1.1.3 Governors and Management Boards

Overview

Governors and management boards play an important role in enabling high-quality educational visits and outdoor learning. Their responsibility is to ensure that visits are safe, inclusive and well managed while supporting staff to provide valuable learning experiences for pupils.

Governors act as a ‘critical friend’ to school leaders. This means offering support while also providing appropriate challenge to ensure that policies and procedures are effective.

Where a setting does not have a governing body, these responsibilities normally sit with the employer, often through the Head/Manager’s line manager.

Key Responsibilities

Governors and board members help ensure that appropriate arrangements are in place for educational visits and outdoor learning. This includes:

Clear Roles and Responsibilities

Understanding who holds employer responsibilities within the setting and ensuring legal duties, including those relating to health and safety and inclusion, are met.

A Clear Policy Framework

Ensuring the setting has an effective policy for educational visits and outdoor learning. This should cover planning, inclusion, supervision, risk management, charging arrangements and emergency procedures, and should reflect relevant professional guidance.

Access to Competent Advice

Employers must ensure that the school has access to appropriate guidance, training and professional advice from a competent Educational Visits Adviser. Training, advice and support is available through EVOLVE Advice.

Staff Competence

Confirming that a suitably trained, competent and informed Head/Manager, Educational Visits Coordinator (EVC), Visit Leader and Assistant Visit Leader is appointed and that responsibilities between Governors, the Head/Manager, the EVC and visit staff are clearly defined.

Inclusive Opportunities

Ensuring that all reasonable steps are taken to include all learners, including those with disabilities, special educational needs, medical conditions, or other barriers to participation.

Proportionate Oversight

Agreeing appropriate procedures for the approval and notification of visits. Governors should understand which types of visits require their awareness or involvement and may challenge plans where objectives or arrangements appear unclear.

Effective Safeguarding Arrangements

Confirming that an appropriate number and combination of suitably selected, vetted, trained, competent and informed visit staff are deployed (including volunteers). Ensuring appropriate monitoring of pupil, staff and provider behaviour. Clear lines of reporting and access to the DSL.

Risk Assessment

Ensuring that the school undertakes a suitable and sufficient risk assessment and records the significant findings of this process. Identify what could cause injury or illness (hazards), decide how likely it is that someone could be harmed and how seriously (the risk), take action to eliminate the hazard, or if this isn't possible, control the risk. Communicate these control measures to relevant parties and review their effectiveness.

Provider selection

Ensuring that appropriate providers are selected and that the school cooperates with the provider to achieve safety. Monitoring of the providers continued suitability.

Monitoring Safety and Quality

Confirming that systems are in place to evaluate and monitor visit planning – learning from experience and responding appropriately to incidents, near misses or concerns. Governors may wish to participate in the monitoring of visits to reassure themselves.

Strategic Role of Governors

Governors and board members are not normally involved in the detailed planning or risk assessment of visits unless they have specific expertise.

Their role is strategic oversight—supporting leaders, asking constructive questions and ensuring that educational visits remain safe, inclusive and educationally valuable for all learners.

FAQs

Can governors accompany educational visits?

Governors bring expertise and commitment to the school community. Involving them in educational visits enables them to experience firsthand their value for staff and students alike. If appropriate they may be included in the staff-student ratios, but you must follow the guidance for including non-teaching staff (volunteer helpers) and ensure that they are aware of their responsibilities.

What training can Governors access to support their knowledge and understanding of educational visits?

EVOLVE Advice offers a free Governors e-learning course. Access the training from your EVOLVE homepage in the training matrix. More information can be found at https://www.evolveadvice.co.uk/leadership-elearning