Education secretary Alan Johnson has announced the government is putting learning outside the classroom at the heart of the curriculum and young people's personal development with a new £2.7m package for schools.

Launching the 'Learning outside the classroom' manifesto at the Natural History Museum, Johnson urged schools to use the wealth of educational opportunities on their doorsteps and further afield, to inspire and motivate every pupil.

Johnson said: "Learning outside the classroom should be at the heart of every school's curriculum and ethos.

"Children can gain valuable learning experiences from going on cultural visits overseas to teachers simply using their school grounds imaginatively.

"Educational visits and out-of-school teaching can bring learning to life by deepening young people's understanding of the environment, history and culture and improving their personal development."

Stakeholder Response: NUT

Steve Sinnott, NUT general secretary, said: "The government’s manifesto for learning outside the classroom goes a long way to steadying the concerns teachers and parents have about safety on school trips.

"The small number of high profile tragedies has sent a tremor through the teaching profession.

"Schools are ultra cautious when organising trips – every trip, even just down the road, has its hazards.

"Yet field trips, visits to galleries and theatres are often remembered by young people long after they have left school.

"They bring far wider benefits than the straight forward subject learning that takes place.

"A guarantee of access to outside activities for all young people should be funded and built into the system.

"School trips should not be part of the inspection system. A school in a deprived area cannot compete on trips with a school in an area where the parents can easily afford the cost.

"Coercing teachers into organising what are largely voluntary activities would undermine the goodwill on which these activities rely."

Stakeholder Response: ATL

ATL general secretary Dr Mary Bousted said: "ATL has always believed school trips play an invaluable role in a child’s learning, and actively supported members with advice to help them plan trips.

"Outside learning can develops skills which are hard to learn in the classroom, so we support these measures which should take some of the hassle out of planning trips – particularly some of the unnecessary paperwork staff has to fill in before every trip.

"School staff already work extremely hard to ensure that the overwhelming majority of pupils thoroughly enjoy their school trips, and return safely home.

"But the trend towards increasing litigation has risked discouraging schools from taking pupils on trips outside school.

"We hope today’s proposals including the use of thorough risk assessments will ensure school trips remain an important part of the school year and continue to be enjoyed by millions of pupils each year."

Stakeholder Response: NASUWT

Chris Keates, general secretary of NASUWT, said: "NASUWT has always recognised that learning outside the classroom can provide valuable educational experience and curriculum enrichment, providing it is planned, properly resourced, and has clearly identified intended learning outcomes directly linked to the curriculum.

"The 'Learning outside the classroom' manifesto will provide a valuable focal point for schools, local authorities, parents and a range of provider organisations to demonstrate their commitment to providing educationally enriching experiences for youngsters.

"NASUWT advises its members to consider very carefully before participating in educational visits.

"Although no activity can be entirely risk free, NASUWT has always considered there were risks associated with these activities which could be minimised.

"NASUWT has been vilified for the position it has taken but has never made any apologies for doing what all good trade unions should do and that is put the interests of its members first.

"While offering detailed guidance to those members who chose to lead educational visits, the Union pursued its concerns with the DfES.

"I am very pleased to say that the government accepted the validity of our concerns and took our representations seriously.

"During the development of the Manifesto, the DfES has worked with NASUWT to address a number of key issues which the Union believed increased the vulnerability of staff participating in these activities.

"Significant progress has been made.

"We have secured the recognition that teachers should not be engaged in the administration of these activities and that other members of the school workforce have a valuable contribution to make in organising and leading visits.

"All DfES-relevant guidance will reflect this. This addresses our members’ concerns about workload associated with these activities.

"The DfES will promote maximising the use of generic risk assessments of activities to remove this burden and responsibility from individual staff.

"Ofsted will now have a clear role in ensuring that local authorities monitor consistently and effectively the safe management of activities.

"A package of guidance will be developed which will emphasise the need for high quality experiences, hopefully putting an end to some of the more dubious visits organised by some schools.

"Work is under way on developing fair investigations guidance to provide much-needed protection for staff who accompany visits and who found themselves being abandoned by the employer or unfairly treated when an incident occurred or a false allegation was made against them.

"No activity is risk free but when all of this work finally is completed staff who choose to participate in education outside the classroom will be better protected as a result of NASUWT's efforts and the government's positive response."

Stakeholder Response: Association of School and College Leaders

ASCL general secretary Dr John Dunford said: "Learning outside the classroom has huge benefits for young people’s education and it is heartening to hear the government recognise this.

"School and college leaders strongly support these opportunities and most have never stopped offering them.

"However, there are three reasons why they have reduced in recent years: risk, bureaucracy and cost.

