Exploring teachers’ and students’ views and experiences of field trips

Field trips have been embraced by many schools as a form of experiential learning that holds the potential to help create positive connections between the ideas and concepts covered in the classroom and the broader ecological applications of subject knowledge. However, the pedagogical utility of field trips is contested when balanced against the potential challenges and costs associated with such curriculum offerings. Employing a case study approach within one post-primary school in the West of Ireland, this study explores teachers’ and students’ views and experiences of the use of field trips. Student questionnaires and focus groups, staff interviews as well as observational data were gathered as part of the study. Findings note the perceived elevated impact of field trips on students’ social and personal well-being over academic advancement. Field trips were found to hold latent value within a curriculum increasingly seeking spaces to promote students’ well-being, personal and social development.