So you want to take your students on an amazing adventure to help them learn about nature, history, science, or the college experience? Congratulations! That drive to do more for your students is already the first step towards planning a faculty-led school field trip. The next step is to create your field trip proposal. It’s important to plan your proposal with care. You certainly don’t want to spend time and energy researching and planning a field trip that your administrators will strike down right away. You must take time and care to craft a great proposal so you know the limits you’re working with and can plan a memorable trip within those boundaries. In this blog, we’ll cover the key steps and a template for writing your school trip proposal so you have the best chance of getting your boss’s approval.
A Different Perspective
You must remember that your administrators don’t think exactly the same way that you do. While your focus is mostly on what’s best for your students, administrators have to look at the bigger picture and consider what’s best for the school. When crafting your field trip proposal, you need to understand the three main things administrators are most concerned about when it comes to field trips. First, does the trip have some sort of strong educational purpose? What will your students learn on the field trip that they couldn’t learn in class? Second, they’ll be looking at the trip from the perspective of student safety. Finally, there’s the cost. How much will it cost? Who will bear the brunt of paying for it? Will there be fundraisers? If you can clearly demonstrate that you’ve taken these three main things into account while creating your field trip proposal form, you’re more likely to have your proposal approved and be able to move forward in the planning process.
Preparing Your Proposal
Preparing your proposal doesn’t happen overnight. You’ll need to take the proper time to ensure you have all of your materials compiled, all of the i’s dotted and the t’s crossed. Generally, a proposal process takes time, and a great proposal will require 6 steps:
Step 1: Research
The first step is research. This is necessary to address one of the administrators’ primary concerns: educational purpose. During the research phase, you’ll be looking for potential locations, lesson ideas, or activities that tie back into your central educational purpose. For example, a visit to Washington, D.C. can be part of your history unit on the founding of the country. Meeting your politician is a great way to experience a guest speaker while on tour. A trip to the Grand Canyon can be part of a geology unit in your science class. Don’t forget to look beyond the obvious. That same trip to the Grand Canyon can look into the history of the people who have inhabited the area for thousands of years, focus on the environmental aspects of the Colorado River, or dive into the complicated systems of water usage rights. One trip can feature multiple educational purposes! Perhaps combining forces with a teacher from another discipline will help?
Regardless of what educational purpose you focus on, the relationship between the educational purpose and the trip should be made very clear in the introduction of your proposal so administrators can immediately identify the educational value of your proposed trip. Think of this process as a lesson plan or grant proposal for your school field trip.
Step 2: Create Objectives
Now that you’ve compiled a wealth of possibilities, you need to move on to the next step: opening a Google doc and creating concrete learning objectives for your trip. You’ve already laid out the educational purposes for the administrators. Now it's time to flesh out the educational aspects. What specifically are you hoping to teach the students? How are you going to ensure they fully understand what you’re trying to teach them? How will you measure success?
Having solid learning objectives helps show the value of taking students out of the classroom. Try your best to align the educational experiences with your school’s or state’s overall objectives for your grade level. For example, that trip to the Grand Canyon might complement a requirement to teach about climate change and its effects on the environment and natural habitats.
Step 3: Make a Mock Itinerary
The third step is to create a Mock Itinerary. The goal of a Mock Itinerary is to show your administrators what you plan to do on each day of your trip, and how those activities relate to the objectives you outlined in the previous section. Start with your departure date, and with each subsequent day of the trip, write down what you plan to do, how long you’ll be at each activity, whether it’s self-guided or part of a tour, and what learning objectives you’ll be covering that day. Keep in mind that many of the details of the schedule will change, but having a Mock Itinerary that couples a general schedule with the planned learning objectives for each day can be an effective tool for helping administrators see the value of the trip.
[transitional CTA: Are you ready to start planning a memorable school trip? Check out our Ultimate School Trip Checklist!]
Step 4: Outline Your Schedule
The next step is outlining your overall schedule. You need to look at the logistics of your school trip. Outline the days you’ll be gone as well as desired departure and arrival times. You’ll also need to make a note of what type of transportation you’ll need. If you’re planning on using a fundraiser to cover the costs of the trip, include your proposed fundraising ideas and date. Including meetings you plan to have with chaperones, parents, and students will also be helpful.
Step 5: Budget Proposal
Perhaps the most important section of your proposal is the budget. If an administrator is going to approve a school trip, they need to know a realistic cost. This will require you to list out and research all the trip costs so the administrator can see where the money is going. These costs must include field trip details, number of students, transportation costs, hotel stays, food, travel company fees, and discretionary funds. Understand that, just like in your proposed field trip Itinerary, the details won’t be hard and fast. It will no doubt fluctuate as the details are worked out and final costs calculated. Still, it’s important that your estimate be as close as possible and always keep track of costs for reimbursements. Sometimes it can be helpful to list out non-monetary resources you’ll need in this section, such as how many chaperones, parents, or staff members will accompany you on the trip.
Step 6: Summary
The last thing you should include in your field trip proposal is a quick summary of all the details you covered in each section. The summary will be the last thing the administrator reads, so this is your final chance to persuade them that your school trip is not only educational, but will also be a fun, valuable, and memorable experience for your students.
Start Planning!
Finally! Once your field trip proposal is approved, you can officially start the planning process. It’s important to choose a travel company that meets your needs and matches your goals. Whether you’re planning to travel with upper elementary, middle school, high school, or college-aged students, a good partner can help you plan, execute, and enjoy a trip that you’ll remember for years to come.
GL Travel prides itself on creating memorable experiences for students and teachers on our educational trips. Contact us today to see how we can help you make your school trip a reality.
