With dramatically increased screen time, lack of face to face social interaction and an increase in self-reported feelings of loneliness, 2020 has been a challenging year for our students. As a result, many schools are actively supporting students in cultivating positive mental health and mindfulness practices, with many recognising the positive impact of time outdoors and travel.
At Educational Journeys, we’re passionate about the numerous positive benefits that travel can have on young people. Here we outline some of the ways that travel can support a positive mindset and bolster mental health in your students.
1. Travel can promote a positive mental outlook
For those who experienced prolonged lockdown in 2020, time outside often proved to be vital. With so many of our regular activities and outlets being unavailable, being able to step outside, breathe in the fresh air and walk around the local neighbourhood gave many individuals essential respite from the pressures of lockdown.
Lockdown or not, it’s long been understood that exercise and time outdoors can have huge benefits for maintaining health and wellbeing. Regular exercise releases mood boosting hormones into the body, with the added benefit of keeping the body well looked after.
An educational tour provides a plethora of opportunities for students to get outside, exercise and experience nature firsthand. Whether it be a guided tour through a stunning Queensland rainforest or a team building activity in the outback, allowing our students to immerse themselves in nature provides multiple opportunities to improve mental health. A significant volume of research has been undertaken in this area, with a 2014 study finding that group nature walks were as effective as solo experiences as a method of improving mental health and lowering depression.
An educational tour is more than sightseeing and exercise. Research has found that a meaningful cross-cultural travel experience can lead to an increased ability to focus individual attention and energy. In addition to this, empathy has also been shown to increase after travel in addition to a renewed appreciation of the knowledge and skill-sets of others. In an increasingly distracted world, providing opportunities for our students to focus and maintain attention is a valuable experience and allows for a sense of calm amongst the chaos.
2. Travel boosts connectedness to others
After lockdown it’s important to re-engage with the world. An educational tour provides rich opportunities for social engagement, not only with peers, but with wider communities and groups.
Educational tours are highly social experiences where students have multiple opportunities to connect with their peers. This can take the form of structured activities, team building exercises and unstructured time [e.g. travel time, time at accommodation, free time]. In many instances, students benefit immensely from these opportunities, with long-term positive relationships being formed as a result of the travel experience.
After time in lockdown it’s more important than ever to provide opportunities for our students to engage with each other in the real world. Face to face communication and interaction have been demonstrated to have better outcomes for developing communication and social skills, an educational tour providing varied possibilities for this to occur in a novel and inspiring environment. Additionally, research has demonstrated that individuals who engage in face to face interactions with others report higher levels of satisfaction and happiness about the interaction than interactions that were conducted online.
Students often become limited by their classroom arrangements, and the chance to build relationships becomes subject to seating structure, subject selection and timetabling. An educational tour allows students to break from these parameters and engage with each other, their teachers, and the local communities that they visit in a more free-flowing manner.
Educational tours provide the opportunity to foster stronger relationships within groups and between individuals. Through experiencing periods of sustained contact with new groups of people and cultures, students develop a better sense of empathy and respect for others. They are able to develop insight into different ways of life, and learn about the ‘why’ of cultural practices and beliefs. This insight can cultivate long term attitudinal and behavioural change.
Additionally, by creating tasks and experiences that require mutual interdependence, an educational tour can help to break down barriers and build stronger connections between students. When students are required to rely on each other to overcome barriers, they are better able to acknowledge the strengths of their peers, and provide support for overcoming challenges. In turn, this allows for the development of stronger, more meaningful relationships.
3. Travel can provide opportunities for mindfulness and reflection
Mindfulness is increasingly being recognised as an effective method of reducing stress and improving mental health. With many schools now recognising the benefits of mindfulness practices, educational tours can act as a vehicle for improving mindfulness in our students.
An educational tour provides the opportunities for students to step into a new environment and free themselves from everyday stresses, responsibilities and distractions. A change to the structure and routine of everyday life, travel allows our students to take pause and reflect on life in general, an opportunity that often escapes many in the increasingly fast-paced modern lifestyle.
Tours with immersive experiences can provide multiple opportunities for these calm moments. Students are able to take time to deeply absorb themselves in an activity or an environment, sitting or standing quietly to take in the sights, sounds and smells that surround them.
Actively structuring time to stop and reflect whilst travelling is an effective way of supporting students who are in a new environment. Whilst there are numerous benefits to travel for young people, there are times when the experience can become challenging. Structured time to stop, absorb the environment, practice gratitude and collect thoughts assists in overcoming these challenges and supports students navigating a new environment.
Bonus tip: Go tech free for increased benefits
Travel allows students the opportunity to leave technology behind and be present in the world around them. After a year of significantly increased screen time, providing our students with opportunities for authentic experiences allows them to reconnect with a world that they were denied access to. Actively encouraging students to ‘unplug’ or declaring segments of the tour technology free provides greater opportunity for deep learning and moments to practice mindfulness.
Phones and other individual devices, whilst useful, often serve as an ongoing and persistent distraction for young people. By removing technology from an experience, students are able to better immerse themselves in their surroundings and engage with those around them. Additionally, removing technology from tour experiences can assist students to better engage with the learning opportunity and as a result experience improved educational outcomes. Research has demonstrated that students are able to better concentrate when the distraction of technology is removed. Furthermore, students were able to recall a greater amount of information from their classes and performed better on their assessments.
Ready to go? Head to our programs page to find out more about how Educational Journeys can create meaningful teaching and learning experiences for your students.