School Excursions, Accountability and ‘Uninformed’ Consent

I’ve recently been reading a few online forums that include posts about children beginning or returning to school. It is quite clear that the costs of education are foremost in parents’ minds at this time of the year. No-one is saying that all the costs imposed by schools are unreasonable. However, there seems to be some disquiet about the costs of school excursions in particular. The problem isn’t the fact that excursions cost money but rather how and when parents are informed about the costs.

Is it unreasonable of me to request an explaination from the school as to what the cost of an excursion covers? … I’ve just received a notice for $50 to be paid within a week for a sports excursion for two sons…I want the school to provide a list of what they want to me pay for at the beginning of each year so I can budget for it… I’m sick of always having to fork out.
http://www.emailcash.com.au/benefits.asp?go=forum&tp=665089&ca=9

The above comment indicates the problem isn’t cost alone. Details about excursion activities are often lacking. What does ’sports excursion’, for example, entail? The mind boggles. The formal instructions to schools, at least in South Australia, require detailed information about activities being given parents. There is a good reason for this:

If parents are not provided with adequate information about the nature of the activities undertaken on excursions, the consent they give the school is uninformed and therefore questionable.

So, if the lack of information given parents results in the consent they give being ‘uninformed’ thereby potentially placing schools in a precarious legal position, we MUST wonder why this happens. Is it simply substandard work by schools? If so, why? Are schools under-resourced to such an extent they are unable to fulfil their legal and moral obligations to students and parents?

Perhaps parents can help schools complete the necessary ‘paperwork’ so our school personnel do not find themselves in a legal wrangle. I am sure the government department responsible for administering schools would quickly blame the school if an unfortunate event occurred AND the school hadn’t carefully followed the prescribed procedures.

Schools seem to be trying to do the right thing. But parents also have a responsibility for standards. And I don’t just mean educational standards. There are also moral and legal standards. To better protect our children we MUST hold schools accountable for the information they give us. Schools should provide information about the costs and detail of all excursions up-front. Otherwise we cannot give genuine consent.