Jennifer Horgan: Luxury school trips deepen inequality and strain struggling families

As Irish schools send students on ski trips, too many families can’t afford the basics — let alone inclusion

I hit the bullies where it hurt.

“Ya, well I’m going on holidays to France!” Holidays were a big deal in the 80s — a decade when pasta was an exotic dinner choice.

“And we’ve two cars!” Thankfully my bullies never sat inside our second ‘car’. It had a giant hole in the bottom, through which I once lost a shoe.

My bullies, a band of boys, were relentlessly cruel. Their parents’ bank balance was fair game.

How times have changed. Nowadays, we assume every family’s ability to buy two cars or to go on a foreign holiday.

In fact, a report released by the CSO last week measures child deprivation by a household’s ability to head off on a week-long trip. It’s far from the 80s our children are being reared — when access to food, (never mind the pasta) warmth, and shelter set the bar.

The metric for the report was devised by our European partners, directed by Eurostat. In supporting literature, children are said to be in poverty "if they lack the resources to obtain the type of diet, participate in the activities and have the living conditions and amenities which are customary, or at least widely encouraged or approved, in the societies to which they belong".

And yet, an activity being customary is very different from being universal — as the report shows.

Digging into the statistics, we see how these activities, holidays, music lessons, whatever, are still luxuries for many people. More than luxuries in fact — unmanageable altogether.

More than half (54.9%) of households with no working adult are unable to afford a one-week holiday for their children. This compares with 26.0% of households with one working adult and 10% of households with two working adults.

Consider that last statistic — one tenth of Irish families with both parents working simply can’t afford a family holiday for one week. It seems significant — higher than many of us might estimate.

What is customary is not universal.

As a parent of three school-going children, I found the statistics on school trips particularly interesting. Almost 2% of households can not afford these for their children.

So, households that can’t afford family holidays are somehow affording school trips. Presumably, they reach out to extended family. Even then, there are still plenty of children who miss out. Among single-parent households the rate for being unable to afford school trips was 10 times higher (6.2%) than for two-parent families (0.6%).

Given this, should schools offer school trips at all, beyond affordable, local excursions? More specifically, given the financial strain many (even if not most) households are under, should foreign trips, without site-specific educational merit, be offered?

As far as I’m concerned, it’s utter madness for State schools to offer ski trips in the Alps or shopping trips to Paris.

Some parents can afford the trips easily and don’t think beyond themselves. Others can’t afford them but find the money somehow, so their child won’t miss out. Uptake for these luxury trips is remarkably high. Often, everyone in a year group travels. Statistically it simply must be the case that some families are struggling to make that happen.

The fact non-practising Catholics continue the charade of in-class preparation for sacraments gives us an indication of why this is happening. Privileged parents in Ireland, the majority group, don’t speak up for marginalised children or their families. They go with the flow, whatever the injustice.

A shopping trip via Disneyland will no doubt bond students but no more so than if they were taken on a bus up a mountain to pitch a tent. Culturally, having been to Disneyland Paris, they are better off in Fota. Picture: Darragh Kane

So, we might look to the Department of Education for guidance.

In other countries, there are official government funding streams for school trips, such as Pupil Premium in the UK, whereby extra funding is given to schools for disadvantaged pupils (eg free school meals), which can be used to subsidise trips. Not here, at least not beyond our Deis schools. 

In fact, as with many contentious issues, our Department of Education stays well out of reach. Everything, they say, is at a school’s discretion.

A spokesperson, from a comfortable distance of absolutely no involvement whatsoever, says:

“The objective of an educational tour should be to provide a significant benefit in the educational, intellectual, cultural, and social development of students taking part. It is a matter for each individual school to decide on the suitability of any proposed tour having regard to these requirements.” 

A shopping trip via Disneyland will no doubt bond students but no more so than if they were taken on a bus up a mountain to pitch a tent. Culturally, having been to Disneyland Paris, they are better off in Fota.

The department shows some flicker of interest in poorer families by adding: “All schools should take into account the costs for parents so as to ensure that these are not prohibitive or serve to exclude any students.” 

Our State schools must assume that ski trips are not exclusive for Irish people then. Why else would we offer them out to children like tic tacs?

A different approach 

For schools genuinely concerned with equality there are other, far more meaningful options, facilitated by European funding. These options provide “educational, intellectual, cultural and social” benefits and cost parents extraordinarily little.

Léargas offers schools enriching, educational experiences with other European countries, free of charge to parents and schools. The money is provided by the European Commission and in good news for cash-strapped parents, there is likely to be more of it.

Everything is covered. There is money there for preparing students too, so for example if a student is from a disadvantaged background, they can receive funds for a passport application.

Experiences can vary from a virtual exchange to students going to a foreign school for a term to study a language. Teachers can shadow other teachers in countries like Estonia and Finland too — an enrichment the profession desperately needs.

Victoria Ogumefu, speaking in a video reel submitted to Léargas about what it’s like to take part in Erasmus+ projects as a young person, says: “I love doing Erasmus+ projects because I get to learn a variety of things. When we were doing the EcoWarriors Youth Exchange, I learned a lot about the environment [and] how to preserve the world for future generations. 

"With Inclusive Sports, I learned a lot about new sports I wouldn’t normally have focused on. Youth exchange is so important, doing Erasmus+ is so important, because you can learn so much — you can learn about new people [and] the cultures of new people.” 

The picture is equally positive for staff. A Léargas report on the impact of Erasmus+ mobility projects on Irish schools found staff who participated in opportunities such as training and job shadowing in other European countries reported improvements in skills such as collaboration, leadership, analytical problem-solving and creativity, as well as increases in motivation and job satisfaction.

Between 2014 and 2021, more than 1,100 school staff from 158 schools throughout Ireland have participated.

Meanwhile, back in camp Lala land, other schools continue to roll out the same overpriced vacuous nonsense as before. 

Yes, of course, learning to ski is a life skill and can build resilience but so can surfing in Garretstown or volunteering in homeless services. Education shouldn’t cost the earth — certainly not in State schools.

Offering luxury trips breeds competition. As Maria Montessori puts it, when you educate for competition, you educate for war.

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I’m embarrassed to think of myself gloating as a young girl, warring with neighbours, boasting about my holiday and my deathtrap car, but I was a product of my time, and I was under attack.

It makes sense now, looking back on it, that I retaliated the way I did.

I needed those boys to be kind, and I needed far more education on privilege.

Students these days, all students, however sophisticated they might seem, need the same.