical Recreation, the Duke says it is vital to teach children about risk and responsibility.

"It would never be possible to guarantee any worthwhile activity as completely accident-free. It could certainly not be done by legislation and bureaucratic regulation," he says.

"It would be highly damaging to the development of young people if they were denied the chance to train for, and participate in, challenging physical activities.

"Teachers and clubs should continue to take pupils on adventurous activities, because not to teach children about risk and responsibility is a failure to provide a rounded education," he says.

Inevitable risks

Risk could never be completely eradicated and inevitably tragic events would happen.

"This is why we must be responsible about risk and do our best to ensure that children are equipped to deal with it."

It's all very well for him to say that - he's not going to be sued

Nigel de Gruchy, NASUWT

All sorts of activities, such as hill walking, mountaineering, sailing, cycling and sub-aqua diving involved risk and people had to learn how to do them safely, he says.

Prince Philip also expresses concern that the pressure on schools to achieve good exam results and the rising costs of adventure activities was significantly reducing participation.

Earlier this year he voiced fears that the new AS-levels had driven many sixth-formers to abandon his award scheme to concentrate on exams.

TES assistant editor Jeremy Sutcliffe said instilling a sense of adventure in children was an invaluable part of learning.

"Parents are bound to be concerned because there have been eight deaths on school trips in the past two years.

"But it's important children should be able to take sensible risks," said Mr Sutcliffe.

Schools attacked

However it was regrettable that, when things did go wrong, schools were often in the firing line in a "risk-adverse" culture, he added.

The Duke's words follow the death in July of 11-year-old Bunmi Shagaya who drowned while on a school trip to France.

Bunmi Shagaya drowned in a French lake

College student Yunus Ismail Moolla drowned in a quarry in Worcestershire and Amy Ransom, 17, fell to her death on a mountain trek in Vietnam.

One teachers' union, the National Association of Schoolmasters Union of Women Teachers, urged its members not to take part in trips and outings because of the risk of legal action on the part of parents if things went wrong.

Its general secretary, Nigel de Gruchy, criticised the Duke's comments.

"It's all very well for him to say that - he's not going to be sued," he said.

"He's not going to have his professional life destroyed by some irate parent who doesn't understand that accidents will happen."

The Department for Education in England is currently revising its guidelines to schools over trip safety.