YouthSafe Manitoba: Field Trip Safety for Schools (2004)
Project Description
The YouthSafe Manitoba Schools project was undertaken over 2004 to support Manitoba’s school field trips. Manitoba demonstrated an incredible level of professionalism and collegiality in working together to complete the project. Every education-related organization came to the table, representatives pulled up their sleeves and co-created with YouthSafe Outdoors staff, the best field trip safety resource in the world to that date. Manitoba also made a significant contribution to future YouthSafe Outdoors projects by funding most of the costs related to translating all of the resources.
Documents Index
- YouthSafe Manitoba: Safety First! Guidelines for School Field Trips
- YouthSafe Manitoba: Field Trip Policy Development and Governance
- YouthSafe Manitoba: Forms File
- YouthSafe Manitoba: Trip Leadership Resource
- YouthSafe Manitoba: Self-reliance in the Outdoors
- YouthSafe Manitoba: Parent / Guardian Field Trip Resource
- YouthSafe Manitoba: References and Additional Resources
Note: All of the school level resources are available in French versions as well. Specify when ordering.
YouthSafe Manitoba (2004) Sponsors and Partners
Significant funding was provided by Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth, together with the Manitoba Association of School Trustees and Manitoba Conservation.
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Education and Community Partners
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YouthSafe Manitoba Coalition: Schools Advisory Team (2004)
The YouthSafe Manitoba Coalition – Schools Advisory Team was a diverse group of people with a passion for helping Manitoba youth learn to be safe, active, lifelong learners. The Advisory Team reflected the perspective of the many individuals and organizations needed to enhance field trip safety in Manitoba schools. As a group, they sought to combat fear with facts and to help lower the barriers, real and perceived, to schools taking students off-site. The team included experts with backgrounds in a variety of disciplines, including classroom and field instruction, school administration, school division/district administration, policy development and governance, physical education, outdoor education, risk management, legal liability, search and rescue prevention, recreation, and leadership development.
The Coalition provided the formal mechanism for provincial education related organizations to participate in the development and review of the resource based YouthSafe Manitoba resources. The Manitoba Association of School Trustees (MAST) invited and coordinated the participation of representatives from organizations involved. Over the course of the project, the following individuals participated in the Schools Advisory Team:
| Jacques Dorge | Bureau de l'éducation française, Government of Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth |
| Heather Willoughby | Manitoba Education, Citizenship and Youth |
| Keith Thomas | (co-chair) Manitoba Association of School Trustees (MAST) |
| Tony Antonio | MAST |
| Jim Hardy | Manitoba Association of School Superintendents (MASS) |
| Bill Morgan | Principal, Whitemouth School |
| Tony Rodrigues | Principal, Dawson Trail School |
| Laurel Hanna | (co-chair) Manitoba Physical Education Teachers Association (MPETA) |
| Grant McManes | MEPTA |
| Guy McKim | MPETA |
| Robert Stanners | MEPTA |
| Nick Dyck | Manitoba Physical Education Supervisors Association (MPESA) |
| Janet Chabota | Manitoba Association of Parent Councils (MAPC) |
| Jacqui Quennelle | Manitoba Camping Association |
| Shawn Feely | IMPACT Injury Prevention Centre Children's Hospital |
| Ken Fingler | HED Insurance Brokers Inc. |
Several other organizations and individuals attended one or more Coalition meetings and provided input, including Sport Manitoba, Recreation Connections, Manitoba High School Athletic Association, the City of Winnipeg - Community Services, camps, etc.
Media Coverage
The press conference announcing the release of the YouthSafe Manitoba: Field Trip Safety for Schools resource was held September 29, 2004. The event was headlined by the Minister of Education, Citizenship and Youth and the President of the Manitoba Association of School Trustees.
Project Summary
The resource is distributed to licensed Manitoba school divisions/districts by the Manitoba Association of School Trustees (MAST). Virtually all boards in the province, public and independent, secured their licenses.
More than 200 people were trained in use of the resource in six regional workshops held around the province. The written evaluations from these people were virtually unanimous and reflect very positive regard for the resource.
What Manitoba Educators Say
We’re saved. We don’t have to re-invent the wheel. YSO has everything we need to support our programs and staff re: field trips. It’s a sure winner. Please thank the Ministry and MAST for us; they’ve given Manitoba schools a great gift in this program.
Minnedosa Area Teacher
This is an outstanding resource. Everything is clear, easy to use and written at just the right level.
Winnipeg Administrator
Our organization is mandated to develop a risk management package for all our services. This program will provide the information required for school-aged and youth services. This program exceeds the information our organization would have put together. I feel it will help us offer services that have been shelved because of the risk factor.
Dauphin Municipal Recreation Department Staff
Parents will definitely see a difference. Information is going to be a little more detailed than it has been in the past.
Keith Thomas, Risk Manager, Manitoba Association of School Trustees
It will allow school administration to feel more secure in the knowledge that safety issues have been addressed, and will help me to promote programming and good instruction by reducing fear and resistance to outdoor education and field trips.
Pas Area Administrator
Excellent reference material - worthy of a divisional workshop to overhaul existing policies/information.
Pas Area Teacher
The YSO document not only provides research-based guidelines, but also provides the flexibility to make appropriate modifications for field trips which may fall outside the norm. It will also answer many of the ‘legal liability’ questions I am asked.
Winnipeg Administrator
Please put YouthSafe Outdoors in our division policy and have all staff trained. Everyone would benefit from this workshop. Glenda is an outstanding trainer—she knows her stuff through and through; she walks the talk; she makes excellent use of humour and real case examples to bring it all alive. She is very respectful of her audience and their experience.
Winnipeg Teacher
YouthSafe Outdoors presents teachers with tools instead of obstacles. It assists them with planning tools, checklists, etc., reducing work and diminishing risk.
A Pas Area Administrator
This one-stop approach is outstanding! The guidelines are excellent and the support information and tools will be much appreciated by all.
Winnipeg Administrator
… We can’t afford to NOT listen or pay attention to this document.
Winnipeg Administrator
YouthSafe Outdoors is extremely good and we need to use this resource in our school division.
Winnipeg Trustee
The quality, the comprehensiveness, the ease of use and especially the reasonableness of it all floored me. It gives me, an old dog, a new sense of purpose and joy in my work…
Minnedosa Area Teacher
YouthSafe Outdoors provides a very valuable set of documents which will help us go short on policy and long on guidelines in order to provide legal protection for us, but more importantly, to improve the quality and quantity of outdoor experiences for our children.
Winnipeg Teacher