"The government and the new board must address the problem of court judgements that have given a new meaning to the word ‘accident’, placing on teachers often unreasonable expectations of foresight.

"As a profession, we accept our responsibility for the safety of the young people in our care, but we should not be asked to do more than is realistically possible.

"Risk assessment represents a massive bureaucratic burden for even the smallest of visits outside school. This paperwork must be reduced.

"Equal opportunities are important for school visits.

"No child should be disadvantaged by their financial circumstances so that they are unable to take part in a visit. With costs rising, this creates a problem for schools.

Stakeholder Response: Professional Teachers Association

PAT general secretary Philip Parkin said: "From my own teaching experience, I know that, safely conducted and properly supervised, education away from the classroom is an integral part of learning.

"School trips can be character-forming and life-changing experiences. They allow children and young people to explore and challenge their own skills, abilities, potential and character in a unique way, as well as making them aware of risks.

"The experiences and memories school trips provide cannot be quantified or measured directly by tests or examinations, but both children and staff benefit enormously from them.

"Educational visits give many pupils experiences they have not had before and may never have again.

"Lifelong memories and interests can begin with such experiences. A visit to the park for a five-year-old is as much an adventure as abseiling for a ten-year-old.

"This manifesto is welcome for its practical and supportive recognition of the importance of education outside the classroom.

"We should commend all those who organise or provide such wonderful learning opportunities."

Stakeholder Response:Swimming Teachers’ Association

Roger Millward, Chief Executive of STA says: "One of the biggest causes for concern for teachers is swimming activities.

"There has certainly been a decline in swimming activities in schools in recent years, which may be attributed to the potential liability of teachers, particularly for ‘off site activities’.

"Indeed, recent research by STA shows that teachers and support staff are being put off supervising swimming sessions because they feel they lack specialist skills, or else feel vulnerable within the pool environment.

"Therefore the government’s ‘learning outside the classroom’ manifesto must address the need for more specialist pool safety training for teachers, to ensure that Headteachers are not being placed in a position where they have to compromise the safety and health of their pupils.

"The need for specialist training is beyond question, indeed even Baalpe, in ‘Safe Practice in Physical Education and School Sport’ state that "it is recommended that swimming teachers and school staff responsible for classes hold appropriate UK teaching and life saving awards".

"There are, however, no mandatory requirements for life saving qualifications for teachers or sector staff; and many undergraduate student teachers completing their teaching degree are leaving College and University with limited swimming and water rescue skills.

"Swimming is without doubt an essential – and life saving – skill, and yet drowning is still the third largest cause of accidental death to children in the UK.

"In addition, one in thirteen schools don’t offer swimming at all and the situation is worse in inner-city areas, and more than 100,000 children leave school each year without mastering basic swimming skills.

"A TES Survey released in September 2006 went even further and highlighted that more than a third of children left primary school this year without having basic swimming skills.

"In 2003 one in six primary school leavers could not swim at all, and the TES Survey suggests that this figure has risen to one in five, or approximately 110,000.

"To address this issue STA has developed a new Pool Safety Award, which is the first programme of its kind to have been designed specifically with the school staff in mind, and is aimed at addressing this skills and knowledge gap, to alleviate teachers concerns for supervising swimming activities.

"Even basic swimming skills can save lives, so at STA we saw it as imperative to work with teachers and support staff to develop a fit-for-purpose award, which could raise water safety awareness and raise teachers’ competence in the context of rescue skills.

"The new Pool Safety Award was developed twelve months ago and has been through a rigorous trial and testing process, which included consultation with the Association of Physical Education, and the Department for Education and Skills (DfES) to ensure it exactly matches the needs of both teachers and support staff.

"The Pool Safety Award assists teachers, support staff, and schools themselves to meet the increasing need to demonstrate adherence to safe practices and standards on a continuous basis, and to comply with their duty of care requirements.

It also allows compliance with recommendations and guidance within leading publications such as: ‘Safe Practice in Physical Education and School Sport’ Baalpe, ‘Managing Health & Safety in Swimming Pools’ HSE 2003, BSi PAS 81:2005 ‘Specification for the Management and Operation of Swimming Schools’ BSi, and ‘Safety and Risk in Primary School Physical Education’ Servers and Routledge 2003.

"The Pool Safety Award provides a specialist, nationally accredited qualification, which demonstrates compliance with the very latest recommendations for the supervision of swimming activities in school pools, and gives parents and carers the confidence that the school maintains the highest standards of care for its students and staff.

"The announcement of the ‘learning outside the classroom’ manifesto is welcomed, however the government must give serious consideration to enforcing compulsory pool safety training for teachers and staff involved in pool activities."