Laura Doel, national secretary for NAHT Cymru, has responded to proposals that would require Welsh local authorities to ensure all children experience residential outdoor education for a week or more during their time at school. Ms Doel, and NAHT Cymru president, Chris Parry, appeared before the Children, Young People and Education committee this morning to give evidence on the Residential Outdoor Education Bill.

Laura Doel said: “While all pupils deserve a well-rounded education and we support access to experiences outside the classroom, this cannot come at the cost of frontline teaching and learning. 

“The reality is that local authorities are looking at significant financial cuts, and if they have to fund week-long residential trips for pupils that could place even more pressure on school budgets which are already stretched to the limit.

"We are already hearing from school leaders who are being forced to make teachers and teaching assistants redundant, operate with classes at full capacity, cover lessons to reduce spending on supply teachers, and whose PTAs are having to fundraise for stationery and basic equipment.

“This bill fails to recognise the funding crisis plaguing education and is not something we can support at this time. Recruiting and retaining great leaders and teachers, supporting learners with additional learning needs (ALN) helping bring down class sizes, repairing buildings and delivering on the new curriculum and qualifications are priority issues for our members and should be the focus for all Members of the Senedd.

“Even if additional funding was provided, we would have practical concerns around implementation and staffing of such trips to name just a few issues.”